Selling Beer in an Islamic Country Challenges Multi Bintang and Delta Djakarta

Selling beer in an Islamic country challenges Multi Bintang and Delta Djakarta

A case of PT Multi Bintang and PT Delta Djakarta

by

Thomas Everard

1610832

Thomas.Everard16@student.xjtlu.edu.cn

MAN311 Business in the Asia-Pacific Region

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Dr Donald Pak

Suzhou, November 2016

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The two heavyweights of the Indonesian beer market, PT Multi Bintang and PT Delta Djakarta, are operating in a predominantly Muslim country. As alcohol is a big taboo in the Islam, the companies have faced various difficulties in their operations. These obstacles were on different levels of the community, as they are both on the consumer-level and the country-level. This report tried to investigate how both companies have dealt with the obstacles they faced, ranging from reaching the consumer and dealing with governmental restrictions. After careful research, the writer found that the companies had similar and different approaches to the challenges. Based on the differences, the writer concluded that Multi Bintang did a better job as it turned one of the challenges into one of their firm specific advantages in the form of its non-alcoholic segment.  

2889 words, excluding references.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY        

CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION        

CHAPTER 2 – THE INDUSTRY & THE COMPANIES        

2.1 The Indonesian Beverages Industry        

2.2 The Companies        

CHAPTER 3 – THE ISSUES        

3.1 Operating in Indonesia        

3.2 Regulations and Policies        

3.3 CSR and Brand Reputation        

CHAPTER 4 – CONCLUSION        

REFERENCES        

CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION

Indonesia, the largest archipelago in the world comprising of more than seventeen thousand islands and more than 250 million inhabitants (CIA Factbook, 2016), is regarded as an incredible interesting market for all sorts of industries. Moreover, due to its growing middle class and enormous internal market, it has already attracted many multinational corporations (MNC’s). What is more, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and, at the same time, the largest Muslim country.