Strategic Human Resource Management: Carlsberg Case Study

This report examines Carlsberg Group's strategic human resource priorities, focusing on the implementation and alignment of the Winning Behavior strategy with various HR practices such as workforce planning, equity and diversity, work-life balance, and social responsibilities. It analyzes the rationale behind the Winning Behavior strategy, which aims to foster a winning culture within the organization by promoting innovation, responsibility, ambition, and honesty. The report also discusses the challenges faced by Carlsberg in implementing this strategy in Malaysia, considering factors like religious restrictions and advertising regulations, and explores the potential impact of the strategy in an Australian context through PEST analysis and market segmentation. The analysis covers political and economic factors that could affect Carlsberg's operations, highlighting the importance of adapting HR practices to local conditions while maintaining a global strategic alignment.

Running head: STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
In this report, the main objective of the discussion will be to learn about the workplace
practices as well as the human resource trends in context with the Carlsberg Group, which
will help to learn the above said things in global context. This report will help to outline the
human resource priorities pursued by Carlsberg as well as the rationale of implementing the
Winning Behavior strategy. This report will also lay the process by which Carlsberg align the
Winning Behavior strategy with other human resource practices, like workforce planning and
development, equity and diversity, work-life balance and social responsibilities. The
difficulties face by Carlsberg while implementing the strategy in Malaysia will be analyzed
and also the analysis will be done on implementation of the strategy in an Australian context.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Strategic HR Priorities...............................................................................................................3
Winning Behaviors Strategy......................................................................................................4
Alignment of Winning Behaviors Strategy and HR Practices...................................................5
Winning Behaviors Strategy in Malaysia..................................................................................6
Winning Behaviors Strategy in Australia..................................................................................7
PEST Analysis.......................................................................................................................7
Market Segmentation.............................................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
In this report, the main objective of the discussion will be to learn about the
workplace practices as well as the human resource trends in context with the Carlsberg
Group, which will help to learn the above said things in global context. This report will help
to outline the human resource priorities pursued by Carlsberg as well as the rationale of
implementing the Winning Behavior strategy. This report will also lay the process by which
Carlsberg align the Winning Behavior strategy with other human resource practices, like
workforce planning and development, equity and diversity, work-life balance and social
responsibilities. The difficulties face by Carlsberg while implementing the strategy in
Malaysia will be analyzed and also the analysis will be done on implementation of the
strategy in an Australian context. Carlsberg is a brewer company from Denmark which
operates globally. The company is 172 years old and the headquarter is located in
Copenhagen. It falls into the beverage industry, and the products of the company includes
soft drinks, beers, bolted ware and ciders. Now the company is the fourth largest brewery
company in the world (Gammelgaard & Hobdari 2013).
Strategic HR Priorities
The strategic human resource priorities pursued by Carlsberg are (Jackson, Schuler &
Jiang, 2014):
1. Overarching Human Resource Strategies - This strategy can be described for the
general goal of the company about the way in which the people would work to achieve the
common goal set by Carlsberg. It includes the process in which the people of the organization
should be managed as well as improve the working conditions and working culture of the
people working out there. This would help the company to achieve the goals set, that is to
have a winning culture in Carlsberg. The priorities set by the organization among the

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employees of the organization of Carlsberg are measured using this strategic human resource
by the human resource department of the company. The company implemented the Winning
Behavior strategy to develop a winning work culture among the employees, and their
progress can be measured by this strategy of performance management system.
2. Specific Strategies – This strategy helps an organization to set out the plans and
procedures in particular areas like knowledge management and resourcing. It would help
Carlsberg to create, acquire, capture, share and use the knowledge of the employees to focus
on the goals set by the company, which is to possess a winning culture within the
organization. It would also help to attract as well as retain the employees, so that it would be
easier for Carlsberg to implement the “Winning Behavior” strategy and achieve the goals set
in that strategy.
Winning Behaviors Strategy
In the year of 2002, the then Chief Executive Officer Nils Smedegaard Andersen
launched a fresh strategy improvement process based on the concept of “Must-win Battles’,
which actually included of developing a common group or work culture, to grow the brand
name of the organization, improving the capacities as well as capabilities of the employees
working out there and driving the revenue earning or profitability in major beer markets
(Hatch, Schultz & Skov 2015). One of the major platforms of this fresh initiative was to
develop a “winning culture” in the organization. The core value of the “winning culture” was
innovative, responsible, ambitious and honest. These all values were taken to find the right
balances for the motive to work together as a company at a worldwide level and also allowing
or helping the local brands and the initiatives taken to flourish. The rationale of this strategy
was initiated as it believed that if the employees work together and actively they would make
the company stronger and to enjoy a competitive edge over its competitors, by sharing the

