Wine Territory Competitiveness

The wine sector is a world of territories. There are regions, sub-regions, appellations, and terroir and the success of any winery cannot be disconnected from the territory where it lives. There are also multiple stakeholders and publics in a wine territory.

Challenging and enhancing the efficiency of a wine territory, questioning its organization, stimulating interactions, improving its regional quality standards, and enabling the voice of publics, are key success factors. They go to the heart of the territory’s international development and the recognition of its wines.

We are working on various aspects impacting the competitiveness of a wine territory, including the exploration of a regional identity, optimizing wine region governance, wine territory development, public interests, and wine trade.




Current Projects

BC Wine Identity

Regional identity is one of the pillars of an internationally competitive wine region and working with the industry to develop its sense of identity has been one of our key activities. Identity is shaped by distinct characteristics, and refers to commonalities and differences, in and across sub-regions as well as across the whole territory.

In the wine industry each behaviour, choice, and action matters – individually and collectively. To secure current markets and develop new ones, a wine territory needs to establish itself as a world-recognized wine territory. To achieve that, the wine industry must shape an authentic and shared identity, which it has to communicate clearly to multiple stakeholders.

Associated Researchers

Roger Sugden, Faculty of Management, UBC Okanagan
Malida Mooken, Faculty of Management, UBC Okanagan
Kim Buschert, Faculty of Management, UBC Okanagan

Wine Industry Strategic Collaboration

The wine sector is traditionally fragmented, so collaboration between the stakeholders is a key issue because collaboration is not always deliberate. The Wine Research Centre conducts research on developing specific tools and original learning experiences in order to stimulate strategic thinking based on strong collective reflection processes.  As an example, the annual Wine Leaders Forum brings together winery owners and principals with the aim to foster an environment characterized by free expression, where relationships can progress, facilitated by shared knowledge and applied research. We are also collaborating with the British Columbia Wine Grape Council (BCWGC) to develop a research and development road map to guide strategic decision making on R&D investments for the BC wine and grape industry over the coming years. 

Associated Researchers

Roger Sugden, Faculty of Management, UBC Okanagan
Malida Mooken, Faculty of Management, UBC Okanagan


The Geography of Wine

Understanding the Geography of Wine has many facets that include climatological, geophysical, cultural, political and social dimensions coming together to create unique landscapes, regions, sub-regions and the creation of terroir.  The influence of wine region landscapes in particular has been shown to influence human mobility, specifically tourism and migration. Our research investigates the role that wine regions play in the establishment and competitiveness of wine tourism destinations and the sway that wine landscapes and lifestyle have in influencing migration patterns in contemporary and historical contexts. A second research project in the cultural geography of wine investigates the use of landscape imagery in wine product labeling and design.

Associated Researchers

Donna Senese, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UBC Okanagan
Benjamin Bryce, Faculty of Arts, UBC Vancouver

Close-up of glass at winery