Financial strategies of multinational firms in the world wine industry: An assessment

This work sheds light on the emergence of financialization in the wine industry by wine multinationals (MNEs). First, we suggest a conceptual framework to analyze MNEs' strategies in the world market. Second, by using a sample of major MNEs listed on stock markets, we focus on shareholder value sharing (dividends, stock buybacks). Our results demonstrate wine MNEs entered in a new era in which strategies are driven by attempts to maximize shareholder value through financialization. This entails restructuring operations and financial engineering. Finally, we discuss the implications of these strategies for industrial concentration. [EconLit classification: F230, G300].