Introduction
The beer wars documentary is a very instructive and entertaining feature to watch.it was very interesting since the start up to the end. After watching the one and a half hour documentary on beer wars what hit me is that the title of the movie came from the conflict or wars between the big beer producing companies and the small beer producing businesses that is: the battle between the big industry breweries such as the Coors Beer company, The Miller Beer company, Anheuser- Busch Beer company versus the small scale artisan factories that can be said to be the war between David and Goliath.
The bigger brewery companies uses their powers to oppress the young growing brewery companies by the fact that bigger ones had money that they
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could snatch the shelf space from the smaller craft breweries and also use the money to make their company very well known. The movie is basically about the beer industry. In the first few minutes of the movie, the viewers are taken through different issues facing the beer industry and their businesses. The underlying problem that is prevalent in these beer industries is the battle that mega-brewers wage against the small-scale beer producing companies. According to the documentary, the big beer producing companies employ all possible methods to destroy the small innovative and mostly entrepreneur companies which are trying to pick up. These include lawsuits and buying the small businesses. Moreover, these big companies sell plenty of beer offering with affordable prices that earned them huge returns therefore giving them powers to dominate more. The three multinationals, the Coors Beer Company, The Miller Beer company, Anheuser- Busch Beer Company dominates the beer markets and as monopolies, they end up providing the same old product to the beer consumers. According to the documentary, the beer industry is not all about the quality of the product (beer), but it is all about who is who in the beer industry. The industry is about who has the best advertising agency, who best sells their image, who has the capability to distribute the most products. For instance, a big company like Anheuser- Busch spends about 1.5 million dollars annually alone on marketing and advertising their products. One can, therefore, find a person buying a product such as Anheuser- Busch’s Bud Light merely because they can easily recognize the brand and because it is easily available but not because of its taste. It is due to the financial muscles of the giant industries and its advertising capabilities that the small-scale beer companies cannot stand any chance of competing with the giant brewery companies. The documentary explores in detail the underlying reason as to why the small beer companies find it harder to make it in the murky world of beer production. It also shows the monopoly that the big beer producing companies have in the beer market. The documentary also tries to give possible reasons as to why people prefer smaller companies to larger ones.The documentary takes the views through a study on two small-scale beer companies born through the efforts of upcoming entrepreneurs such as Greg Koch, Sam Calagione, and Rhonda Kallman. Through the documentary we are able to acquaint ourselves with the innovation and creativity of Sam Calagione’s small beer company (Dogfish Company) and Rhonda Kallman (New Century Brewing Company) Moonshot drink invention and Greg Koch who is a cook from Stone Brewing Company based in California. The beer wars documentary further takes the viewers through the problems that face the small scale beer producers as they try to make it big in the world of the beer industry. According to the documentary, the industry is highly regulated by more than forty thousand federal and state laws and this makes it difficult for the small scale companies to prosper though they were producing the best brands that the big companies were not even able produce interesting beer. The monopoly of the big businesses in the industry allows them to control the store shelves spaces in retails shops, supermarkets and beer groceries. The big companies take this to their advantage by introducing more products on the shelves and hence take up more spaces on the shelves to avoid competition from the small-scale companies though they produced the same quality of beer products with the smaller breweries. The big companies use their financial muscles to pay off stores and get more shelves spaces in distribution stores making the smaller brewery companies inability to do well in their business. The big companies like Anheuser- Busch Beer Company introduced many varieties and different quantity pack of the same product namely; Bud Light, Widmer Bros, Bacardi, Wild Blue, Rolling Rock, Busch, Budweiser, and Natural Ice Beer. These products are not so different from each other, but they are introduced to the market to take up more shelves with the sole purpose of reducing competition from small-scale companies who produce the same beer products with that of the large scale companies and also by controlling how their stock shelves stores are being stocked. The big companies are also backed by the government lobbyists who have great powers when it comes to regulating the production, marketing and sales of the beer products. I can say that this big companies use their powers