Identify the Resources and Capabilities for Sabmiller Using the Value Chain Approach.

Question: Identify the resources and capabilities for SABMiller using the value chain approach. 1 1.1 SABMiller’s resources and capabilities identified by using the value chain approach Introduction

This value chain analysis has focused on SABM’s beer business. By default the value chain considers some functional analysis, specifically with the support areas. In addition, materiality / significant cost component(s) will also be considered. (Mind Tools date unknown) Based on Professor Jain’s estimate shown in Table 1, packaging and marketing costs are the most significant for a brewer. However, raw material inputs and labour are by no means insignificant. Table 1 Estimated cost breakdown for a brewing operation (Jain Circ. 2000) Cost description Raw materials (including grains) Labour Packaging Marketing Administration Total The next section searches for resources and capabilities. 1.2 Steps taken to identify SABM’s resources and capabilities

% cost split 15 12 45 20 8 100

The SABM 2013 annual report (SABMiller plc 2013) was reviewed to identify:  Primary activities, and  Support activities. These are illustrated in Figure 1 on page 2 below. However, the value generating sub-activities are generally cross-functional in nature. (Mind Tools date unknown) These links play an important part in improving SABM’s competitive advantage. So, to identify SABM’s real capabilities that deliver a competitive advantage it will be necessary to search for combinations of resources, people and processes that provide synergies. (Porter 1985) Thus a review has been made of SABM’s annual report (SABMiller plc 2013) in search of some these value generating linkages using the knowledge gained from the value chain, see Table 2 on page 2 below.

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Figure 1 Value chain

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