I recently came across an article on Wine Business’ website which discussed a survey of 149 wine businesses recently compiled by the Wine Business Institute at Sonoma State University. The focus of the survey was to determine the common key success factors and the common challenges that wineries are encountering in todays very dynamic marketplace.

I was definitely glad to see that understanding compliance and regulatory issues made it onto the list of “Key Success Factors”. It made it onto that list at number 5. It also made it onto the list in the second part of the survey. That list asked survey participants about their top challenges. Compliance came in second place here.

So after viewing these two contrasting “Top 5” lists and in one seeing compliance as #5 on the list and in the #2 spot on the other I’m left a bit at a loss. If wineries are realizing the value of understanding compliance as a key factor in their business’ success but still giving it second place on their top challenges list then shouldn’t it be higher up than 5 out of 5 for key success factors? To me if something is a challenge to your business’ success and is also an essential part of it which compliance is for the wine industry then minimize the challenge it presents by making it more of a priority.

The steps to making compliance a priority in their business’ success looks different to each winery. There are some similarities across the board such as proper licensing at all government levels, record system requirements and reporting requirements. The key here is that the compliance “shoe” so to speak needs to fit them. It also must be kept up and maintained regularly otherwise the challenges can arise.

In the perfect wine business world I’d like to see this survey done where understanding compliance only appears on the “Key Success Factors” list BECAUSE it was successfully removed from the “Challenges” list.

To view the whole article here is a link:

http://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataid=91836