to have the monopoly over the smaller companies in spite that the bigger companies could even sell the poorest quality of beer or they could market the beer which were not their brand. Also featured in the movie are the profiles of small-scale entrepreneurs, at first we are introduced to Sam Calagione, who is the founder of Dogfish Brewery and is currently based in Dogfish Head Brewery. Sam is a very innovative, entrepreneur and a rather enthusiastic man. Sam had struggled for quite a long time in trying to pick up business in a rather competitive market. Another person that is featured is a lady known as Greg Koch, who is a cook with Stone Brewing Company in California. Koch shares the same innovative ideas. The beer wars documentary also features a lady known as Rhonda Kallman. Rhonda Kallman is the founder of New Century Brewing Company. The viewers are also engaged further in the industry through the presence of other innovators such as Maureen Ogle, who is a Beer Writer, Todd Alstrom from the Beer Advocate and Arat. The documentary also takes us through new inventions for instance Rhoda Kallman’s new invention ‘Moonshot’. According to the video, Moonshot is all malt and craft brewed beer which has a standard alcohol content of 5% and about 70 milligrams of caffeine. This new invention is compared with other drinks that has high caffeine, high sugar content and are flavored. The documentary is highly educative in that a person who watches Kallman will likely be able to relate to the challenges that she faced during that craft brewery process. The most important thing is that a person should first consider educating his or her products on the products that are going to be on sale. The movie is very interesting as one gets to hear from these innovative people. Many of the entrepreneurs are very enthusiastic, and their goal is not money but is all about them producing a very beautiful and unique brand of beer. The beer wars documentary seems to be suggesting that the beer war is not likely to be won by the big companies because the small business beer is here to stay. In the documentary, the new enterprises have survived and based on the challenges of distributing products and limiting shelf space in the retail stores. The documentary shows that the reason that the small-scale beer industry companies believe in quality first before thinking of making it big in the industry and reaping enormous profits. The documentary further assesses the statuses of the small companies and how they were founded and developed by the founder and its beer products. It is thus true that small companies have a hard time in trying to make money in big towns. The founders of the small breweries including the innovators Sam Calagione and Kallman shares with us the experiences that they small scale companies on how they formed the company and the issues they have faced mostly by competing with big companies in beer production Key players in the industry The key actors in the beer industry business are Anheuser-Busch Company, Coors Beer Company, and the Miller Beer company. The three the companies are located differently. Anheuser-Busch Company To start with, Anheuser-Busch is a giant brewing company based in the United States of America that was begun in 1852. This company operates 12 different breweries across the world. The company was recently sold and is now wholly owned by a business known as Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) which is also based in the United States of America. According to the documentary, the company is a monopoly and takes a lot of the market share. The company also buys other upcoming companies to reduce competition.
it is also among one of the best prominent brewing companies recognized all over the united states in the brewing of Budweiser and one the largest world selling in terms of beer. This company has approximately 600 wholesalers that can be said they are operating independently all over the nation. Not only that the company produces beer but also they produce energy drinks and other distilled beverages.
Miller Brewing Company.
Another key player in the beer industry is Miller Brewing Company. Miller Brewing Company is also based in the United States of America. It was established in the year 1855 by a person known as Frederick Miller. The company is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The company is portrayed by the Beer Wars Documentary as a giant industry in the beer industry and dominates the market and, therefore, makes it harder for small struggling beer companies to achieve their dreams.
The company collaborated with another venture called Molson Coors that provided the assistance in the consolidation of the production and also in the product distribution all over the United States, havingSAB.L as the symbol stock ticker of their company.
The Coors Brewing
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Company Another company that is a monopoly in the beer industry is The Coors Brewing Company. This company was established in the year 1873 by Adolph Coors together with Jacob Schueler. The duo built the company’s brewery in Colorado. Coors later bought all the shares from his partner and became the sole owner of the enterprise. The war on beer market is going as the small craft brewers continue to engage in small battles. The company also claimed to have survived ban.
