Aldrige Beer

     In this paper I will be talking about the U.S. beer industry and in short an overview of the brewing industry worldwide. I will talk about the barriers to entry, economies of scale, government intervention, pricing, current market trends, product differentiation, and imports. The focus being mainly on the U.S. brewing industry oligopoly. The U.S. brewing industry has three major players: Anheuser-Busch, SAB Miller, and Coors/Molson. Anheuser-Busch is currently the largest brewer in the world, producing over 100 million barrels a year. Anheuser-Busch currently owns over 50% of the market in the United States, with Miller trailing behind at 20% and Coors at about 11% with the rest of the market occupied by imports and craft breweries. When analyzing any industry, how easy it is for newcomers to enter the market is a great importance. If there are high barriers to entry

Consumer demand for robust ale was not being fulfilled with the current beers on the market. In 1991 Jeff Lebesch and his wife Kim started the company out of their basement. They focused on the rich flavor and unique concept. Their focus on social and environmental responsibility has set them apart from brewing companies on the market. Jeff and his wife wanted to promote a product while being innovative and socially responsible. They designed their core values and mission statement while hiking in a national park (Ferrell, 2010). In addition they wanted to promote the brand and corporate citizenship (Ferrell, 2010). Although the product is alcohol they encourage consumers to be responsible. Also, they have sponsored events, dinners and philanthropic causes to help gain consumer loyalty. In 2013, USA named NBB as 6 out of 15 best brewing companies (Franklin, 2013). Also, the company has increased is competitive advantage with is stance on environmental conscience brewing. They were the first brewery to utilize wind power generator, even with an increase cost of .025 per kilowatt (Asher, Bidner and Greene, 2003). Also, they utilize light tunnels, windows and recycled steam to reduce their carbon footprint (Gorski, 2013). In 2002 NBB participated in the LEED-EB pilot program (Ferrell, 2010). Furthermore, the company donates $1 for every barrel of beer sold to each of the 26 states territories and distributed $700,000 in 2012 (What we are about, 2013). Despite

Boston Beer Company (BBC) has enjoyed much success with their craft beers with Samuel Adams as their main focus. Being the leader of this segment, overtopping five of their competitors combined (Exhibit 1), the company now must decide how to take advantage of the light beer market. Boston Lightship, their current light beer, had been a small contributor in BBC’s product line. Currently, it is facing dwindling sales with product volumes down from 12 000 cases per month to 3000 cases per month.

“raising the bar for better beer” Samuel Adams sets superior standards for quality craft beers. They insist that the world should only have the finest ingredients to make the best beer possible. They will travel the world to hand select the hops, barely, and other ingredients that go into each brew. Koch, is known for his annual hops selection trip to Bavaria. The hops farmer always would comment on when he would sniff of the hops is what drives him for success. In order to ensure that drinkers enjoy the freshness of Samuel Adams beer, the way the brewers intended. Koch would create an all-natural way of producing his beer. Everything being fresh, within date of expiration with no preservatives.

The next project was bottling Gordon Biersch signature beer and retailing it. This had three biggest challenges: this project was entirely Gordon’s baby and demanded time and attention; secondly the freshness of the bottled beer versus the freshly brewed was an issue for which they decided the beer would have a shelf life no longer than three months. Thirdly and the most exciting challenge was the head-to-head competition with other microbreweries and premium beers. Despite the tough competitive environment, Gordon Biersch aimed to achieve 11% of the market in three years (by 1996). This retail venture required huge investment, thus they decided to start small to prove to the investors that they could pull it off.

The Boston Beer Company, Inc., founded in 1984, is a leading brewer in United States, offering wide variety of high quality full-flavored, handcraftedbeers. It is distinctive due to the time-honored recipe of brewing and authentic, consistent quality of alcoholic beverages. Samuel Adams Boston Lager is the pride of BBC, regular handcrafted beer “stands for quality, inner self-worth, authenticity, and unique New England or Yankee toughness” ( Martin Roper, Chief Operating Officer). Unfortunately, the company experienced the failure of conquering light beer segment

