Porter's Five Forces Analysis Of The Brewing Industry

“The beer industry in the United States generates $75 Billion in annual sales.” (Abelli, 4)

     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

In a world where large, corporate breweries rule the market, craft beer is created to please an audience that applauds the styles, techniques and flavors. Though craft beer can be purchased through several different outlets, the best place to thoroughly enjoy the entire experience of the specially made beer is in the brewery where it was made. The article titled, “In Lean Times, a Stout Dream” in The Wall Street Journal1 states that, despite the hard economic times and consequent consumer cutbacks, sales of craft beer, the industry 's fastest-growing segment, rose

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

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 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

The Adolph Coors Case Study proved the dedication and self-reliance Coors brings to the beer industry. Having overcome great adversity by surviving the prohibition years, Coors durability and sustainability are also complimentary points on the structure of the company. Coors is a family owned company that had humble beginnings in Colorado and within 100 years grew into a multimillion-dollar company. Coors’ controlled manufacturing process is a sign of their individuality in the beer industry, this was not an unknown fact, however, as they were receiving orders to ship Coors beer all across the nation as of 1972. The case study allowed an internal and external point of view, which was highly beneficial to properly analyze their upcoming problem within the company.

Volume decreased for the first time in over twenty years in 1975 by four percent, during that same time Coors started to push out further in an attempt to become a national brand. 1985 marked a major year for the company as it set records in volume sold and revenues from the brewing division. Between 1975 and 1985 there were major changes in the company that eventually led to the company possibly opening its second brewing facility in history in Virginia. Through these years there were many new strategies implemented to foster this growth. In this paper I will diagnose key decisions, analyze potential solutions and show the actions needed to achieve the suggested changes.

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).

Entrants erode the market and rarely grow it enough to the incumbent’s advantage. New entrants have an impact on the industry business but at a moderate level. This is mainly because new firms will find it difficult to compete against the incumbents’ strong brand, like Starbucks and McDonalds, and because the market is saturated. However, the costs of entry are relatively low. Most of the raw materials are cheap and the distribution chain is not complicated. This makes it easy for new companies to enter the market. Also, established companies might leverage their brands as they enter the industry to compete against the incumbents.

Finally, the large brewers were increasingly successful by creating another point of differentiation. They attracted more consumers as the big brewers had the capacity to package beers in different sizes and therefore also appeal to consumers who drank beer in small amounts or slowly as well as packaged in different numbers to cater to the growing population of drinkers who consumed at home.

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

Beer Company 2 is a brewer of “seasonal and year-round beers with smaller production volume and higher prices” that “outsources most of its brewing activity” (pg. 120). It is financially conservative, and has undergone a “major cost-savings initiative to counterbalance the recent surge in packaging and freight costs” (pg. 120).

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