Initially its confinement area of marketing was the American west unlike the Anheuser-Busch Company that markets its products all over the United States but by the mid- 1980s the company started distributing its products all over the United States.
The Powerful Groups in the Industry
The dominant panel in the industry is the big beer producing companies. The big companies tremble on the small businesses. This is due to the enough finances in these big companies. The big companies use the money to market and advertise their product. This will bring confusion among the craft or small beer industries.
The big companies can also use their finances to bring up lawsuits against those companies which sell products which are struggling and working throughout in order to be exposed and also to learn some more questions by watching the documentary.
Lastly, big companies can also use their money in buying off the shelves spaces to minimize the products from the small companies from being displayed on the shelves. The big companies also introduce new products or rebrand old ones in order to take more shelve
space. The 3-Tier System of product distribution According to the documentary, the beer products undergo a two-tier systems of product distribution. The products of the beer companies are first marketed by the producer or the brewer. According to the documentary, the distribution of product starts with the brewer then the distributor and finally the consumer of the beer. In each and every New Year, the craft business, according to the documentary chips away the market share of the big brewers company. The craft beer industry produces more than 10 billion barrels, and it increased in the following year. Ethical considerations by the companies are lacking, this is because the big companies have been slapping lawsuits against the small companies. It is not fair and creating issues for many businesses in the long run. It also brings disappointment and dissatisfaction for the smaller entrepreneurs and the companies. There should be proper and ethical business policies must be formulated and implemented to develop and flourish a healthy business environment and to avoid the discouragement for the smaller businesses.
The two organizations explained in this assignment are “Anheuser Busch” and “MOLSON Coors”. Anheuser Busch is a multinational company brewing more than 100 brands in the United States and holds a 45.8 percent of the beer market share1. The company is recognized as the No. 1 brewing company by Fortune magazine – “World’s Most Admired Company”2. Dreaming Big, Unity and Culture are the three main driving values and guiding principles which account for the success the company has achieved during the years1. All these combined with the dedication and motivation
95% of beer was distributed through a three-tier system: producer - wholesaler - retailer. Since there were about 6 thousand brands and the retails stores could only carry forty - fifty brands, it was quite difficult to persuade distributors to deal with the MCB products. However, the distinct packing drove much of distributors' attention to Zebra beer.
Belgium is known for a culture of high-quality beer and this concept was formulated by an electrical engineer from Fort Collins, Colorado. The electrical engineer, Jeff Lebesch, was traveling through Belgium on his fat-tired mountain bike when he envisioned the same high-quality beer in Colorado. Lebesch acquired the special strain of yeast used in Belgium and took it back to his basement in Colorado and the experimentation process was initiated. His friends were the samplers and when they approved the beer it was marketed. In 1991, Lebesch opened the New Belgium Brewing Company (NBB) with his wife, Kim Jordan, as the marketing director. The first beer and continued bestseller, Fat Tire Amber Ale, was named after the bike ride in Belgium. The operation went from a basement to an old railroad depot and then expanded into a custom-built facility in 1995. The custom-built facility included an automatic brew house, quality-assurance labs and technological innovations. NBB offers permanent, seasonal and one-time only beers with a mission to be a lucrative brewery while making their love and talent visible. In the cases presented by the noted authors (Ferrell & Simpson, 2008), discusses the inception, marketing strategy, brand personality, ethics and social responsibility that New Belgium Brewing Company has demonstrated. The key facts with New Belgium Brewing Company are the marketing strategy, promotion, internal environment and social responsibility with the critical issues of the public, brand slogan, growth and competition.
This report addresses the issue of whether Amsterdam Brewery should invest and promote new products or continue to focus on current products. And, whether Jeff Carefoote should pay attention to whole brands or spent expense to increase brewing capacity. The report describes a strategic plan to ensure Amsterdam Brewery’s competitiveness in the market.
