Heineken

Heineken which was founded in 1864 had a clear vision of “brewing the best beer and to let the world know” and this is what Heineken has been doing all these years by their focus on quality and innovation. By 2014 Heineken was third biggest brewer in terms of volume worldwide. Heinekens beverages are being sold in more than 178 countries while their competitors AB INBev was in 25 countries and SABMiller in 34. Group’s beer volume had grown up by 3.1% compared to half year 2013 driven by Africa, Middle East, America and Western Europe. Looking at Exhibit 4 it can be clearly seen how company has been growing through years, with a total of 159.1 mhl of beer produced and sold worldwide in 2009 , which increased to 192.3 mhl in 2010 , 213.9 mhl in 2011 and 221.2 in 2012 mhl. Heineken out of its competitors has been one of the first companies which has seriously considered and integrated sustainability in its core, which can be seen from its efforts of decreasing carbon dioxide emissions of its breweries by 26% from 2008-2013. The company also joined Sustainable agriculture initiative to support in the cause of high quality agriculture, protecting the environment and at the same time also improving social and economic conditions of farmers. The big issue here is Mass balance vs Segregated sourcing, company currently relies on mass balance method and has been thinking if segregated sourcing is important for Heineken as a brand, I think the company is in no condition of completely shifting to segregated sourcing without adding immense additional costs and eventually increasing the price of their various products, (looking at exhibit 17) where people are more willing to pay for a beer that tastes better (56%) , has a unique taste (50%) rather than any of the sustainability factors which are at the bottom of the beer drinkers priorities. Heineken should focus more on advertising and promoting what they are currently doing towards a better world which is a lot more than their competitors, aligning their various achievements and initiatives along with their marketing messages and strengthening the brands image as a more green brand that any other. Heineken should also focus more on controlling the farmer practices in countries of African continent at a more farmer level giving them more opportunities to practice the companies vision, while at the same time it can think about coming up with a 100% sustainably sourced brand in the more developed parts of the world where people are more aware and sensitive to these issues and have the ability to actually prefer something based on how green it is without caring if it is more expensive and controlling all the factors involved in the production is not a costly affair. Because not the whole world is quite ready for GREEN BEER as of yet.