Inside of an innovation ecosystem : evidence from the Brazilian wine sector

Background and Aims: Some studies bring different visions of innovation among the stakeholders of the wine sector;however, there is a gap in our understanding of the characteristics of and the relationship between the ecosystem and thestakeholders. This study aims to identify and measure critical success factors (CSFs) of the wine innovation ecosystem.Methods and Results: A mixed-method approach with 29 qualitative questionnaires for wine managers, and a survey of138 wine managers from Brazilian wine regions were employed. The survey validated 30 critical factors that were identiedfrom the literature and which were validated in the qualitative research. The critical factors were then submitted to a sup-port factorial analysis, resulting in 27 CSFs related to six new dimensions of the wine ecosystem. The dimensions identiedby the factorial analysis were evaluated by indicators and measured for four clusters of companies.Conclusions: The study identied the dimensions and CSFs related to four Brazilian winery clusters: (i) medium business—businesses focused on social and economic entrepreneurship; (ii) large business—focused on entrepreneurship and leader-ship in the development of sustainable products and services; (iii) startup—expanding businesses focused on economicgrowth; and (iv) small business—focused on entrepreneurship and innovation for a sustainable economy.Signicance of the Study: This study demonstrated the benet of using dimensions and CSFs to create innovative strate-gies to improve the competitiveness and performance of the wine ecosystem