From our research, Anheuser-Busch is content with being the number one beer company in the world, increasing sales each year in operation. We found that Anheuser-Busch met many views associated with the world, business, and behavioral dimensions. The company also displayed its stability as we reviewed one of its most successful products Budweiser, owned by Anheuser-Busch, under the marketing view and the financial view. Not only do they hold almost half of the market share in the industry but their stock prices, sales volume, and net sales have all increased from 2002 to 2003. We also looked at Budweiser in terms of geography and culture. We found due to the fact that the "western" countries consume the majority of beer, it only makes sense that Anheuser-Busch concentrates on that market. Along these lines, another key goal that is also important to Anheuser-Busch is to boost other beer markets that are located in other cultures, where at the time beer is not a major consumption.
Strives to be the leader in micro brewing while maintaining the core values it started with and had employee buy in even before it went” 100 % employee owned in2013” (Gorski, 2013).
Abelli, H. (2007). Mountain Man Brewing Company: Bringing the brand to light. (2069) Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.
The beverage industry is highly competitive and presents many alternative products to satisfy a need from within. The principal areas of competition are in pricing, packaging, product innovation, the development of new products and flavours as well as promotional and marketing strategies. Companies can be grouped into two categories: global operations such as PepsiCo, Coca-Cola Company, Monster Beverage Corp. and Red Bull and regional operations such as Ro...
Heineken was established in the United States in 1863 and in a short time it became the world’s largest brewer with 116.8 million barrels of beer sold.
Relationships with interest groups and the public policy makers has been one of the many things that the Boston Beer Company has strived to maintain and expand. The company realizes that these relationships are critical for the future success of the company. Being in the brewing industry the policies and publics opinion can influence the changes in future policies and procedures that would affect the industry. Developing and maintaining the relationships with the interest groups as well as the policy makers could prove to be very beneficial to not only the company but the brewing industry as a whole.
In the US, the food bar market is dominated by several companies: PowerBar, Balance Bar, Luna, MetRx, and Clif Bar. Each of these is representative of one of the three major segments in the bar market.
After 1996, the U.S. beer industry had consistent growth with about 3,500 brands on the market in 2002 (Alcoholic Beverages, 2005). The U.S. exported beer to almost one hundred countries worldwide. The beer industry peaked production with 6.2 billion gallons in 2003 (Alcoholic Beverages, 2005). The U.S. beer industry haws over 300 breweries. However, this industry is dominated by three companies: Anheuser Bush (45% of the industry), Miller Brewing (23% of the industry), and Adolph Coors (10% of the industry) (Overview of the U.S. Beer Industry, 2005).
In the mid 1990s, Breckenridge Brewery started expanding eastwards and their first brewpub outside Colorado opened in Buffalo, New York in December 1995. Five other brewpubs were subsequently opened in other states. However, from its opening till 1997, the brewpubs have not turned in a profit although the main brewery was making money.
No breweries located in the United States, saddles the supply chain with additional cost not borne by their competitors reducing their profitability and potentially pricing the product out of consideration, however, it enables the company to maintain an import moniker, coveted by in country brewers. Lack of younger consumers is a cause for concern to secure future consumers, and the company’s ability to capitalize on the brand messaging to millennials on social, personalized, and socially responsible
Diageo has long been the front-runner in the premium drinks business. Its brands include Guinness, Smirnoff, Bailey's, Johnnie Walker, and Cuervo complimented by broad range of local and specialty brands from around the world. In 2002, Diageo held a 15% (United States-Spirits, 2002) market share and was by far the leading manufacturer of spirits in the United States followed by Pernod, and Fortune Brands, Inc. The market is expected to have 9.8% (Huddleston, 2005) growth in the next three to four years, so new entrants may find the going hard unless they have capital to sustain themselves.