Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 April 2018
In this article, we investigate a possible conflict between two core objectives of cooperatives, members’ income, and continuity, by examining the link between debt and the price paid to producers for Bordeaux wine cooperatives, according to their downstream strategies: (1) the traditional strategy, which is to sell wine in bulk to négociants; (2) joining a federation of cooperatives which blends and puts the wine in the retail market; and (3) vertical integration. We show that downstream strategies are related to different lending regimes, making the relationship between banks and cooperatives a key issue for the lifecycle of cooperatives. (JEL Classifications: D230, G320, Q130)
The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewer of the Journal of Wine Economics for helpful comments as well as well as to participants at the American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE) workshop in Bolzano, Italy, in 2017. They would like to acknowledge the support of the Fédération des Caves Coopératives d'Aquitaine (FCVA).