Efficiency-Enhancing Strategies in The Roman Wine Trade - From Producer To Consumer
Efficiency-Enhancing Strategies in The Roman Wine Trade - From Producer To Consumer
6, 377-388
D
From Producer to Consumer
Wim Broekaert
Ghent University, Belguim
DA VID
PUBLISHING
This paper argues that models developed in 20th century management literature can offer a valuable perspective on the organization of the ancient Roman wine trade. Similar to modern business, Roman entrepreneurs tried to enhance efficiency by implementing a wide range of techniques according to goals and available resources. The famous Ansoff matrix is used to analyse these techniques in function of the markets supplied by Roman merchants and the product diversification they applied. This approach explains how Roman entrepreneurs tried to cope with the limitations of a volatile pre-industrial business world: only the combination of a large family of semi-dependent agents and elite capital allowed successful large-scale engagement in the wine trade. Keywords: Roman wine trade, investment, efficiency techniques, Ansoff matrix
Introduction
In order to manage a successful business, entrepreneurs, ancient and modern, have devised a large variety of corporate strategies to increase levels of efficiency and reduce costs. To implement these strategies, entrepreneurs need a perceptive analysis of economic opportunities and market development. Especially in pre-industrial volatile business environments, where the information on opportunities was limited and often outdated when reaching entrepreneurs, the application of tried and tested marketing techniques was required to reduce risks and uncertainties. This paper will focus on the various tools available to wine merchants for enhancing marketing efficiency and on the barriers limiting the introduction of these techniques. I will argue that Roman merchants, very similar to contemporary entrepreneurs, applied a wide range of strategies and made decisions according to perceived goals or available resources. The text is organized as follows: a first section will present the theoretical framework used to classify different strategies. Next, I will present several case-studies illustrating the application of these techniques in the Roman wine trade. The final section discusses the barriers merchants were confronted with and offers some general conclusions.
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to merchants can offer a model to delve deeper in the actual decision-making of ancient entrepreneurs. The matrix systematizes strategies employed by firms with an objective of growth and increased efficiency. Based on the variables of market, product and development stage, the matrix classifies strategies into four quadrants1. The arrow in the middle identifies increasing risks in applying new techniques. Table 1 The Ansoff Matrix
Existing market New market Existing product Market penetration Market development New product Product development Diversification
Market penetration: The entrepreneur envisages a more efficient distribution of existing products to existing markets without departing from his initial specialization. Increasing sales can be accomplished either by organizing distribution on a larger scale and attracting more first-time users through advertising in an expanding market, or by capturing a larger market share in saturated markets through joint ventures, price reductions etc.. This strategy involves few risks, as the firm continues to leverage core capabilities and resources. Market development: An existing product is introduced to a new market, for instance through business internationalization. Discovering and entering a new market involves a certain amount of costs and uncertainty, so entrepreneurs have to calculate risks and potential profitability. Product development: New products different from the firms core specialization are offered to existing markets. Reliable business relationships and customer loyalty created by previous interaction facilitate the process. Firms are not likely to increase profit margins immediately, for they will first face development and launching costs, apart from the risk of simply failing to introduce the new product. Diversification: New products are distributed in new market structures. As this strategy requires entering a different market and the development of new core competencies and resources, it carries the highest risk level. It is not without reason that contemporary literature describes this quadrant as the suicide box. A further distinction is made among: Vertical diversification: The firm moves into other stages of the production and distribution chain, either a stage behind (backward integration) or in front (forward integration) of its own specialization. Both strategies allow for more control over supply and distribution, but require major investments. Concentric or related diversification: The firm introduces a new product closely related to current products. This strategy has the obvious advantage that it allows entrepreneurs to make use of previous experience and business relationships. Conglomerate or unrelated diversification: A completely new product is introduced to new markets. In this case the firm cannot rely on prior expertise and contacts and consequently faces high risks.
