Heineken - Company Report

Résumé du document

The Heineken company was started up in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken. In 1873 the brewery's name changed to Heineken's Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij. In 1874 Gerard Adriaan Heineken opened a second brewery in Rotterdam. In 1886 Dr. H. Elion developed the "Heineken A-yeast" in the Heineken laboratory. This yeast is still the key ingredient of Heineken beer. In 1887 Heineken switched to the use of bottom-fermenting yeast.
After World War I, the company focused more on export. During this period, Heineken tried to increase its stock price by purchasing competing breweries. In 1968 Heineken merged with its biggest competitor, Amstel, and in 1975 opened a new brewery in Zoeterwoude. The Amstel brewery was closed in 1980.

Now, Heineken owns over 119 breweries in more than 65 countries and employs approximately 54,004 people. It brews and sells more than 170 international premium, regional, local and specialty beers. Heineken claims that the original Heineken recipe has not changed since the beer was first produced nearly 150 years ago.

Extraits

[...] The volume increase, improvements in sales mix and higher selling prices caused revenue to rise organically by million. Strong improvement of sales and price mix of 7 per cent drove organic growth in revenue to 7.4 per cent. The negative effect of movements in exchange rates on revenue amounted to million or 0.9 per cent and was mainly related to the British Pound, US dollar and Russian Ruble. Other income was relatively stable at million and consisted mainly of gains on the sale of property, plant and equipment. [...]

[...] After World War the company focused more on export. During this period, Heineken tried to increase its stock price by purchasing competing breweries. In 1968 Heineken merged with its biggest competitor, Amstel, and in 1975 opened a new brewery in Zoeterwoude. The Amstel brewery was closed in 1980. Now, Heineken owns over 119 breweries in more than 65 countries and employs approximately 54,004 people. It brews and sells more than 170 international premium, regional, local and specialty beers. Heineken claims that the original Heineken recipe has not changed since the beer was first produced nearly 150 years ago Business Heineken is one of the world's great brewers. [...]

[...] What is even more important is that the impact of the excise tax increases on the fiscal health of state government and the rippling economic effects of lowered alcohol sales on bars, restaurants, on advertising agencies and print media. These are difficult decisions to make and only the future will tell us what exactly is going happen with the brewing industry. A fact is, that the strategy of the brewing companies highly depends on what sort of regulations a nation's government will introduce into the brewing industry. Technological In the brewing industry there are every year renewing and innovative technologies. Recently, immobilized yeast technology has gained increasing attention in the brewing industry. [...]

[...] Heineken in his history tried sometimes to do some different diversification strategies with different result: product diversification began relatively late, because the company's emphasis lied on expanding its markets. In 1968, however, the company purchased the Amstel Brewery, Holland's second largest brewery, founded by Jonkheer C.A. de Pesters and J.H. van Marwijk Kooy in 1870. They were the first in Holland who brew lager beers. Amstel's export market was firmly established by the time Heineken purchased the operation. Through its acquisition of Amstel, Heineken gained interests in breweries in Surinam, the Netherlands Antilles, Jordan, Lebanon, and Greece. [...]

[...] This means the brand wants to be recognize for the quality of its beer. Nowadays Heineken's beer is the same than 100 years ago, the company insists that consumers know they drink one of the best beer in the world. Positioning of Heineken towards its competitors: Price Heineken is one the most expensive beer. This is the decision of the company to sell its beer at higher price than its competitors. Consumer agree to buy this products a bit more expensive because they pay for the quality. [...]