Year
2015
Authors
Abstract
SABMiller plc., which was started in 1895, is a South African based brewery giant. Since then it has expanded from its original South African base into a global company with operations in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and North America. Today, it is multinational company and its headquarters are in London. The company marketed over 200 brands across 75 countries and it was the world’s second-largest brewing company measured by revenues and was also a major bottler of Coca-Cola. Through their Building locally, winning globally philosophy, they have made their presence felt in both developed markets and emerging economies such as Latin America, Africa, China and India. The Latin America segment covered SABMiller’s primary brewing and beverage operations in Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Peru. In each country SABMiller was the leader of the market. The segment also bottled soft drinks for The Coca-Cola Company in El Salvador and Honduras, and for PepsiCo International in Panama. In Latin America, the company operated 17 breweries and 15 bottling plants. However, the global competition for Latin America was aggressive, there were other three multinationals trying to compete actively and conquer new territories globally. The Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, Dutch brewer Heineken, and Denmark’s Carlsberg, the four of them, including SABMiller, they brewed more than 50 per cent of the world’s beer and three of them were having a battle for the countries of Latin America, due the constant growth and profitability of the region. The case paper intends to discuss and highlight the entry strategy of SABMiller in the Latin America market, the overall strategy of conquering emerging markets of SABMiller by fast local adaptation to individual markets, SABMiller’s responsiveness to local business focusing on Latin America and the dynamics of the global players of the brewery industry in Latin America.
SOM, A. (2015). Sabmiller: the battle for Latin America. ESSEC Business School.