Strategic Management Analysis of Carlsberg

Table of Contents

1. Presentation of the Company        

1.1 History        

1.2 Management Structure        

1.3 Ownership Structure        

1.4 Organization Structure        

1.5 Markets        

1.6 Products        

1.7 Financial Performance        

2. Strategic Analysis        

2.1 PESTEL Analysis        

2.2 Porter’s 5 forces        

2.3 Competitors        

2.3 SWOT Analysis        

2.4 Strategic Groups        

2.5 Strategic Capabilities        

2.6 Stakeholders Expectations        

3. Strategy Formulation        

3.1 Mission Statement & Strategic Goals        

3.2 Corporate-level Strategy        

3.3 Business-level Strategy        

4. Organizing for Strategy        

4.1 Conclusions        

5. References        

1. Presentation of the Company

1.1 History

The Carlsberg group is a Danish brewing company founded in 1847 by J.C. Jacobsen. It is currently headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company's most famous product is the Carlsberg Beer. In 1871, it opened its second brewery, which was operated by J.C. Jacobsen's son, Carl (after whom Carlsberg was named). Following his father's precious advices, Carl started to brew beer in the very same year, both for the home market and for export. The production was soon reoriented towards lager production, as the demand for such a product grew while Ales lost popularity. Quite surprisingly, Carl and his father soon became competitors! (Carlsberg Website, 2014).

In 1903, Carlsberg and Tuborg signed a 100-year joint venture agreement, which also left the possibility for a future merger. The agreement included the sharing of all profits and losses and the split of investment capital. The first major turn in Carlsberg's history was Carl's death in 1914, at the age of 71. Deeply committed to the brewing industry but also a true passionate of arts (to which he generously contributed), he was also famous amongst his workers for reducing working hours and introducing the first modern pension fund in the history of the country.

Throughout its history, the company heavily diversified increasingly focused on exports due to the relative small size of its home market. The first Carlsberg-owned bottling facility was opened in 1903. The exports skyrocketed at the eve of the First World War. In Carlsberg's core market, the UK, more than 50% of all the imported beer was part of Carlsberg product range. Soon after, the company started to offer its production in Continental Europe.

The direct ownership of foreign breweries having been prevented by Carlsberg and Tuborg's 1903 Joint Agreement, they had to invest equally (50%-50%) in every overseas facility. Carlsberg opened one in Malawi and Tuborg in Turkey. The two companies finally merged in 1970, the majority of the ownership (51%) still being in the hands of the Carlsberg Foundation after J.C. Jacobsen's donation.  This situation was formalized in 2007, when The Charter and Statutes were amended, and today the Carlsberg Foundation must at all times hold at least 51% of the votes and more than 25% of the share capital of Carlsberg A/S. With an export of more than 2.5 million hl of beer, the company became the world's leader in beer exports