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best practices across all the functions, in all the regions where the organization is operating its
business, so that it could win the maximum share in the marketplace. Carlsberg always want
to win the solutions of the hurdles faced to operate the business as well as to reach the aims
and objectives set by the organization. These all would help them to take fast, proactive as
well as action oriented steps in the decision making process as well as in the execution
phases. Carlsberg value their customers and always and they make all the decisions within
the company by keeping their customers in their mind always. The organization also focuses
on the society where they are performing or engaged in the business operations apart from
taking ownership in problems and challenges faced and possess the superior quality to deliver
some outstanding results. The “Winning Behavior” Strategy would help the organization to
produce a work culture where all the employees would work together to achieve the set
business goals of Carlsberg. The main intention was to align all these behaviors with the
global business strategy of Carlsberg along with integrating the global approach of the
company to human resource management (Sankrusme, 2016).
Alignment of Winning Behaviors Strategy and HR Practices
The “Winning Behavior” strategy of Carlsberg helped to align the different human
resource practices like workforce planning and development, equity and diversity, work-life
balance and social responsibilities. As discussed earlier that this strategy was initiated by the
organization so that all the employees could work together in such an organizational culture
that would help the employees by motivating them enough so that they all could contribute in
the success of the organization. The strategy encouraged Carlsberg to think in a glocal way,
which means the company valued the beliefs of the global people as well as the local people
where the company is running their business operations. Carlsberg is a multinational
company, so they have to deal with the human resource practices for the local perspective as
well as for the global perspective, so that it will be good for them to implement their

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strategies of having a winning culture and winning behavior within the employees iin the
organization to sustain in the marketplace as well as to increase the marketplace. This would
help to plan execute the workforce planning in an efficient and effective way, and to improve
them where it would be necessary (Andersen, 2017). The equity in the workforce would treat
all the employees equally so that it would be easy to achieve the business goals set by the
company. This practices of the human resource management would make easy for the
organization to achieve the goals more easily. Diversity, on the other hand, involves the
employees belonging from the unique cultures who would possess different aspirations,
characteristics and expectations. All these could be included in the human resource practices
so that it would be easy to set a common goal for all the employees with keeping in mind
their diverse cultural background. As it was stated earlier that Carlsberg focuses on the
society where they are performing or engaged in the business operations, along with laying
stress on the corporate social responsibilities of the organization, so that it would help the
company to involve the social commitments required for the organization. The work-life
balance within the company is maintained by the organization so that the employees could
feel motivated enough and a harmony is maintained within the organization. All these
practices need to be corporate by the human resource department of Carlsberg so that a
proper work culture is maintained and the company could achieve their common goal of
initiated in the “Winning Behavior” strategy (Søderberg, 2015).
Winning Behaviors Strategy in Malaysia
The organization of Carlsberg faced some difficulties while selling their brands in the
marketplace of Malaysia, as it can be seen in the case study that selling of alcohol was very
difficult in the Muslim country, and it can be noted that the Muslim population of Malaysia in
near about 67% of the total population, so the difficulty faced by Carlsberg is quite real in
nature. Beer advertisement is banned the country as well as huge taxes are imposed on the

