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Browerij Hugyhe And Interbrew Strategy

Two Brews

The Two Brews case indulges into the strategic operations of two Belgian breweries, Browerij Hugyhe and Interbrew. This case illustrates the importance of effective strategies and how a strategy can be incorporated into various aspects of an organization’s operations in order for it to gain a competitive advantage within the industry it resides in.

Define Hugyhe’s and Interbrew’s strategic advantage

Porter’s 5 Forces (Angwin, Cummings & Smith, 2008, pg.66) provides an overview of the rivalry within the Belgium brewing industry.

Belgium has all the necessary forces present in order for the brewing industry to thrive. As shown by Porter’s 5 Forces, the brewing industry in Belgium has a huge level of strategic advantage over other nations. The Porter Diamond (Porter, M. Wikipedia) analyzes how a nation’s context influences the competitive advantage of an industry.

The Porter Diamond illustrates that the context of being situated within Belgium and its economy, provides for a fortunate brewing industry. Breweries thrive off the nations demand for beer, as well as the governments support. The availability of supporting industries allows Belgian breweries to seek the worldwide market and enter with a very strong competitive advantage.

As shown by the Generic Strategy Matrix the internal strategies each brewery exhibited were very different. Hugyhe implemented a differentiation focus strategy which was to use traditional methods to produce a narrow scope of premium beers that focused on Belgium’s local market. Hugyhe had focused on producing ‘low-cost table beers’ for decades, however due to the influx of competing breweries, Hugyhe had to rethink its strategy, and began tailor-making products for certain clients. With Hugyhe’s narrow scope of differentiated brands and the ability to tailor make products to suit, Hugyhe had identified their new strategic advantage, one that the majority of larger breweries were unable to imitate.

Interbrew...