EFFICIENCY-ENHANCING STRATEGIES IN THE ROMAN WINE TRADE technique was available to all merchants engaged in this trade.
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Market Penetration Techniques employed to make distribution more efficient, increase sales or reduce operational costs are particularly difficult to trace for the Roman business world, because we simply do not possess archives and serial data to recognize better sales figures or larger market shares and are thus unable to assess the success rate of these strategies. Nevertheless, increasing the efficiency of distribution for an existing product in an existing market is the most common and easily implementable technique available to most businessmen, even those operating on a moderate scale. Even though Roman sources defy quantification of financial success, they do allow us to identify attempts to increase scale and efficiency and rationalize distribution. I shall discuss the use of technological improvements, next the creation of personal networks and family relationships and finally techniques to stimulate customer loyalty. First, a major technological improvement of large-scale wine distribution was the introduction of the so-called dolia-ships, vessels in which large ceramic containers were attached in the hold.2 The content of a single dolium varied between 1,500 and 3,000 litre, so on average the capacity of one doliume qualled some 100 wine amphorae (Dr. 1 or Dr. 2-4). The aggregate weight of the container however was significantly reduced: for the Grand Ribaud D wreck for instance, the application of the dolia-technique allowed the shipper to take aboard 50% more wine than he would have been able to when using single amphorae3. Transport costs were thus severely reduced, but in addition other operational costs should also have been lowered. Filling a single dolium with wine was far less time-consuming and labour-intensive than collecting a batch of amphorae, filling the vessels and closing them with stoppers and finally writes the titulipicti to identify the content, producer and merchant. Obviously the dolia-technique entailed some disadvantages as well. Attaching the large containers in the hold or purchasing a dolia-ship definitely required some initial capital outlay. Moreover, the technique reduced commercial possibilities: investing in a dolia-ship would only be profitable when supplying markets with a constant large demand for wine. The choice of return cargo was evidently limited, for storing other liquids than wine in the containers would definitely contaminate the taste of the next cargo of wine. Nevertheless, dolia-ships must have been considered worth the investment, for after their introduction during the 2nd century BC, they continue to occur in Mediterranean wine transport until at least the 3rd century AD. Moreover, the demand for these large containers must have been sufficiently high to allow at least one Italian family, the Pirani, to specialize in the production of dolia for maritime commerce, for several wrecks contain dolia marked with stamps citing the name of a member of the Pirani family4. A very similar technological development in the Roman wine trade, viz. the quick diffusion of barrels, equally aimed at reducing transport costs. While initially developed for the transport of beer, barrels increasingly started to replace amphorae in the wine trade from the early empire onwards, especially in the Gallic and north Italian regions. As distribution maps of Roman barrels clearly indicate that virtually all discoveries have been made in military camps, the introduction seems to be closely related to the development of a new major demand along the northern frontier5. Even though high-quality wine stored in amphorae
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Hesnard 1997; Heslin 2011. Hesnard et alii 1988. 4 Gianfrotta 1990. Several stamps of the Pirani have now been published: AE 1963, 113b; AE 1986, 239a-b; AE 1998, 543a and d; AE 2008, 616 and BCAR 1998, 342. 5 Marlire 2001 for the archaeological remains of barrels.
