Mountain Man Beer Company - Case Analysis Essay

In 1844, the Empire Brewery was founded by Jacob Best and his sons in Milwaukee, WI. In 1860, Jacob’s son Phillip took over and renamed the brewery the Phillip Best Company. Phillip’s daughter, Maria married a steamship captain, Frederick Pabst. Captain Pabst sold his shipping interest and bought a partnership stake in the brewery. In 1872, Captain Pabst became President of the company. In 1889, he renamed the business the Pabst Brewing Company.

4c. What is the likely future of competitive brewers? What is MMBC 's market/competitive position?

2. MMBC is ignoring the shift in the consumer segment for beer companies. 21-27 year olds are spending more on liquor and most have not yet developed brand preference.

They want to expand into the lager industry which is excellent strategic move due to the fact that it allows them to create a niche market in the area. There are no local lager breweries in the area anymore this should definitely be displayed through sales profits.

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.

GBBC’s competitive advantage was product differentiation of both its restaurant and beer. The beer had a good brand image because it was fresh and high quality compared to the alternatives available in the market. The restaurant served only home brewed beer that gave it a premium perception. The restaurant was German style, moderately priced dinning and high quality and served trendy cuisines. GBBC chose the restaurant location strategically and modified the restaurant, while keeping the basic idea intact, to meet the preferences of local customers.

1. MM possesses a competitive position in this segment in terms of quality product offering and close customer relationships through high level of customer support.

To further decrease the likelihood of cannibalization and to diversify its location offerings and customer base, the memorandum recommends that MMBC launch MMLight into on-premise locations (such as bars and restaurants). Industry observers remark that the crucial consumer segment for beer companies are younger drinkers ages 21-27 years who are not yet loyal to a brand of beer. Women and younger drinkers typically prefer light beer. These groups frequently visit on-premise locations and represent an exciting market for MMBC. For questions or concerns, please feel free to e-mail mducker2@illinois.edu or call 217.381.9578.

In order to have a new lager line, Mountain Man needed lots of thing and financial support. Although

MMBC is categorized into the craft beer industry. Being independently-owned and family-run, it produces a smaller amount of beer in comparison to the major domestic producers. As of 2005, MMBC generated revenues of $50,440,000 and sold over 520,000 barrels of its lager beer.

With this plan Chris expects that MMBC regains the beer market leadership in the U.S. East Central Region.

As a company[s main mission to be the greatest beer in the world, they have achieved competitive strategies to be able to protect their business-level strategies; Sprinkler Expansion strategy, Aggressive Marketing Strategy and Consumer Responsiveness Approach.

As the future growth of the industry also is shown to be positive, the company’s fundamental strategies in terms of management, employees satisfaction, cost cutting to reduce unnecessary expenditure, giving constant returns in terms of dividend, refinancing the money into for the expansion of brands not working well for the company ,tapping for the emerging markets, entering into 40 different variants show a clear indication that merger proves to be a great move for the company and beverage industry performance

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

Strengths:The largest producer; Improved productivity; strategic with foreign producers; Two independent distribution Weaknesses:Low volume of sales of nonbeer products; Antitrust restrictionOpportunities:Positive volume growth of beer sales; New and attractive market Threats:Rising foreign firms’ competition; Tariffs elimination; Rising imported ingredients cost