TIME FOR CHANGE: TOOLS ENHANCING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE WINE BUSINESS

Strategy implementation failure, a continuing debate, jeopardises business performance. Our study complements this research by examining the overlooked role of competitive advantage, facilitating implementation and securing profitability, a leadership responsibility. Globally wine businesses struggle with profitability, signalling the lack of competitive advantage. To understand the failure of strategy implementation in the wine business, we explored the influence of the perceived leadership style on employee satisfaction which affects the strategy implementation and business performance results of selected businesses in the South African wine industry. The South African wine industry exemplifies the global wine industry, and an under-researched context, was the setting for studying this problem. An exploratory qualitative case study collected data by interviewing participants from purposively selected businesses, which were content analysed. Leadership plays a significant role in shaping a competitive advantage. The reasons for the strategy implementation failure can be summarized as the thwarting of employees’ needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness, which are the levers of motivation. These motivational needs can be addressed by effective coordination and cooperation, which are integral to the structural dimensions of organisation for implementing strategy. The structural dimensions of organisation for implementing strategy unlocks human competence to implement strategy, and harness competitive advantage. Autocratic leadership styles, more so than democratic leadership styles, have undermined the structural dimensions of organisation for implementing strategy. Structural dimensions of organisation for implementing strategy can thus serve as a tool enhancing competitive advantage and guide leadership to implement strategy to improve business performance. This study augments overlooked research on strategy in wine businesses, favouring technical and marketing agendas and provides leadership with practical tools to enhance competitive advantage, facilitating strategy implementation and securing much needed profitability. The main limitation of the study is its cross-sectional nature. Scholars can modify their research agendas to include strategy considerations in addition to technical and marketing issues. Practitioners can immediately use the proposed tools for change to shape a competitive advantage, facilitating strategy implementation and securing profitability, and so augment a solid product with a sound strategy.