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selling of the beer products of the company. It can be noted that drinking of alcohol is usually
prohibited in the Muslim countries and Malaysia is one of them. The Sharia law of Malaysia
forbids the Muslim from drinking as well as selling alcohol to them. This was the main
challenge faced by the company of Carlsberg. The legal drinking age for the people of
Malaysia is 21 years and above, which was changed from 18 years on 1st of December, 2017
(Verde, 2015). Licenses are required in order to sale alcohol on the region of Malaysia, as
well has to maintain certain norms and standards to get permission to trade in Malaysia.
Direct advertising on usage of alcohol is not at all allowed in the region of Malaysia, mainly
over the broadcasting media as well as on billboards, except in the state of Sabah which is
located in the east of Malaysia. Advertisements on alcohol are totally permitted on video
cassettes, the print media and in cinemas. These were overcoming which are faced by the
companies from beverage industries, including Carlsberg. The taxes imposed were also on
higher rates, which also prevented many companies to either stop performing their business
operations or revising their strategies in order to perform the business operations in the
country of Malaysia. The gender inequality is also a problem for the company in Malaysia, as
most of the population is Muslim and they do not allow the girls or the women to work in a
liquor company like Carlsberg (Chia et al, 2015).
Winning Behaviors Strategy in Australia
The “Winning Behavior” strategy, if implemented in Australia, could have faced both
good and bad effects. The effects can be discussed with the following factors using the PEST
Analysis and Market Segmentation (Sankrusme, 2013).
PEST Analysis
Political Factor – It includes the political stability of the national government as well
as the local government of Australia where the organization is going to open their factory or

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the branches. Australia also has a set of rules and regulations to set up a liquor company.
Some provinces might have some issues regarding opening of a liquor company or factory.
So, Carlsberg have to follow all these before entering into the marketplace of Australia. They
also have to maintain the norms and standards regarding the promotional campaigns or
advertisements of the company in the region of Australia.
Economic Factor - In context of the economic factors, Carlsberg need to maintain the
various tax rates which should be paid to the government entities of Australia. This is very
much necessary as any kind of theft in paying the taxes may hamper the business operations
of the company in Australia. The per capita income as well as the disposable income of the
people of Australia needs to be assessed by Carlsberg before entering the Australian
marketplace. They have to identify the target market that usually drinks alcohol in good
quantities.
Social Factor – The social factors also need to be assessed by the company. The
social acceptances about the brand name of the company, the product and the kind of
advertisements which would be used by the company must have acceptance power and
abilities to influence the society of the country of Australia towards the company. The
positive impact would help the company to flourish whereas the negative impacts would
hamper the brand name of the company.
Technological Factors – These would include to set up the organization as well as
the factories with all sorts of advanced technologies attached with these steps. More
distribution channels should be used in the upgraded versions, so that it would help to reach
to more number of customers and increase the revenue of the company.

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Market Segmentation
Geographical – Here the factors including the climate and weather conditions need to
be assessed. Australia have summer in the time of Christmas. These kind of climatic features
need to be identified by Carlsberg to target the identified customers.
Demographic – Here the age, income of the people, gender, occupation and other
factors should be analyzed in the region of Australia. It would help them to identify the
targeted customers and can manufacture the product according to the needs and wants of the
people.
Psychographic – The culture, lifestyle and the personality of the people of Australia
will help to segment of the marketplace can be made efficiently. Carlsberg need to identify
and target those people who drink liquor in a good quantity.
Behavioral – The buying power of the people as well as the attitude towards the
brand need to be assessed so that Carlsberg would divide the market accordingly and
strategize their market positioning plans. The Australian people who possess a good
purchasing power towards liquor can only be targeted by the company.
From the analysis of the above points, it can be recommended that the Australian
market can be a good marketplace for Carlsberg, though it has to face some tough
competition from the competitors like XXXX Gold, VB and Carlton Draught. But if the
targeted customers are properly identified, then Carlsberg will have a good opportunity to
penetrate into the marketplace of Australia.

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Conclusion
From the above report, it can be concluded that Carlsberg initiated many strategies
which actually helped the organization to grow as well as sustain in the marketplace around
the world, and also to enjoy the competitive edge over its competitors.

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