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continued to reach the limes during the imperial era, more humble vintages (probably destined for the production of posca) were exported in huge quantities warranting the use of a container with a product-to-package ratio superior to amphorae. Italian and Spanish wine merchants had already reduced the usage of amphorae by transporting common wine in dolia-ships, so businessmen were well-aware of the benefits of containers other than the traditional Mediterranean amphorae. Moreover, the use of dolia-ships may even have stimulated the diffusion of barrels. When arriving in Lyon, the bulk cargoes of these large sea-going vessels had to be transferred to smaller ships, sailing the Rhne and Sane and supplying the northern provinces, and hence to other containers as well. Instead of storing the wine in locally produced heavy ceramic containers, Gallic merchants relied on wooden barrels to keep transport costs low6. Second, to increase the scale of distribution in an existing market, merchants tried to interconnect to various specialized networks of wine distribution. Valerius Threptus, a wine trader operating in Ostia, therefore joined two different associations closely related to the distribution stage on the local marketplace (forum vinarium)7. Similarly, Carullius Felicissimus became a member in the associations of wine merchants in both Ostia and Rome, which allowed him to find a better match between the demand in Rome and the supply in Ostia8. For these wine traders, each association would yield different connections to partners in trade and increase opportunities for cooperation and information gathering. This strategy became a real trade mark of the Ostian businessman and aristocrat Cn. Sentius Felix, who had joined associations of ship-owners, local wine merchants and shippers on the Adriatic, but at the same time had been elected patron of an astonishing number of other professional associations, including wine merchants operating in the capital, auctioneers, bankers, grain-measures, oil merchants, fish merchants and barge-skippers9. On a supra-individual level, wine merchants relied on a standard technique of Roman commerce, viz. the use of slaves and freedmen. Large families in particular seem to have introduced several of their dependent and semi-dependent agents to the same specialization in order to capture a larger market share. This strategy can be traced from the earliest days of Italian wine export onwards, as already in the 2nd century BC, the family of the Luccii appears to have stimulated freedmen to join their patrons in the wine trade. Amphora stoppers on Dr. 1A and 1C wine amphorae present the names of both freeborn and freed members of the Luccii shipping wine to Gaul and Africa10. Another technique to increase efficiency and dominate local markets is the creation of interfamily networks of businessmen with similar interests. C. Apronius Raptor for instance, a member of the Lyonese wine merchants and shippers on the Sane, was linked through ties of marriage to the family of the Helvii, who were also present in the same association of shippers11. Both families no doubt mutually benefitted from this connection, in particular to obtain (perhaps at reduced tariffs) transport services and merchandize. Finally, wine merchants tried to improve performance by stimulating customer loyalty. Concern for quality and service are obvious techniques, but virtually untraceable in our sources. A single inscription however can suggest how merchants may have tried to establish trading connections. An association of wine traders leasing storage space in one of the warehouses owned by the emperor honours an imperial slave by
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Tchernia 1997. CIL 14.430. 8 CIL 14.318. 9 CIL 14.409. 10 Hesnard and Gianfrotta 1989, B17-B18. 11 Apronius Raptor: CIL 13.1911 and 11179. Connection between the Aproniiand Helvii: CIL 12.2243 and 2259. Helvii in the association of shippers: CIL 13.1918 and AE 1975, 613. For marriage as an economic strategy in Roman business, see Broekaert 2013.
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offering him membership without any entrance fees or additional costs12. They probably merely hoped for more favourable rents by strengthening the connections with one of the slaves responsible for managing the imperial property, but on the other hand we cannot exclude that at the same time the wine merchants wished to attract the imperial house as a major customer with a considerable demand for the merchandize they specialized in. Market Development Entering new markets must have been the most common technique for Roman entrepreneurs to increase profit margins, in particular because imperialism and the conquest of the Mediterranean world and beyond continuously opened up new markets for the Roman lifestyle, evidently including the consumption of wine. As the Roman government was thus to a large extent responsible for market development, merchants had the ability to save on costs usually connected to identify and enter new markets. Supported and protected by the presence of the Roman armies, wine merchants could engage in large-scale distribution in a relatively favourable business environment. An early example of the introduction of Roman vintages to non-Italian markets is offered by the famous story by Diodorus Siculus, stating that the demand in Gaul for wines was so high, that local chieftains were