Carlsberg Group International Strategy

Beer is one of the world's most consumed alcoholic drinks. Nelson (2005)
stated that it is the most popular drink after water and tea. There are lots of
brewing companies though emphasis will be made on Carlsberg in this
instance. The Carlsberg Group is the world's fourth largest brewery group.
The Group is distinguished by a high degree of variety of brands, markets
and cultures. Its activities are centred on markets where the Group has the
strength and the right products to secure a leading position. Due to the
variation of the markets, the contribution to growth, earnings and
development within the Group differs, both at present and in the longer-term
projections (Carlsberg, 2012). In countries where Carlsberg has no breweries,
the Group sells its products through exports and licensing agreements. It
aims to establish and develop strong market positions for their international
premium brands through dynamic partnerships with licensing, export and
duty-free partners around the world. The Carlsberg beer portfolio includes
more than 500 brands. They differ significantly in volume, price, target
audience and geographic penetration. (Carlsberg, 2012).

Carlsberg International Strategy and

Prospective Partners
The company operates using an international strategy which implies
that it takes the beer first produced for its domestic market and sells them
internationally with only low local customization. This highlights that the beer
it sells meets a worldwide need and at such do not face substantial
competitors which implies that it is not confronted with pressures to cut
down its cost structure. It tends to centralize the beer development functions
such as research and development in its home country and establish
manufacturing and marketing functions in each country it operates.
Carlsberg chose an international strategy for the following reasons: To
increase sales and profit growth by entering new markets and also selling in
existing markets (Hill, 2009). This is achieved because it exports its products
to destinations like South America where it has no breweries and in some
cases through licensing agreements like it did with Charrington and Tetley in
Britain by giving them right to brew and bottle Carlsberg beer and in return
get a royalty fee. It also formed joint ventures with Scottish & Newcastle and
a brewery in Honk Kong which it now fully owns. The Group also formed
mergers with Danish rival, Ruborg and Orkla of Norway which it later owned
fully. From the case study, it is very obvious that they go into these markets
at a slow but cautious pace by using the services of the partners and this is
to avoid information costs and risk and some other uncertainties such as
trade barriers associated with foreign involvement. It also gets to learn about

the foreign market in cases where it formed joint ventures and mergers and
later take full control of the company. Another reason is to protect
Carlsberg's home market share because operating in foreign countries takes
away business from its competitors by offering customers other choices and
it lets the competitors know that they would face the same response if they
attack the home market (Rugman & Collinson, 2009). Furthermore, it is a
tactics that Carlsberg could use to diversify themselves against the risk and
uncertainties of the domestic business cycle (Rugman & Collinson, 2009).
This implies that by operating in other countries it can often reduce the
negative consequences of economic swing such as recession in its home
country. Despite Carlsberg seemingly predatory instinct for 100% control and
ownership, prospective partners engage with Carlsberg because of the
following reasons: They will benefit from its intangible properties (Hill, 2009),
like in the case of licensing where the licensee has the right to Carlsberg's
intellectual properties such as patents, processes and trademarks. This also
applies to joint ventures as the partner gets to know about its processes as
well. They would be able to offer their clients a wider range of products and
services (Mcpheat, 2010). For example in licensing where Carlsberg gives
them rights to its intellectual properties, the partners tend to take advantage
of more market opportunities (newly identified demand) as they will not only
sell their own products but also that of Carlsberg, which means that their
customers have variety of products to choose from. They might also have an
opportunity to get endorsed into Carlsberg's advertisements (Mcpheat,

2010). That is Carlsberg might support their products in its advertisement in

cases where it forms a merger or joint venture with partners. They share
fixed costs and financial risks with Carlsberg which implies that they can
succeed in dealing with failure to meet a certain standard or lack of
resources (such as land, labour or capital). An example of an instance where
this occurs is in joint ventures. Cooperating with Carlsberg creates room for
pooling ideas and generates more creative solutions to problems (National
Association of Conservation Districts, 1994). This is applicable when partners
form joint ventures and mergers with Carlsberg. Thus, customers will be
happier as their problems would be solved at a faster thereby improving
customer service experience (Mcpheat, 2010).

Potential acquisitions targets and strategic

responses to acquisition bids
According to the case study, Carlsberg has a global share by volume of
7.5% making it the fourth largest brewing corporation after AB Inbev and its
market capitalization was over 80 billion Danish Kroner (Dkk). Its sales in
2009 were 59.4 billion (Dkk) on which it achieved 15.8% operating profit
margin. This makes it a potential future acquisition target for other brewing
groups such as AB Inbev for the following reasons: The larger brewing group
would want to increase their company's portion of sales within the market in
order to increase pricing power (Campbell et al., 2003). "If a company
doesn't have much pricing power then an increase in their prices would
lessen the demand for their products" (Investopedia US, 2012). Carlsberg has

