Anheuser Busch and Coors Brewing Company

Strategic Analysis of

Anheuser-Busch Companies and Coors Brewing Company

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Contents
Introduction 3
Industry Analysis 3 Barriers to Entry: 3 Competitive Rivalry: 4 Power of Suppliers: 5 Power of Buyers: 5 Substitutes: 6 Summary of Five Forces: 6
Strategy Analysis 7 Anheuser-Busch 7 Operational Excellence 7 Customer Intimacy: 9 Evaluation of Anheuser-Busch’s Strategy: 10 Coors Brewing Company: 11 Operational Excellence: Through Strategic Alliances 11 Brand Management: Differentiation and Expansion 14 Evaluation of Coors’ Strategy 16
Event Response Analysis 17 Demand Contraction: Anheuser-Busch and Coors Brewing Company 17 Rise in Demand: Anheuser-Busch and Coors Brewing Company 18
Conclusion 19
Appendix 21
Works Cited 24

Introduction

The two companies that will be the focus of this paper are Anheuser-Busch Companies and Coors Brewing Company (Coors). As of 2009, these two companies held 50.4 percent and 10.8 percent of the U.S. beer market, respectively[1]. The compound annual growth rate of the market value of the U.S. beer industry between 2005 and 2009 was 0.4 percent, reaching $77.6 billion in 2009, while the market volume grew at an even lower 0.2 percent reaching a volume of 24 billion liters.[2] Until 2002, the three major players within the industry, Anheuser-Busch, Coors and Miller Brewing Company, were domestically owned and together earned 75 percent of the industry revenues. This paper focuses on the U.S. beer industry and competitive strategies of two focal companies Anheuser-Busch and Coors, prior to 2009, before global giant InBev acquired Anheuser-Busch. Despite the dominant position of Anheuser-Busch, the different strategies pursued by these two organizations will draw different reactions from each firm, should a significant event impact them. This report highlights the differences in those reactions by (1) presenting an overall view of

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