Ludwig Theuvsen and Christoph Niederhut-Bollmann 357
All breweries
More than 250,000 hl p.a.
100,000 to 250,000 hl p.a.
5,000 to 100,000 hl p.a.
Up to 5,000 hl p.a.
|
19% ∣3% 78% | |||||||||||
|
68% |
32% | ||||||||||
|
41% |
3% 55% | ||||||||||
|
19% ∣3% 78% | |||||||||||
|
4% 96% | |||||||||||
|
I I I I I I I I | |||||||||||
Figure 2. Internationalization of the German Brewing Industry
About 17.5 percent% of the respondents expect that internationalization will become more im-
portant in the future for their breweriesy. The eExport growth during the last three years has sup-
ported this point of view; on average foreign sales of by the companies under surveysurveyed
have on average increased by about 23 percent %. Obviously, the entry into foreign markets has
contributed to the reduction of risks stemming from sales losses on the German market.
Strategic outsourcing of major value activities has become a dominant trend in many industries,
including the food and beverages industry. Soft drink producers, for instance like the Austrian
Red Bull company, demonstrate that successfully managing and controlling the end of the value
chain is more important and more profitable than running one's own production facilities. In the
strongly production-oriented brewing industry this is still a very rare business model. Anyhow,
wWhen asked whether they could imagine stopping brewing and concentrating on selling beer
, only 8.5 percent% of the respondents agreedsaid that they could. Thus, in an industry charac-
terized by huge overcapacities, sharing risks with external suppliers may become a more preva-
lent strategy in the future.
Competitive strategies also provide opportunities for influencing a company’s exposureition to
risks. Focus strategies, for instance, allow breweries to find protected market niches in which
they experience much lower competitive strategiesless competition than in the mass market.
U.S. micro-breweries provide an example for of the successfully creationng of market niches
through product innovations (Bastian et al, 1999). German micro-breweries pursue similar stra-
tegies; 57.6 percent% of the small breweries have introduced new beer varieties, which is far-
clear above average.
Differentiation through innovative products usually allows companies to experience lower com-
petitive pressures in the newly created market segment. Therefore, the innovator has a reduced
risk of being outcompeted by rivalry companies until the innovation has been copied by “me-
too” producers. Of course, innovation also creates new market risks. Therefore, being a fast se-
cond-mover may also provide an opportunity to reduce market risks. In our sample 45 percent%
of the companies view themselves as pioneers, while another 18 percent% consider themselve-
sas “second movers”.
Serving different market segments is another strategy to for reducinge market risks. Of the bre-
weries surveyed 41 percent% of the breweries under survey produce their own brands as well
as private labels. Other breweries create different brands to serve different market segments, for