Postponement Practices in the Wine Industry: Adoption and Attitudes of California Wineries Dr. Susan Cholette Department of Decision Sciences, College of Business San Francisco State University 1600 Holloway Ave. San Francisco, CA 94132 Phone: 415-405-2173 Fax: 415-405-0364 Cholette@sfsu.edu Abstract (116 words) With the global growth of both export programs and private label brands, wineries must allocate production across an increasing variety of sales channels before demand is known. Misallocation may result in surpluses in some channels and lost sales opportunities in others. Although postponement would aid in solving this problem, this strategy has not been widely adopted. This research involved surveying California wineries (N = 142) on their current exporting, private labeling and postponement practices and on their predictions for future usage. A majority of the respondents export, but many fewer have private label channels or engage in postponement. Additionally, wineries anticipate increasing adoption of export and private label practices but show less enthusiasm for utilizing postponement. Keywords 1. Postponement 2. Private Labels 3. Exporting 4. Channel Allocation 5. Wine Industry 6. Survey Biographical Sketch Susan Cholette is an Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences in the College of Business at San Francisco State University. Her research interests include supply chain management and operations issues within the wine industry. Her publications include articles in Interfaces, International Journal of Production Research, International Journal of Wine Business, International Journal of Wine Marketing, and International Journal of Revenue Management. She earned a Ph.D. in Operations Research at Stanford University and a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering at Princeton University. Text body: 6156 words 1