An international consulting programme unique in the world for wineries
For the first time this year, the students of the School of Wine & Spirits Business (SWSB) of BSB (Burgundy School of Business) are being mobilised in a brand new and unique project, called the Greek Wineries Project.
In partnership with the Greek Wine Federation, the main organisation of Greek wine producers (65% in volume, 80% of national exports), students, in small groups, will carry out in-depth studies for Greek wineries in order to develop very concrete export strategies.
A unique opportunity for these students to be immersed in the real practice of international consulting, and for the wineries to benefit from valuable expertise in order to develop in markets around the world.
Incomparable experience for students serving the sector
For this first edition of the project, which was due to start last November, but which will finally take place over a three-month period starting in February given the Covid context, four Greek domains have been selected.
We are very pleased to be launching a programme of this magnitude. Our objective is twofold: to enable our students to be as close as possible to the practice of international consulting in the framework of an immersive pedagogy; and to be useful to the global wine industry by offering producers a high-level expertise for their international development.
Wine is culture – And with Greece we are well-served!
Today there are around 1,300 producers in the country, with a high overall quality and above all, exciting prospects for development. Greek wine has already attracted the attention of international markets, but the objective is to offer a tailor-made strategy to “boutique wineries” seeking to develop their exports. Thus, Greece is an ideal area to inaugurate our programme, which is due to be extended to other areas of the world from next year. We also benefit from our proximity to Prof. Theodore Georgopoulos, General Director of the Greek Wine Federation and a longstanding speaker for the SWSB.
SWSB Director, Jérôme Gallo
Both global and specific content
The first edition of the Wineries Project is aimed at the fifteen students of the MBA Wine & Spirits Business, but will be involved in all SWSB programmes in the future, eventually benefiting around a dozen wineries per year.
In groups of 3 or 4 the students will initially work on a diagnostic of the entire Greek sector on the international markets. Then in a second major stage, new groups will be formed and each of them associated with a particular winery, so that a specific study of that producer can be carried out.
The first stage began with a tasting phase of about twenty wines sent by the 4 wineries. The aim for each of the groups is to produce an 80-page report, including around 40 pages presenting an individualised export strategy adapted to the winery, with marketing recommendations, in particular: depending on the types of wine produced, which markets should I go to and how? Given the sometimes sensitive nature of the information shared with the producers, the students will all be asked to sign a confidentiality charter.
Chris McIndoe, project manager, consultant, wine merchant, and long-time SWSB speaker.
The presentation sessions are planned for June… in Athens if conditions allow.