The U.S. Brewing Industry

by TREMBLAY, VICTOR J.; TREMBLAY, CAROL HORTON

• ISBN13: 9780262201513
• ISBN10: 0262201518
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-01-01
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

This definitive study uses theory, history, and data to analyze the evolution of the US brewing industry from a fragmented market to an emerging oligopoly. Drawing on a rich and extensive data set and applying the theoretical tools of industrial organization, game theory, and management strategy, the authors provide new quantitative and qualitative perspectives on an industry they characterize as "a veritable market laboratory." The US brewing industry illustrates many of the important topics in industrial organization, economic policy, and business strategy, including industry concentration, technological change, brand proliferation, and mixed pricing strategies. After giving an overview of the industry, Tremblay and Tremblay discuss basic demand and cost conditions and industry concentration. They describe the evolution of the leading mass-producing brewers and the emergence of both specialty brewers and imports. They analyze the history and the causes of product and brand proliferation (showing how product proliferation leads to firm dominance), discuss price, advertising, merger, and other management strategies, and examine the industry's economic performance. Finally, they discuss public policy, including anti-trust and public health issues. The authors' set of industry, firm, and brand data for the period 1950-2002-the most comprehensive data set of economic variables available for an oligopolistic industry-will be available to purchasers of the book who send an e-mail request. Data sources are listed in an appendix. Robert S. Weinberg, a management strategy scholar and leading consultant to the brewing industry, contributes a foreword. This ambitious, authoritative work, capping the authors' 25-year study of the brewing industry, will be a valuable resource for industry analysts, economists, and students of industrial organization.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Robert S. Weinberg	ix
Preface	xiii
1 Introduction	1	(16)
2 Basic Demand and Cost Conditions	17	(24)
3 Industry Concentration	41	(26)
4 The Leading Mass-Producing Brewers	67	(36)
5 Imports and Domestic Specialty Brewers	103	(32)
6 Product and Brand Proliferation	135	(24)
7 Strategic Behavior: Price, Advertising, Merger, and Other Strategies	159	(48)
8 Economic Performance	207	(26)
9 Public Policy Issues	233	(44)
10 Concluding Remarks, Forecasts, and Directions for Future Research	277	(8)
Appendix A Data and Sources	285	(6)
Appendix B Beer Containers	291	(2)
Appendix C Mergers, Ordered by Acquired Firm	293	(14)
Appendix D Alcohol Content, Standard Serving Size, and Blood Alcohol Concentration	307	(4)
Notes	311	(20)
References	331	(42)
Index	373