How to grow in saturated markets?
: the case of the beer Industry

  • Maria Vilela Guerlixa Firmino das Neves (Student)

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

Market saturation poses immense challenges to multinational's growth ambitions. "How to grow in saturated markets? - The case of the beer industry" was written by the Master's candidate Maria Neves with the aim of investigating multinationals' growth strategies under conditions of high levels of market saturation. The paper's main objectives are: i) to identify the set of resources and capabilities, herein named growth enabler and revitalizers, which, if leveraged upon, may enable firms to contradict the downward trends of market saturation they are facing; and ii) to illustrate, through real case examples, how companies are taking advantage of those resources and capabilities to successfully meet their growth expectations. In-depth research was conducted in order to assess whether the defined ecosystem of activities, composed of one growth enabler and four revitalizers, applied to the beer industry. Key findings suggest that: i) big multinationals within the saturated beer market are still managing to grow; ii) said multinationals are making strategic use of the identified growth enabler - corporate culture - and growth revitalizers - divestments, consolidation, diversification and business model innovation - to generate their growth; iii) multinationals that outperform in their use of the defined set of growth enabler and revitalizers are those growing at a faster pace in all key growth indicators. Lastly, further research is proposed to explore the transferability of these findings to other relevant saturated industries.
Date of Award17 Oct 2016
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • Universidade Católica Portuguesa
SupervisorMarkus Venzin (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Market saturation
  • Growth
  • Growth enabler
  • Revitalizers
  • Multinationals
  • Corporate culture
  • Divestments
  • Consolidation
  • Diversification
  • BMI
  • Beer industry
  • AB InBev
  • SABMiller
  • Carlsberg
  • Heineken

Designation

  • Mestrado em Gestão: Programa Internacional

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