Audrey Wilkinson Strategy Report
Abstract
Audrey Wilkinson, an Australian winery, operates in complicated conditions of Australian wine market. Multiple competitors, strict policies and unpredictable climate conditions make this business a struggle with few chances to win. However, Audrey Wilkinson has been on this market for over 150 years. In this paper the company’s strategy is analyzed in order to understand which approach has led Audrey Wilkinson to such sustainable success.
Wine market in Australia has its specifics; and the company’s success depends on multiple factors of internal and external environment. In order to sustain and develop its business, an Australian winery’s strategy, Audrey Wilkinson, has defined a competitive strategy. In this paper the analysis of Audrey Wilkinson’s strategy is performed in order to identify its main focus.
Industry Overview
Australian wine is one of the most well-known brands in the world. Australia is the 5th biggest wine exporter by volume in the world (Reynolds, 2016) and the 4th largest exporter by value (Farrell, 2015), and its export value continues to grow showing 7% increase in export volumes in 2016 ("Winetitles Media | Daily Wine News", 2017). The domestic market in 2016 suffered a slight decrease in volume (by 0.6% to 456 mln litres) but an increase in sales (up to $2.78 billion) (Reynolds, 2016). In Australian domestic wine market producers also compete against increasing imports form Chine and New Zealand; however, locals still are reported to prefer Australian brands (Roy Morgan Research, 2017).
Australia counts up to 60 regions in country which specialize in wine production most of which are located in the southeast due to the favorable climate conditions. Wine production and sales is attributed a high value at the state level, and a number of authorities and organizations control business in this sphere such as Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation (AWBC), Winemakers’ Federation of Australia, or Australian Grape and Wine Authority.
The industry features intense domestic competition. There are a lot of wineries due to low entrance/exit costs; however, in general the market could be characterized as monopolistic competitive (Reynolds, 2016). There are a few main players which set prices, and a large amount of small-scale wineries which operate in the parts of the market left unattended by the market leaders. As a consequence, the increased number of small-scale companies caused a price decrease recently due to increased supply compared to stable demand.
Company Profile
Audrey Wilkinson is one of the oldest wineries in Australia founded in 1866. In 2004 it was acquired by Agnew Wines PTY Ltd. Agnew Wines also owns two more wineries and reports producing 700,000 bottles a year and features a 3000 ton capacity winery ("About Us | Agnew Wines", 2017). Agnew Wines exports its production to the UK, Canada and China; however, its main market is the domestic market of Australia (Halliday, 2017). The major wines produced at Audrey Wilkinson are shiraz, semillon, malbec, verdelho, etc. This list is not unusual in Australia while most wineries offer …
