1. Skoff Wine Case Study 1
Skoff Wine Case Study
Cindy N. Tran
MGMT 434
11/20/14
Section 004

2. Skoff Wine Case Study 2
Executive Summary
Walter and Joachim Skoff are the fourth and fifth generation of the family to grow wine
in Southern Styria. They both have the same goal in trying to express the taste of Strian terroir in
each of their wines. The Walter Skoff Wine Estate is a wine company that has over 1.7 hectare
vineyards and in 2008 they produced about 600,000 bottles of wine out of their 85 hectares
vineyards. Their philosophy is in expressed in its slogan “Wine is life – our life is wine”. It
shows the high connection and dedication of the Skoff family to the wine business. Their
philosophy is trying to express the individual taste and unique personality. The wine estate also
has a restaurant called Buschenschank. Each year, the company has grown about 10% to 20% in
general. Around 91% of the production volume is white wine, 7% is red wine, 1% is sweet and
almost 1% is sparkling wine. Walter Skoff Wine Estate was the most awarded winery in Austria
for several years, combined with national and international awards have proven their wine
quality.

3. Skoff Wine Case Study 3
Walter Skoff Wine Estate has entered in the Asian market before like Japan and
Singapore. Which both countries ended up being successful in. Now, they aimed at trying to
enter in the Chinese Market for wine. They have different market entry strategies on how to
enter China. The importance in making a Chinese-foreign business transactions is joint ventures.
A joint venture is a business agreement where the two or more parties agree to develop for a
definite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. It still represents an attractive
market entry for foreign companies since it allows the parties involved to take mutual advantage
out of it.
I feel that they should stick to their original market entry strategy. Their strategy was to
direct export. They planned to adapt their products to the specific market demand. For an
example, they made Chardonnay to the specific needs for the US market. They pursued this
strategy of product adaption for foreign markets. I believe that this would be a good idea but
then it can be costly if they want to meet the specific needs for the foreign market they’re
entering. Also these strategies have been used in previous markets like Japan, Singapore, and
US.
In the Chinese market, it is very difficult for Austrian wines to compete and justify its
high prices, but mostly due to lack of popularity. Only 16 Austrian wineries succeed in
exporting wines to China in 2009. Austria’s image is still primarily built upon the associations
to Vienna, music and Mozart. Austria took part at the World EXPO 2010 in Shanghai in hopes
to increase their popularity in China.
There seems to be a rising surge in China’s import of Austrian wine it steadily goes up
from 2004 to 2007. 2007 seems to be the peak year they have in the imports of Austrian wine. In
2007, China imported 44.963 volumes in liters and had the value of 233.928 in euros.

4. Skoff Wine Case Study 4
I feel that for China’s market, they need a group who would liaise, cooperate and support
one another. Most important one would be developing and maintain good relationships to the
Chinese partners and other key stakeholders. Allowed them to build up trust, which in the end
play an important role in China’s business and marketing. Establishment of a distribution system
seems very crucial in China’s business.
I think having some people work on the entry to China’s market would be a good start.
Having one or two people oversee them as they work on entering the market. It would be better
to have a group focus one market instead of trying to work different markets at the same time. It
would be easily manageable on having different groups working on different markets. Walter
and Joachim Skoff would have the final say in every business decisions.

5. Skoff Wine Case Study 5
Having that group fly over to China and try to promote the wine. Going to the wine fairs
in China would be a good start because different people would have a lot of tastings of different
wines. Some can even want to have those wines in the grocery stores or restaurants. In 2009,
there were numerous of wine fairs that took place in China. Majority of the wine market’s
volume is trade-on companies such as clubs and restaurants distributed 67.1%. There’s a chart of
where all the wine fair Austrian wineries have attended.

6. Skoff Wine Case Study 6
Walter Skoff Wine Estate has a good chance in entering the market for China by the
strategies they have come up with. They won several awards both national and international
which proves that they have premium quality for their wine. The company continues to grow
each year. Getting a joint venture would be a great start in the market. The company had
success in other countries like Japan and Singapore.

7. Skoff Wine Case Study 7
References
The family secret of our wine. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2014, from
http://www.skofforiginal.com/en/wine-estate/family/
Skoff, C. (n.d.). Strategic Management for the Walter Skoff Wine Estate: Decision
on the market entry to China.