Carlsberg: Emerging Markets Strategy Case Study Analysis

This case study examines Carlsberg's strategic maneuvers in the global beer market, particularly its approach to emerging markets. The analysis delves into Carlsberg's history, its challenges in mature markets like the EU, and its ambitions in Russia and China. The study highlights the company's tangible resources, including breweries and established brands, and intangible assets like its reputation. It explores Carlsberg's strategies for value creation, profitable growth, and innovation, emphasizing its shift from a rigid ownership structure to a more flexible model. The case study also discusses Carlsberg's focus on Eastern Europe and Asia, its efforts to gain a first-mover advantage in Western China, and its adaptation to competitive pressures. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of innovation and consumer value creation for Carlsberg's success, offering insights into how the company transformed itself from a conservative entity to a leading global brewer. The case study is valuable for students and business enthusiasts seeking to understand strategic decision-making in a dynamic market environment.

Running head: CARLSBURG: CASE STUDY
CARLSBURG: CASE STUDY
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The respective paper is a case study of Carlsberg brewery and the strategy it follows to
enter into the largest market of wine and alcohol and make its name and reputation in it. The
respective paper is a case study that clearly describes the kind of marketing and pricing strategy
Carlsburg had taken in order to penetrate in the global and international market to survive and
thrive in the fierce competition. Carlsberg Group is a global brewer or global wine and alcohol
producing company. The company was founded in the year 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen and the
headquarters of the respective brewer is situated in Copenhagen, Denmark. The brewer is famous
all over the world because of its unique and authentic taste it provides to the global customers.
The company has employed almost 41,000 people/ candidates in their organization in different
positions and designations and has emerged as one of the most famous and important brewer that
is recognized by the whole world. The other offices of the company are typically located at
Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia. Carlsberg offers the most outstanding and special
kind of brewed wine to its customers which is only available in Denmark and the regions of the
United Kingdom. in the year of 2014, Carlsberg was able to take over the third largest brewer of
Greece, the Olympic Brewery which has positively affected the firm and made it the second
biggest market player in the nation of Greece ( Hansen, Larsen and Pedersen, 2011).
Carlsberg had practiced different kinds of marketing and pricing strategy in order to win its
position in the market. For instance, through the ownership of BBH, Carlsberg was able to
capture the Russian market of brewery and get a well deserved position in the Russian market.
The case study depicts that in the year 2008, Carlsberg’s position as a good brewery seemed to
be falling and it seemed to lose grounds. Carlsberg, as estimated by the economists, seemed to
lose its fame and it was estimated that Carlsberg might lose its position and finally could have
been a takeover target for large breweries (Madsen 2019). The ownership structure of Carlsburg

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was considered to be the most important contributor to the difficulties in the path of its financial
expansion. The ownership pattern that Carlsberg had earlier taken up was very rigid and
inflexible. Due to the rigidity in the positioning and strategies of Carlsberg, it was unable to
secure enough of continuous growth and development and many economists and business
analysts feared that the company might as well become a superfluous player in the contemporary
fierce competitive business world. However, with the new era the charter of Carlsberg also
changed from rigid system of ownership to a more liberal form of ownership (Gammelgaard, and
Hobdari, 2013). The acquisition that was taken between Heineken and Carlsberg gave the
company the autonomy to hold 50% of the Russian beverages holding (Hansen, Larsen and
Pedersen 2011). Earlier, Carlsberg was not considered as a “truly global company” because of
the rigidity of the charter of the company as well as its statutory devices. Therefore, Carlsberg
decided to focus on the Eastern Europe and Asia as the African and European markets had
limited interests and the other markets were already consolidated. The activities that happened in
the Western European markets actually generated the revenue that was again invested in the
eastern European and Asian markets (Kaur, and Kaur). Carlsberg’s central strategy included
focus on value creation and profitable growth. Value creation is considered to be the primary
element of any kind of business entity. Creating value for the customers help the company in
gaining future ability of investment capital to fund operations (Foss and Lindenberg 2013).
Profitable growth, on the other hand, is a strategy when the organization aims to maintain the
profit by whatever means possible (Park, Ungson and Cosgrove 2015). The growth strategy is
also aimed at winning larger market share, even at the expense of short-term earnings. The other
strategy that the company had undertaken was that “improved profitability through innovation
and streamlining” which means that the company had only begun to be experimental,

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adventurous and liberal by breaking the shackles of conservatism (Nolsøe Grünbaum and
Stenger 2013). Another corestone of Carlsberg’s core strategy was to focus on achieving
leadership and first mover advantages in western china while avoiding the fierce competition in
the south east (Hansen, Larsen and Pedersen 2011). Therefore, throughout the case study,
different strategies taken up by the company Carlsberg at different geographical locations have
been observed. The paper shall highlight the fact that Carlsberg, which had happened to go
through tough time due to its rigid charter, was able to revive itself once again to become the
leading brewery in the world because of its innovation strategy as well as the strategy of
consumer value creation which happens to be a completely new and contemporary strategy that
ensures the consumer satisfaction to be the ultimate goal of a company.
The respective paper concludes to be a case study of Carlsberg brewery and the strategy
it follows to enter into the largest market of wine and alcohol and make its name and reputation
in it. The respective paper concludes to be a case study that clearly describes the kind of
marketing and pricing strategy Carlsburg had taken in order to penetrate in the global and
international market to survive and thrive in the fierce competition. The case study is important
because it provides the readers with the fact that a company which is conservative in its business
practices and did not pay any heed to any kind of ideas beyond the conventions of the business
might as well be successful in its endeavor of being liberal and practicing innovation. The case
study is important for the students and the business enthusiasts because it provides the necessary
insight that without innovation, breaking the shackles of conventions and conservatism in
business, a business would cease to flourish. In the case of Carlsberg, which had happened to go
through tough time due to its rigid charter, was able to revive itself once again to become the
leading brewery in the world because of its innovation strategy as well as the strategy of

4CARLSBURG: CASE STUDY
consumer value creation which happens to be a completely new and contemporary strategy that
ensures the consumer satisfaction to be the ultimate goal of a company.

5CARLSBURG: CASE STUDY
References:
Foss, N.J. and Lindenberg, S., 2013. Microfoundations for strategy: A goal-framing perspective
on the drivers of value creation. Academy of Management Perspectives, 27(2), pp.85-102.
Gammelgaard, J. and Hobdari, B., 2013. ‘Subsidiary strategic responsibilities and autonomy in
Carlsberg. The Global Brewery Industry: Markets, Strategies, pp.199-222.
Kaur, A. and Kaur, H., STRATEGIES FOR ENTRY IN FOREIGN MARKETS: CARLSBERG
A CASE STUDY. GLOBAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, p.1.
Madsen, E.S., 2019. From Local to Global Competitors on the Beer Market (No. 2019-11).
Nolsøe Grünbaum, N. and Stenger, M., 2013. Dynamic capabilities: do they lead to innovation
performance and profitability?. IUP Journal of Business Strategy, 10(4).
Park, S.H., Ungson, G.R. and Cosgrove, A., 2015. Scaling the Tail: Managing Profitable Growth
in Emerging Markets. Springer.
W. Hansen, M., Moller Larsen, M. and Pedersen, T. (2011). Carlsberg in emerging
markets. Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation.