Wine has been produced by traditional landholders in the Douro region for some 2,000 years. Since the 18 th century, its main product, port wine, has been world famous for its quality. This long tradition of viticulture has produced a cultural landscape of outstanding beauty that reflects its technological, social and economic evolution (UNESCO).
Published in Chapter:
The Douro Demarcated Region: The Relevance of Tourism in the Internationalization Strategies of Companies
Sérgio António Neves Lousada (FCEE, DECG, University of Madeira, Portugal & VALORIZA, Portugal & ARAM, University of Extremadura, Spain & Institute of Research on Territorial Governance and Inter-Organizational Cooperation, Poland & CITUR, Madeira, Portugal), Cátia Tabau (University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal), Eduardo Leite (School of Technology and Management, University of Madeira (UMa), Funchal, Portugal & Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Madeira, Portugal), and Andreia Carvalho (Higher Institute of Administration and Languages, CIISAL - ISAL Research Center, Madeira, Portugal)
Copyright: © 2022
|Pages: 18
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-8482-8.ch026
Abstract
This chapter seeks to understand the motivations that lead companies to internationalize and how they do it since this has been a constant challenge for business research. For this purpose, a descriptive research was conducted with a qualitative strategy applied on different companies in the wine sector. International trade is a Portuguese tradition that started and reached its peak in the 16th century with the Portuguese and Spanish discoveries, which justifies this study. The wine industry, particularly in the Douro Region, has also always been closely linked to foreign trade and has even benefited from a historic trade agreement with the United Kingdom. The empirical results show that companies are practically born international. The size of the domestic market was the main justification for the demand for external markets. The constant evolution of markets and industries generates opportunities and potential threats to which companies must be able to respond.