knowledge and marketing expertise about the local markets in which it owns
breweries and so other brewing groups would want to acquire it as entry
mode to these markets. Besides it would be a quicker way for them to make
their presence known in these markets. Carlsberg is a valuable brand and as
such is a target for other bigger groups as they would want gain its
intellectual property such as "patents, trademarks, production processes,
databases that are difficult to re-create, and research & development
laboratories with a history of successful product development" (Bragg,
2012). Its being the fourth largest brewing corporation in the world makes it
is a major competitor in the brewing industry and in order to reduce
competition a brewing group such as AB Inbev may want to purchase it.
Furthermore, it is difficult to get costumers to change brands because
customers are fiercely loyal to local brands and the only way of tapping into
these markets is by purchasing the brewery (Rugman & Collinson, 2009). For
example in countries where Carlsberg markets its products that the larger
groups haven't entered yet, they could tap into these markets by purchasing
the brewery since the customers are familiar to Carlsberg's products. The
larger brewing group will want to gain preferential access to Carlsberg's sales
and distribution channels. By acquiring it, they can use it to distribute its own
products. Some of examples of sales channels they would benefit from are
telemarketing or a well-trained-in house sales staff (Bragg, 2012). However,
there are some barriers that a brewing group such as AB Inbev might face if
they sought to acquire Carlsberg this could be: Clash of culture between both

groups in terms of high management turnover which may possibly be as a

result of Carlsberg's employees not liking the acquiring group's way of doing
things and may decide to leave the company. This can materially harm the
performance of the brewery because management talent and expertise will
be lost and as such Carlsberg might reject an attempt to be bought (Hill,
2009). Integrating with other companies is difficult as a result of differences
in management philosophy and company culture. This tends to slow down
the integration of operations. National culture differences could even worsen
these problems (Hill, 2009). For example language barriers between
Carlsberg (owned by a Danish speaking company) and AB Inbev (a Dutch
speaking company) may make Carlsberg decide to reject a bid. Also,
Carlsberg is a big company as well and might reject an attempt to be bought
because it doesn't want to lose its identity. They could go as far as
responding to any acquisition bids by purchasing other breweries as a form
of defence. Due to its having good market shares purchasing other breweries
will make its shares bigger that it cannot be bought within the brewery
industry without anti-trust (this refers to specific laws protecting trade and
commerce from unfair business practices (Merriam-Webster, 2012)) thereby
making it difficult for companies like AB Inbev to acquire it (Bragg, 2012).

Global brand portfolio management and

consolidation
A global strategy that sustains 500 brands cannot possibly be right
because this strategy focuses on increasing profitability and profit growth by

reaping the costs reductions that come from economies of scale and learning
effects in other to have a low-cost strategy on a global scale. This implies
that this type of strategy suits where there are strong pressures for cost
reductions and demand for local responsiveness are low. Carlsberg has 500
brands and they customize their product a bit to meet local conditions and
this customization involves shorter production runs and the duplication of
functions, which tends to raise costs. They won't reap the benefits of
economies of scale as there won't be reduction in the unit cost achieved by
producing different product in large quantities. Also, they won't be able to
save costs that come from learning by doing in terms of producing the same
brand over and over again i.e. their labour productivity may not increase
over time as it is not easy for individuals to learn most efficient of performing
tasks when a large volume of different products is involved. Hence,
production cost will increase due to a decline in labour productivity and
management efficiency, which might decrease the firm's profitability (Hill,
2009). Carlsberg should rationalise its facilities and focus on far fewer brands
because it would be much easier to control and manage fewer brands and
also implementing a global strategy would be easier compared to when it
has 500 brands. By doing this they would be able to benefit from a bit from
economies of scale and learning effects. Furthermore, the cost of advertising
so many brands is relatively expensive. The customization of the brands
would even make it more expensive if they have different advertisements for
different brands in different countries. So they might want to consider

focusing on fewer brands because the fewer the brands the lesser the price
of advertising. Individual Reflection and Self-Analysis Expectations: I had
always wanted to learn more about the world of business and management
and as such my expectations for this module prior to beginning was to gain
knowledge about business and management in an international context as
the key to a successful business is how well the business is managed. This
expectation has been met because I have gained the preliminary knowledge
on how firms or organisations carry out their operations internationally for
example the strategies on how firms enter a foreign market. It has also given
me an introductory knowledge on how to identify a good business
opportunity, have good plan of action to run and also manage a firm
successfully. Challenges: I had some challenges during the module and this
was because I studied Electrical/Electronic Engineering in my first degree
and knew almost nothing about business. Having to do case studies wasn't
something I had done in my previous degree and so I struggled with how to
critically analyse and answer the questions that usually follow suit. I wouldn't
say I have completely overcome this challenge as there are still some cases
where I'm still not able to comprehend a case but I know reading ahead of
the lectures and paying attention during lectures has helped me to a certain
extent. Preparation for Masters: I feel prepared to begin a Masters level
programme and this module helped me prepare for it. This is because, I have
learnt the basics of international business and management and also how to

do extensive researches and structure a report, and my referencing skills

have improved as well.