willing to trade a slave for a single amphora and Roman merchants made huge profits13. Archaeology has confirmed the large-scale presence of early Italian wine amphorae all over Gaul14. Even after the period of conquest, the continuing favourable trading conditions as a result of the creation of a large empire encouraged merchants to enter markets in different provinces and even regions beyond state control. First, some businessmen seem to have combined local distribution with export to more distant markets. The wine merchant Tenatius Essimnus, who originated from Trento, probably ran a shop and/or inn in his native city, as suggested by the reliefs on his funerary monument, showing Essimnus in a wine cellar pouring wine from an amphora in a smaller vessel, perhaps ready to serve his clients. His epitaph however was found in Raetia, suggesting he also exported Italian vintage to the northern provinces, probably supplying the military market along the frontier, and had died during a business trip15. Second, in frontier zones, Mediterranean vintages were often distributed, either by Roman merchants themselves, travelling to marketplaces inland and engaging in commerce with local elites, or by native people engaging in mediatory trade. The Roman businessmen who, according to Tacitus had settled at the court of the Marcomannic king, probably exported wine across the frontier16. Mediatory trade on the other hand can be traced in northern Africa, where merchants sold wine to pastoralist tribes such as the Garamantes, who imported Italian amphorae to their home regions beyond the frontier17. Finally, Mediterranean wines even reached more distant markets, far beyond the Roman frontier. Italian vintages were exported as far as India by Roman merchant families such as the Peticii (cf. infra). Product Development Introducing new products to regular customers was a common strategy available even for small-scale entrepreneurs, especially when there was some kind of connection between the merchants specialization and
CIL 6.8826. DiodorusSiculusBibl. Hist. 5.26.3. 14 Loughton 2003 with distribution maps of amphorae finds. 15 AE 1984, 707 and Wolff 1983. For the export of Mediterranean wines to the Danube region via northern Italy, see HerodianAb exc. 8.2.3. We cannot exclude however that Essimnus had on the contrary settled in Raetia and started running a local wine shop, importing Italian vintages to the north. 16 Tacitus Ann. 2.62.3. For the presence of Roman amphorae in the northern provinces, see the maps in Martin-Kilcher 1994. 17 Mattingly et alii 2007 and 2010 with lists of the Roman wine amphorae imported in the Garamantian territory.
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the new merchandize. Roman evidence indeed suggests that the products added to the merchants supplies usually either catered for closely related demands or customer-specific demands, or were determined by production factors. In the first case, wine merchants may have opted for broadening the range of consumption goods presented to their clientele. A relief from Dijon for instance shows a wine merchant running a shop (or perhaps a pub) and serving wine18. On the walls, several pig heads and hams can be seen, suggesting the merchant was also offering pork and perhaps other foodstuffs. A different kind of product development into a related sector is the combined distribution of wine and the vessels wine was served and stored in. In the early 2nd century AD, a businessman from Trier, Murranius Verus, specialized in the sale of wine and ceramics, more specifically pitchers and perhaps amphorae, as suggested by the small decorative relief above the inscription19. Verus may have widened the scope of a family business his father was already engaged in: a small inscription on a late 1st century Gallic barrel of wine reads T. Iul(i) Murrani, most likely the name of the merchant distributing the barrels20. As according to Celtic onomastics the gentilicium of a child was derived from the fathers cognomen, Verus could have been Murranuss son, succeeding his father in the wine trade but also taking control of the distribution of specialized vessels. Second, customer-based product development requires merchants to identify a specific demand for a range of non-related products. Merchants supplying the military garrisons along the frontier for instance would easily find a market for a large variety of goods, including textiles, weapons, food and drinks, including wine. It is hence no coincidence that a considerable part of the traders operating in the Rhine provinces fail to mention a commercial specialization21. However, given the large concentrations of wine amphorae in the military camps, many of these all-round merchants must have brought wine from the Mediterranean and central Gallic area to the frontier. Finally, production factors also influenced the range of goods a merchant had to offer, in the sense that a trader purchasing wine on an estate was able to buy other crops and finished products on the same location. Hence we know of several merchants specializing in the combined sale of wine and oil22. The Spanish merchant family of the LL. Mevii even supplied Italian markets with all different kinds of merchandize belonging to the traditional Baetican triad, viz. wine, oil, and fish sauce 23 . Other merchants following the same economic logic focused on different combinations, such as grain and vegetables, probably purchased on the same domain, or bronze and iron, perhaps originating from the same mine district24. Apart from deliberate market-driven product development, merchants in pre-industrial societies were often forced to offer a variety of products due to the slow diffusion of information on market demand. Unless stable and predictable markets allowed specialization in a limited range of merchandize or even a single product, merchants tried to spread the risks. Traders tramping along the coast from harbour to harbour purchased different kinds of merchandize hoping to sell at least part of the cargo. The commercial adventures of Petronius fictional antihero Trimalchio can be a case in point25. His first attempt to make a fortune in trade ended in disaster, as he lost 5 ships in a storm while transporting a single cargo of wine. The next time Trimalchio