The documentary shows how the two small beer entrepreneurs, Rhonda and Sam try to establish themselves in the beer industry and success in the high potential market. The film shows that the beer industry is governed by some difficult and outdated laws along with an oligopoly of the large brands. These large brands manipulate the beer industry by acquiring and buying off the smaller brands which they find competitive among the market. The small brewers thus face difficulties and barriers establishing themselves in the American beer industry. The big giants like the Coors Brewing Company, Anheuser-Busch, and the Miller Brewing Company face challenge from the independent craft beer producers when these new brands are put on shelves; so they seek ways to prevent distribution and production of these small brands, which is harmful for the competition in the beer industry. Sam Calagione and Rhonda Kallman are considered as small entrepreneurs in the beer industry who struggle from the large brands, the difficult laws, and the less competitive but highly profitable

The Boston Beer Company and Samuel Adams have both had a long history. Since the 1870s, six generations of the Koch family have been involved with beer. In the early 1980s, the seventh generations almost turned his back on the family business. After graduating from graduate school, Jim Koch wanted to stray always for the family business and seek a career in management consulting. After a short time in the consulting business, Koch decided that he just could not ignore his destiny to create a new, different beer. In 1984, Koch was on the search for a “better beer”. The only options at the time on the market were pale lagers from mass producers (Company), Koch decided there needed to be a change. In April 1985, Samuel Adams made in bar

Molson Coors is a thriving international brewing company that has nine Signature Brew drinks and 123 Special Brew drinks that ranges from non-alcoholic to alcoholic (Molson Coors Brewing Company, 2016b). They have multiple markets around the world which contributes to the success of the company in the brewing industry. This report analyzes Molson Coors’ internal and external environments which determines their position in the brewing industry. It also discusses strategies the company uses in order to be successful in their industry. Molson Coors shares the industry with its main competitors but has its own uniqueness that makes its business stand out. Molson Coors is a successful business that presents opportunities for economic growth.

Boston Beer, in response to consumers’ preference changes to more flavorful and bitter tasting brews, was founded in 1894. Boston Beer implements a “quality at any cost” strategy with a strong emphasis on product differentiation and implementing quality ingredients into its products. For instance, Boston Beer was the first company to employ a stamped freshness date on its bottles and ingredients are imported from around the world. Additionally, Boston Beer relies heavily on contract brewing to gain competitive advantages. Boston Beer’s contract brewing strategy results in lower overhead and transportation costs, as well as

The brewing industry can be characterized by Porter’s Five Forces framework. New entries to brewing have a relative ease in creating home micro-breweries, which is aided by

One of the Nation’s third-largest craft breweries, based out of Colorado, New Belgium Brewing Company, Inc. (the Company). The Company was founded in 1991, a privately held corporation. Its first operation started off in the basement of Jeff Lebesch (founder). The Company prides itself on its branding strategies “triple bottom line” and social responsibility which focuses on economic, social, and environmental factors. New Belgium’s marketing strategy links the Company’s viewpoint to the quality of its products. The Company continues to support the community, giving back & advocating positive change. However for continued success, New Belgium has to continually analysis its situation in the marketplace,

Foster’s is an iconic internationally distributed Australian brand of lager that has an honor of being "Australia 's Original Lager”. However, it is not an Australian beer – the amber nectar is in fact made in Manchester. It is the world’s third most widely distributed brand of a light color lager, bottom-fermented with a smooth flavor and easy-drinking quality. It is owned by the British brewing group SABMiller, and is brewed under license in 9 countries at over 20 plants The unique flavor of Foster 's Lager, Often known as the Australia 's best beer, is the result of the choicest of malt, sugar, hops and brewing yeast. It is in fact the largest selling Australian beer. The product is 4% ABV in Europe, 4.9% ABV in Australia, and 5% in the US. This beer is developed using innovative process of ultra-high gravity brewing. Fantastic Value, Extending tastes, Geographical signatures, easily accessible and innovation, new styles and varieties allows the product to have an edge over other competitor in the industry.

iii. Import beer companies: These companies include Beck’s(Germany), Heineken (Holland) and Corona (Mexico). They control about 12% of the region’s market. However, these companies are seen to operate at disadvantage due to higher shipping costs, weaker distribution networks and an inability to control product freshness

Beer has a long history. In 2000 B.C.E., Sumerians had prepared eight different beer types, ranging from “strong,” “red brown,” and “good dark” (Mauk, 2013). Breweries have created their own recipes, brewed their own beers—some with alcohol, some without. Over the past few years, craft beer gained steady market share away from the national and international breweries (Murray & O 'Neill, 2012). Separating one beer from the next is the product itself, and what the product has to offer. Competition is ferocious due to more informed, sophisticated consumers, as well as globalization and the spread of technology (Murray & O 'Neill, 2012).