Mondavi Winery Case

Bonny Doon Vineyards, a successful winery business based in Santa Cruz, California, has grown from selling 5,000 cases of wine a year in 1981 to 200,000 cases a year in 1999. To keep growing and be more profitable, the business must choose amongst three possible strategic directions. The first strategy is to start importing wines from Europe into the United States. The second alternative is branching into a retail outlet for unusual wines of great value, accompanied by a high level of service. Lastly, the business’ D.E.W.N could be expanded to include wines not made by the company itself but by other wineries that follow the same values and philosophy.

1) Evaluate the structure of the global wine industry? How and why is that structure changing? What threats do these changes present for Robert Mondavi?

Since the late 1960’s, California wine-maker Robert Mondavi has been perceived by its stakeholders as one of the world’s most innovative and high-quality producers of fine wine. It is therefore not surprising that the company has endured great financial success; in fact, it has secured an impressive annual growth in earnings per share of ~28% over the last 8 years. Recently however, there have been many external forces that may serve to threaten the long-term profitability of the firm: sales have been decreasing over the last 6 months due to a staggering economy, Australian imports are on the rise, shrinking the size of the pie for domestic firms, and there has been an industry wide trend to consolidate; existing firms are merging and

The dynamics of the global wine industry are better understood through a brief history of wine as well as an overview of the wine making process. Some countries have longer historical and cultural ties with wine then others and that can affect the quality and perception of the product in the eyes of the consumer. Also, the conditions in which the wine grapes are raised and the processes used to make the wine can create a superior wine and therefore a competitive advantage.

the working experience of an average employee is around 7 months which clearly tells that company is aggressively hiring the sales people.

Wine production involves two parts of economic activity – viticulture and wine making in the winery. In the global context, wine production is dynamic due to the influence of globalization, technological advancements and extensive research. These have essentially influenced the nature, spatial patterns and the ecological dimensions of the wine industry.

The buyer’s power within the wine industry varies between different places in the world. There are for example strategic differences between Europe and the “New World”. The “New World” includes countries like the US, Australia, Chile and South Africa. In Europe there is a big competition

The scope of the innovation expertise that New World wine producers have is value-chain wide in scope, and in-depth enough to completely re-order manufacturing, fermentation, distribution channel, pricing, marketing and customer service (Cholette, 2009). New World wine producers

Vincor International Inc. is in the business of selling premium wine to discerning wine drinkers. The company relies on its firm resources and capabilities from which it derives its distinctive competencies. These include the ability to produce market and distribute premium New World wines to a growing market of customers around the world. The total estimated world market is worth approximately $190 billion dollars (U.S.).

When combining the figures for ROE, ROA and the DuPont analysis it appears that the company is using leverage favourably. ROE is greater than ROA and assets are greater than equity. This is a positive sign for shareholders as it suggests a good investment return in a company that is managing its shareholder equity well (Evans & McDowell, 2009).

On May 2001, Michael Mondavi took over the position of chairman of Robert Mondavi Company, as well Greg Evans assumed as CEO. They company was founded in 1966, and has became one of the world’s finest and most innovative winemakers, currently having sales for 480 millions, and firm’s market value about $ 600 million.

Return on Total Assets was 4.43% which is below five percent. That indicates that the company is not accurately converting its assets into profit. The total for Return on Stockholders’ Equity was 8.89%, however financial analysts prefer ROE to range between 15-20 %. The company’s low ROE indicates that the company is not generating profit with new investments. Lastly, Debt-to-Equity ratio for the company was 1.01 which indicates that investors and creditors are equally sharing assets. In the view of creditors, they see a high ratio as a risk factor because it can indicate that investors are not investing due to the company’s overall performance. The totals of these three ratios demonstrate that the company’s financial state is not as healthy as it should be.

In 2001 there were over 1 million wine producers worldwide, and no firm accounted for more than 1% of global retail sales. Because of this, it would be nearly impossible for the Robert Mondavi winery to dominate sales in any region. Due to Mondavi’s efforts, the winery became one of America’s most innovative,

This industry has seen very limited growth since 1986. Based on Exhibit 4 (C-271, the total wine consumption in the US) and Exhibit 5 (C-271, per capita wine consumption in the US) the wine industry is in the maturity stage. It could

Making wine is nothing else but a touch of passion, love and few drops of magic. From the first view, wine industry seems very artistic and secret at the same time. There is no doubt that hearing that Robert Mondavi Corporation is going to layoff 4% of its workforce ring the bell to the investors, at the same type the stock price dropping down dramatically makes an impression that the company is going through difficult period as the senior management is upon completing the reconfiguring future strategy. The big decision is whether to get back to original vision, and focus on the domestic market, which bring a 90% of revenues or continue diversification and keep on pursuing the vision of