Wine Wars: The Mondavi Affair, Globalization and Terror

This is a failure story that has been told by the media all over the world. In this book, Olivier Torres, describes Californian-based wine producer Robert Mondavi's attempt to set up business in a small, world-renowned wine-producing village in the south of France. At the beginning, everyone seemed to win. The Mondavi group would produce an exceptional wine, the local wine co-operative would benefit from Mondavi's know-how and the region would improve its image as a producer of high-quality wines. The business venture was nevertheless brought to an abrupt halt by an anti-globalization rebellion composed of ecologists, communists, neo-rurals and wild-boar hunters.

The Mondavi affair illustrates the importance of culture, history, geography and economic and political systems in conditioning our spirit of enterprise and the way in which we do business. It opens up perspectives for reflection in fields as varied as international management and entrepreneurship, local development and political science.

About the Author:
Olivier Torres is Assistant Professor at the University of Montpellier (ERFI-GREG) and Associate Researcher at EM Lyon, France