A new report, published by the Harvard Business Review, shows that women’s social networks are helping them gain the edge over their male counterparts in Champagne.
In the centuries-old Champagne business, you would be forgiven for imagining it as male dominated—within the region only 14% of grape growers are women. Yet in the business of champagne, there is a long history of women setting the pace and excelling. The most famous, perhaps, is Madame Clicquot. Widowed at 27, she took control of her husband’s Champagne business in 1805 (veuve being French for widow), and became one of the first women to lead a team of men. Demanding “only one quality, the finest”, her innovation led to her producing the first vintage wine of the Champagne region, the first Rosé blend in Champagne, and the “riddling table” as a way to clarify Champagne. The latter was swiftly adopted across the region, and is still in use today. It was in memory of her pioneering vision that the annual Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award was set up, which continues to ‘champion the success of business women worldwide who share the same qualities as Madame Clicquot.
Now a new report published by the Harvard Business Review evidences the fact that women continue to blaze a trail in the region. Taking into account 5,700 sales over a 17 year period, the report found that women growers were able to charge consistently higher prices for grapes of the same quality, up to a premium of 2%. As the authors Amandine Ody-Brasier and Isabel Fernandez-Mateo point out, “The difference might seem small, but for an average grape seller that would translate to more than 2,500 euros annually. Moreover, most Champagne growers are relatively small operations employing an average of about three employees. Thus an additional 2,500 euros is not trivial.”
The findings are surprising. Yet the reason for this difference seems rooted in the networks women grape growers have formed across the years. Remaining a minority in the region, the report found that women tended to seek support from one another more often, informal relationships that fostered the exchange of business knowledge and market information that men were reticent to share. As one male grower noted, “Price is not something people talk about in Champagne. It’s a private matter. For some reason, it makes people feel uncomfortable.” Yet the social networks built between women in the region stand in opposition and, whilst demonstrating the benefits of talking about price, has led to a very real competitive edge, translated into profit.
The report has implications for, and in the wider context of, women in business. While females remain a minority in senior management teams and executive positions, the report would seem to suggest that the obstacles this can pose can also lead to surprising advantages—stronger social and business networks that lead to tangible results. It is something the male grape growers in the Champagne region will have to adopt if they wish to catch up, and it perhaps gives us more reason than ever for opening a bottle.