The German Beer Industry: Case Study

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.

What this means is that their “facilities are organized around a product […]; they have long, continuous process” (Heizer, Render and Munson, p.284). The process is in continuous motion. Anheuser-Busch has a demand and a need to be continuous because they require high volume; “Budweiser and Bud Light, the company’s beers lead numerous beer segments and combined hold 46.4 percent share of the U.S. beer market” (About, n.d.). That is almost half of the entire beer industry is dependent on them. Anheuser-Busch have low variety- although this company has what can be seemingly a variety of products, there are very minimal changes other than slight changes to the recipe that differentiate each family of beers (National Geographic, 4:25, 2011). Meaning that the process is the same the ingredients are what differ. According to the text, “That is to be expected as the attributes change” (Showghi, slide 4,2016). It is still the same product in the end. Because they are producing only beer, they have high fixed costs and low variable cost, they are not making any drastic changes to their product keeping the input the same. Less skilled labor is not part of the equation in this instance; breweries are looking for people with high skills in

1) What accounts for Deutsche Brauerei’s rapid growth in recent years? Specifically, what policy choices account for this success?

Per capita beer consumption in the country had been stable for many years. In order to find new opportunities

The purpose of this research paper is to analyze Sam Adams and the global craft beer market. I will apply microeconomic models to analyze the supply and demand conditions for Sam Adams, its price elasticity of demand for products, cost of production and the overall market. There will be recommendations to maximize future profits and sustain success for Sam Adams. In this paper I will also analyze the craft beer industry and recommend actions for better management of supply and demand, improving the cost of production and the different barriers of entry that Sam Adams can utilize to impact its future in the craft beer industry. Applying the concepts of variable and fixed costs, I will make recommendations for its output decisions and profitability that will help them succeed in a monopolistically competitive market structure. In the conclusion of this paper I will make recommendations to manage future production and sustain its success, as well as evaluate the business structure and effective decision-making strategies. The craft beer industry is a monopolistic competition because it has the ability to allow many firms to produce similar good or services, but it at the same time allows each firm to make independent production decisions and differentiate their product from the competition by creating its own pricing.

The film depicts an insight of the beer industry and its current state in America. It shows some unexplored or hidden facts and journey of the beer industry which is intended to interest the beer lovers. Beer Wars film describes the daily battles in the beer industry between well-established corporate beer brands and some of the upcoming innovative beer breweries. The independent and the small breweries introduce new and innovative craft beer in this high profitable beer industry.

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 Company must revisit objectives and goals and look into available resources (partnerships). At an external level, facing competition from other types of craft brew products. The Company needs to assess competitor’s strength and weaknesses, gathering data which in turn may provide a “loophole” for New Belgium to target the competitor’s market share. The Company will gather information of potential new customers. Figuring out why do customers select competitor’s product over theirs or what customers want, as tastes and trends are always changing. There will always be regulatory laws and social propaganda of “drink responsibility.”

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).

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

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 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

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).

The lucrative beer industry has attracted numerous foreign beers to vie for the market share in Singapore which is valued at S$562.7 million. As the beer industry in Singapore is reaching maturity, beer companies have to find innovative means to remain competitive to have a profitable share of the market.