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Deyts and Baron 1984. CIL 13.2033. 20 Marlire 2002, 103, nr. 33. 21 E.g. AE 1984, 661; AE 1990, 749; AE 2001, 1475; RSK 329; CIL 13.7068; 13.8513; 13.11812. 22 CIL 6.29722 and AE 1973, 71. 23 Parodilvarez and Alcedo Torres 1998. The Gallic merchant family of the Urittii presents a similar focus on wine, oil and fish sauce. See Colls et alii 1977; Desbat 1991; Martin-Kilcher and Witteyer 1998-1999 and Marlire 2004. 24 Grain and vegetables: CIL 6.9683 and TPSulp 51. Bronze and iron: CIL 6.9664. 25 Petronius Sat. 76. See Veyne 1961 for Trimalchios engagement in trade.
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invested in wine, beans, lard, perfumes and slaves and immediately succeeded. Even though force majeure had wrecked his ships during the first voyage and his single focus on wine had not caused the loss, a Roman audience would instantly have recognized the folly of investing in the wine trade alone. Similarly, a wine merchant active in the capital adds on his epitaph that in addition he had been selling all kinds of overseas merchandize, probably as part of a risk-reducing strategy26. Finally, it should be noted that market and product development can easily go hand in hand. Wine merchants targeting a new market can quickly identify other demands of the local customers and adapt business organization to these new opportunities. The republican wine merchants supplying Gaul with Italian vintages for instance also distributed Campanian ceramics and table ware, mainly because customers of elite consumption goods would probably also be interested in accompanying vessels from abroad, but also because ceramics could easily be stored in the hold and added to the ships stability during the voyage. Wrecks before the Italian and French coastline hence time and again present the same combination of merchandize27 . Moreover, as wine merchants also purchased return cargoes in the newly developed markets, they necessarily started to specialize in other merchandize as well. For instance, Republican traders flooding the western provinces with Italian vintages shipped back large quantities of Gallic slaves and ores28. Diversification Vertical diversification: Many wine merchants applied a standard technique of forward diversification, viz. the joint organization of transport and distribution. Several inscriptions indicate that Roman wine merchants simultaneously invested in shipping and often possessed their own means of transport. In Rome for instance, an anonymous merchant supplied the capitals wine market but at the same time commanded his own barge on the Tiber (naviculariuslyntrarius)29. This businessman apparently wished to diversify his portfolio even more, for he also joined the association of builders (fabri) and was a renowned money-changer. This particular adjective frequently occurs in epitaphs of entrepreneurs and evokes, on the one hand, their fame and commercial success, and on the other the wide range of colleagues and clients they were doing business with30. The inscription clearly presents the wine merchant as a wealthy and successful businessman: He held magistracies and honorary functions in several professional guilds and even in the association of seviri augustales. Moreover, the city eventually even bestowed the ornamentadecurionalia upon him, virtually promoting him to the level of council member despite his freedman status. The idea that combined investments in transport and distribution were more often than not a strategy followed by wealthy and powerful merchants is confirmed by the inscriptions of wine traders operating in Lyon. Most of the merchants who were also active as shippers on the Rhne and/or Sane had been elected patrons or magistrates in the associations they had joined or even belonged to the municipal aristocracy31. Backward integration: By which a firm integrates part of the production phase, is a technique applied by merchants marketing wine produced on their own estates. Scanty though the evidence may be, epigraphy and
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CIL 9.4680. La Fourmigue A (Parker 1993, 182-183); Grand Bassin B (ib. 198); Le Grand Conglou (ib. 201); Mare C and D (ib. 254-255); Marseillan-Plage A (ib. 265) and Pointe Pomgues (ib. 324). 28 Tchernia 1987. 29 AE 1974, 123a and Licordari 1974. See also CIL 6.9682, identifying a wine merchant who had joined an association of shippers on the Adriatic, and the previously mentioned all-round businessman Sentius Felix (nt. 9). 30 Andreau 1987, 209-210. 31 CIL 13.1911 and 1954. For Ostia, see the inscription of the municipal magistrate Sentius Felix (nt. 9).
