Full cost analysis for the creation of managerial benchmarks in the wine sector: a case study in Tuscany

This paper aims at identifying and quantifying the connection between a winery business typology and its production cost per bottle in order to create benchmarks for managerial and organizational choices. Accounting data from wineries in representative areas of the Tuscan wine sector were collected with direct, face-to-face interviews. The data were processed using a Cost Accounting model elaborated by UniCeSV (Centre for the Strategic Development of the Wine Sector, University of Florence) to classify costs according to production phases and production factors. The study was completed using a Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) approach to investigate the relation between cost structures and business typologies. The implementation of the Cost Accounting model and the HCA showed a strong relationship between how wineries are organized and how costs are structured. Moreover, the weight of geographical localization (in terms of belonging to a specific Denomination of Origin area) has proved to be a key determinant in the shape of the cost structures of wineries.