Selling tequila to China: a cocktail party with no clear winners

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the relationship between cooperative actions among tequila enterprises and progress made on exporting tequila to China as a product with appellation of origin. The paper uses qualitative research methods including interviews, content analysis of literature, official statistics and statistics from Chinese e-commerce platforms. The research findings suggest that the meager progress made is the result of the predominance of non-cooperative strategies intended to promote the brands of each individual enterprise, which is understandable, given the oligopolistic structure of the export-oriented tequila industry, the product features as well as the idiosyncrasies of the Chinese market. Recommendations are made for the use of a repertoire of cooperative actions in order to achieve the product acceptance instead of favoring individualistic brand positioning strategies.