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literary sources suggest the occurrence of this strategy in Roman business. Several inscriptions present members of the local municipal aristocracy personally engaged in the wine trade, who evidently must have been relatively wealthy and possessed estates in the close vicinity of the cities where they had been elected32. Though the inscriptions do not reveal the nature of the crops grown on the lands, it seems at least likely that some of them had planted vines to produce their own merchandize. This hypothesis can be corroborated by a story related by one of Trimalchios guests, who describes how a merchant (homo negotians) managed to make a large profit by selling the wine produced on his own lands33. A different kind of backward integration is applied by businessmen engaged in the export of wine and the production of wine amphorae. The Gallic family of the Usuleni for instance seems to have invested in the exploitation of a workshop, located in the Spanish city of Llafranc, near Barcelona34. Stamps on roof tiles and Pascual 1 amphorae dating to the late Republican and early Imperial age suggest the Usuleni exported Spanish vintages to Gaul and perhaps Italy, and at some time decided to take control over the manufacturing of amphorae. The roof tiles produced in the same workshop must have been shipped as a secondary cargo, stored below and between the wine amphorae. Several members of the family apparently settled in Spain to manage the familys business interests, for two Usuleni occur in the funerary epigraphy of Barcelona35. As the workshop appears to have been installed as a single production unit, without the presence of a nearby agricultural estate, the Usuleni seem to have invested in the manufacturing of containers alone, and not in the production of merchandize. Running a local workshop obviously required a smaller capital outlay than purchasing and managing an estate. The dossier of the Usuleni shows a remarkable resemblance with the investments of another Gallic business family, the LL. Voltilii. They also ran a workshop in the vicinity of Barcelona, in the city of Matar, and produced Laietana 1 wine amphorae36. Additional evidence on vertical integration is offered by the reliefs on a funerary monument of a merchant from Neumagen, a city located on the shores of the Moselle37. The scenes depicted clearly refer to the wine business and identify both backward and forward integration, as they show a small boy carrying a basket full of grapes - an obvious reminiscence of the large-scale wine production in this region, a sales scene and finally a ship laden with wine barrels and towed by slaves. Together the reliefs indicate that the merchant was organizing production, transport as well as sales of wine. He may have possessed estates in Neumagen and sold part of his wine production on a local level, but apparently also relied on his family to export wine along the Moselle to more distant markets. Perfect vertical integration of the production, transport and distribution stages is a strategy large business families frequently relied on in different specialized trades38. For the wine business, the best example is offered by the family of the Caedicii, who controlled production on estates located along the coastal area of the Adriatic Sea, manufactured wine amphorae, organized transport to Ostia and even possessed pubs along the Via Appia39.
Concentric diversification: The second diversification strategy can be illustrated by the business interests of the
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AE 1940, 64 and CIL 12.1896. Petronius Sat. 43.4. Christo and Plana Mallart 1998; Christol and Fdire 1999. CIL 2.4594 and 6161. Pena and Barreda 1997. CIL 13.4157. Silver 2009; Broekaert 2012. Manacorda 1985; Tchernia 1996.
