Determinants of export performance in SMEs: the case of the French wine industry

Abstract

1 The weight of French SMEs in the French economy is substantial. Indeed, they represent 99.5 per cent of French companies. In 2002, there were “2,088,000 SMEs (composed each of less than 250 employees), i.e. (…) 63 per cent of the whole employment in France, 53 per cent of the Added Value, 24 per cent of exports… ” (Source: Les Chiffres Clés des PME, www.pme.gouv.fr): all these figures show that it is necessary to identify what drives the export development of French SMEs. The issue of the competitivity of small and medium-sized wine companies is topical considering the crisis most of them have been facing since the beginning of the 2000s. From 2000 to 2005, the number of French wine growing companies fell from 92,100 to 77,700 1. According to Dominique BUSSEREAU, The French Minister of Agriculture, the French wine industry, which is mainly composed of SMEs, would be coming out of this crisis 2, pointing out a recovery of exports in 2006. This unfavourable period, characterized among others by a decrease in domestic sales, has made necessary the export activity and the search for new

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