Profitability determinants in the Piedmont wine industry

Italian wine is synonymous with excellence all over the world. This suggests the potentialities of this sector in order to showcase the region of Piedmont and its economy. The aim of this paper is to focus solely on Piedmont’s wine companies, in order to identify the determinants that are able to influence the firms’profitability. Our target is to provide useful elements to help wine producers to expand their business and to orient their strategies. In particular, we have found a positive and significant relation between firm profitability and two variables: export intensity and firm size. This evidence must be an incentive to winemaking in order to expand business abroad and to improve company’s dimensions with aggregations and investments.