One of the biggest trends in the global beer business has been the steady rush by the bigger brewers to establish links with local market leaders and build strong global networks to leverage the advantages of scale. Another top priority for leading brewers has been to plant footholds in markets that are both growing from a population standpoint and have relatively low but increasing per-capita consumption of beer. The 2008 acquisition of AB by Inbev has created a wave in field of global merger and acquisitions that have been shaping the brewing industry in the twenty first century. The internationalization of leading brands such as Stella Artois, Brahma, Heineken, Carlsberg, Miller and Bass previously domestic or regional but not global, has transformed brewing into a highly competitive and concentrated industry, where to succeed you need to compete on a global stage. This paper will review InBev's EPG mix, its Marketing Mix, its International Marketing Strategy and its Strategic position within the foreign markets and within its industry.
[...] Hilger joined InBev last year as marketing director of its UK and Ireland operations, prior to the brewer's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch International Marketing Strategy (Global, Multinational, Transnational) To sustain growth on an international level, AB InBev built its international marketing strategy on four levels. 1. AB InBev strives to build a strong local operating platform and then leverage it over time to drive profitable growth through the right brands and distribution structure to supply a local national market AB InBev expands its brand portfolio to include international brands to give access to the 10% not supported by the local brands and to leverage global insights to help optimize both the local brands and global brands. [...]
[...] AB InBev is transforming the organisation to become more complex and interdependent (Geocentric framework). The Leuwen and New York Head Offices now share world responsibilities. The organisation became more complex after the merger Authority, Decision-Making AB InBev Headquarters takes the lead in defining the company's strategy, direction and resource allocation. Local partners are freed up to focus on leading the change and execution, with the highest priority on sales, distribution, community and employee relations. For AB country and business unit managers, this requires a shift in responsibility from general to increasingly commercial management operating in a geocentric framework Standards and control procedures AB InBev implemented a geocentric framework with global standards coupled with adapted local standards. [...]
[...] InBev succeeded in bringing together Interbrew and AmBev and developing a three- tier brand marketing strategy (global, country & local) so it is logical to think they will leverage their know-how and experience to integrate AB smoothly and continue with their coherent and well-aligned marketing strategies. A major step in this direction was taken by deciding to open a New York Head Office with Global Strategic Responsibilities. But some questions remain to be answered; How will the Leuwen HO employees reacts to this (89 will be let Will we see a power struggle between two-headed monsters? [...]
[...] The AB InBev Worldwide Head Office is located in Leuwen, Belgium. However, a new New York office was opened after the AB acquisition and took some global operations management. AB InBev's management understands the need to share the power with North American operations to facilitate the AB merger. It will be interesting to see how the collaboration between the two HO unfolds. At the moment, it is a Geocentric approach, will it become Polycentric? 2.2 Complexity of organisation Before the merger, InBev was a mix of an Ethnocentric (AmBev) and a Polycentric (Interbrew) framework. [...]
[...] Molson Coors Brewing Company Appendice The Anheuser Busch acquisition The new AB InBev Approach Ethnocentric Polycentric Geocentric Geographic X Complexity of X organisation Authority, X decision-making Two Head Offices Standards & X control procedures HR X Communication X Marketing Mix Transnational strategy International Marketing Strategy Foreign Markets Europe North America Asia Strategic Very strong Very strong Very strong with Position the acquisition of Fujian Sedrin Tsingtao owned by Anheuser-Busch . . They are China's largest brewer. Industry 1.AB Inbev Strategic 2. [...]
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