Ignoring consumer science? Three cases from Austria about innovation, philosophies, gut feeling, and intuitive decision-making

This chapter explores the decision-making processes relative to perceived innovative activities of three Austrian wine-related businesses and provides insights into current literature covering innovation management and intuitive decision-making. In presenting the philosophies and approaches used in each case study, expert interviews were conducted and qualitative information extrapolated across several key topics. Consistent across all of the cases presented, the adoption of a more intuitive decision-making environment and the application of inherent “knowledge” in key marketing and production managerial disciplines proved to dominate the status quo. Innovation management as an imbedded organizational practice is little understood among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the wine industry but is adopted, in part, as fragmented entrepreneurial tools that take a role in certain aspects of new product development.