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Spanish family of the CC. Consii. Stamps dating to the 1st century AD confirm their involvement in the production of Pascual 1 wine amphorae. (Berg, 1990)
Even though the stamps only allow us to conclude the Consii were running workshops and yield no information on the identity of the wine producers, it seems at least likely that the Consiigiven their Spanish origin (in contrast to the Gallic business families mentioned above, who decided to run only workshops) were also engaged in the production of wine. Similar dossiers of Spanish entrepreneurial families frequently show a simultaneous investment in the production of amphorae and the merchandize stored in these containers, viz. oil and wine40. Anyhow, the Spanish wines were probably destined for the markets of Rome, as the early Imperial age witnessed a remarkable increase in the export of provincial vintages to Italy. Around the mid of the 2nd century, however, the Consii seemed to have entered a different sector, as they appear as oil merchants in the titulipicti on Dr. 20 oil amphorae, discovered in the city of Rome41. They apparently decided, through the strategy of product development, to respond to the increasing demand for oil and the stimuli offered by the Roman government to supply the capital42. Yet, the Consii also recognized the commercial opportunities of exporting oil to another large and stable market, viz. the legions stationed along the northern frontier: an early 3rd century amphora distributed by C. Consius Caricus and his sons has been found in the city of Bonn43. Merchants with sufficient means to bear the increased risk could also simultaneously invest in vertical and concentric diversification. The Roman knight Sentius Regulianus for instance, who most likely originated from Gaul, started out as a wine merchant residing in Lyon and a shipper sailing the Sane44. He no doubt exported Mediterranean and Gallic vintages to the northern provinces. At some time he must have decided, in the same way as the Consii did, to take advantage of the rising demand of oil in the capital. He joined an association of Spanish oil merchants working for the Roman supply system and seems to have mainly focused on the Roman market, for he was eventually buried in the capital45.
Conglomerate diversification: This dangerous strategy is only available to large business families able to cope with high risks and considerable investments. Conglomerate diversification was probably implemented gradually by the business family of the Peticii. (Tchernia, 1992)
During the 1st century BC, members of this family appear to have been involved in the grain supply of Rome and the export of Italian wine to Carthage. In the early decades of the 1st century AD, however, the Peticii also started focusing on the oriental trade with Arabia and India. They exported Italian vintages across the Egyptian desert to the Red Sea and beyond, and probably engaged in the distribution of other merchandize to eastern markets as well, in particular because wine was only a minor export product in the Indian trade, compared to non-consumption goods such as textiles and metals. It seems very likely that the return cargoes of the Peticii consisted of gems, spices and other Indian goods, destined for the Alexandrian and Roman markets and again broadening the range of their commercial specialization46.
Broekaert 2012. CIL 15.3822a-b and 3825-3828a-c; Rodrguez Almeida 1979, nr. 39; BlzquezMartnez et alii 1994, nr. 103-104. 42 Broekaert 2008 and id. 2011. 43 CIL 13.10004.1. 44 CIL 6.29722. 45 For the association of Spanish diffusores working for the supply system, see Chic Garca et alii 2001. 46 These are at least the standard products found in cargoes shipped back from India. For a more detailed account of Indian import products, see the famous list preserved in the Muziris papyrus as analysed by Rathbone 2000 and De Romanis 2012.
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40
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The Ansoff matrix aptly explains why: without sufficient capital 0outlay merchants would never be able to cope with the high initial costs to diversify supplies and enter new markets. Elite merchant families controlled both resources and therefore appear to have managed quite well in the suicide box. In conclusion, it was this interaction between the level of introduction costs and the resources, both in finances and in the labour pool, available to the merchants and their families which resulted in a highly diversified organization of the wine trade.
References
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