Corporate Industry : A Global Market Governed By Cross Border Takeovers And Growth Through Acquisitions

     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

Such cross border deals have provided significant benefits to the brewing giants. This has given them ownership of local brands propelling them into dominant market positions around the world as global brands sell at significantly higher prices and the margins are much better as compared to the local beers.

For many years, beer companies had faced many economic challenges. In economic sphere, the beer company has reached a maturity stage and the growth has been moderate. In this maturity stage it is very hard for any one company to takeover the market form its competitors because of the tremendous competition. Expanding into foreign market is also one of the concerns for Canadian companies in this era. But apart from this there are some facts, which reflect the bright side of the beer economy in the Canadian industry and those are

distributors, brewers and retailers. A change suggested in Grolsch’s historic strategy is not to adapt the market completely in this case because it is an industry that gives importance to the country-of-origin. Markets Targeted: South Africa: Monopoly Market, No.1 SABMiller (Market Share: 98%) Brazil: Occupied by major Brewery Groups. China: Competitive Market. How to Compete: South Africa Brazil China Additional Line with SABMiller Co-Promotion with SABMiller

Anheuser- Busch is the largest beer distributing company in the world. This is because over the years dating back to 1852 they have been pioneers in both their product production and distribution. Over the years they have faced a lot of criticism and setbacks. Most notably during Prohibition from 1920 through the early 1930s. In 2008 they were bought by the European company InBev and currently hold 49.6% of the market share. Today through the modern era they have also been one of the most successful companies when it comes to marketing their products.

The situation can even explode for Export Brands International, as large beers conglomerates with tremendous power, are targeting the same segment and are creating similar beers. We have the real example of Anheuser-Busch new Bud Light Lime which was selling extremely well in the United States attacking Corona position and following the traces of the

In the summer of 2008, InBev NV, a Belgian-based brewing company formed from the merger of InterBrew and AmBev, offered a bid of $46.6 billion to acquire Anheuser-Busch Co to create the world’s largest brewing company at $65 a share. The initial offer was subsequently declined in part because the company felt the offer undervalued the company greatly. InBev later increased their offer to $70 a share and in Mid-July, Anheuser-Busch accepted the offer making the total cost of the deal $54.8 billion dollars. The issue then becomes whether the offer of $70 is justifiable to InBev’s shareholders. The merger brings about two different management styles. The culture at InBev focused on extreme cost-cutting measures and profitable incentive-based compensation programs. However, Anheuser-Busch’s culture differed in that they prided itself on philanthropy, diversity, and community involvement. In addition, this company possessed many luxurious offices and corporate fleet of aircrafts. Furthermore, they invested heavily in advertising, derived most of their profits in the United States, and possessed a lackluster international expansion plan. Issues the financial managers face will be differing business philosophies in regards to marketing (“Grow/Defend/Maintain/Cash” matrix approach vs the large marketing budget of Anheuser-Busch), culture (cost cutting measures vs company perks), and the future of the twelve

Molson Coors ability to create loyal customers contributes to the company being one of the worlds largest brewery companies bringing in $5.6 billion a year in sales. The company employs 11,000 employees with 10 breweries in 3 different countries. Although the company only produces 40 brands of beer, two of them, Coors and Coors Light, were appointed top beer brands form the national customer loyalty study for three consecutive years. SABMiller, who acquired the Miller Brewing Company in 2002, produces over 200 beer brands and brews in over 60 countries. The company decided to specialize in premium brands of beer and were compensated in 2006 with a 19% increase in revenue. The company prides its self on emphasizng the fewer carbohydrates and better taste its line of beers has compared to its competitors. The company proves this with winning the Miller Light Taste Challeng, a point-of-sale taste test. Another competitor of Anheuser-Busch is Heineken NV. Heineken produces 170 beer brands and owns 115 breweries in 65 different countries with 65,648 employees. The company specializes in lagers, speciality beers, light beers, alcoholic-free beers, and soft drinks. Although competition with these companies is combative, Anheuser-Busch (ABI) continues to be the leader in brewery with higher revenues and net income. The company employs over 30,183 in 27 breweries compared to the industries average of 480

As the world’s largest brewer, AB Inbev has the ability to compete in new and foreign markets as a strong threat. Due to their enormous capital and expansion-based strategy, they can enter any market as a challenger and shutdown competition to become the leading brewer in this market. As an aggregated note we can also see this in domestic or already dominated markets because due to economics of scale they can achieve differentiated products at a low cost.

The brewing industry is interesting to examine due to its relatively unique structure. Up until November 2015, the market was dominated by four main players, known informally as the “Big Four”. AB InBev was the largest, followed by SABMiller, Heineken and Carlsberg. In November 2015, however, ABInBev and SABMiller agreed a formal $107 billion takeover deal, combining the brewers into a company which industry experts claim would control around half of the industry’s profits (Mickle, 2015). As a result of the sheer size and complexity of the merger, it is anticipated that the deal will not be finalised until the second half of 2016 as ABInBev must negotiate with anti-trust regulators around the world with respect to their potential monopolistic position. As the deal is yet to be completed, this report will analyse ABInBev independent of SABMiller.

Although sales of premium brands have fallen in a steady response to the growing popularity of the craft beer. The industry revenue has been stable over the past 5 years. As a result, from 2011 to 2016 the industry revenue is expected an increase and growth annually at 6.7 percent over the five years,with a total of $39.5 billion . (IBISWorld iExpert) In the long-term, these numbers are expected that grow 0.9 percent annually within the next five years. The potential growth will be seen in the traditional and premium beer sector. As a response, the giant companies in the industry Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors look forward into the merges and acquisitions as a strategy to maintain market dominance. The strategy is based on the

The right international strategy for Grolsch going forward is a transnational strategy, though there are strong elements pushing this toward a global strategy. In reviewing strategy within the beer industry, either generally or through frameworks (see exhibits), it appears the optimal path currently involves both multi-domestic elements and global

Despite the dominance of Carlsberg, in its annual report BGD could lay claim to being the largest Scandinavian beer exporter. This was because Carlsberg placed emphasis on licensing agreements or local production for its foreign markets, while BGD’s strategy was export led: ‘Eighty-three out of every hundred bottles of beer that we produce are sold in foreign markets.’ By 1995 the percentage of export sales by region of the world was as follows: western Europe 63 per cent, the Americas 10 per cent, eastern Europe 22 per cent, others 5 per cent. The development of BGD’s operations in some of these markets is now reviewed.

|What do you see as the key success factors for firms in the global beer industry? |

Table of ContentExecutive summary3Corporate Background4Which industry or industries is the firm operating in?4Who are the customers?4Where does the company serve?5What needs are being satisfied by the company´s goods or services?5What are the company's distinctive competencies?6Which generic strategy in currently used by the company?7Country analysis and attractiveness assessment7Brazil PEST analysis7India PEST analysis12South Korea PEST analysis15Industry and Competitive Analysis-18Porter's Five Forces Analysis of Beer Industry in Thailand (as Consolidated Industry)18Beer industry in Brazil19Beer industry in India19Beer industry in South Korea20Company Situation22Problem/Key Issue22References24Executive summaryBoon Rawd Brewery is an