Heineken

Culture

Heineken

• Why should culture be changed at Heineken?

• How should culture be changed at Heineken?

• What are the success factors in changing Heineken ‘s organizational culture?

• Can it be changed any way?

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SEPTEMBER 8, 2003.

History stares Heineken boss Anthony Ruys in the face every morning when he shows up for work. The Dutch brewer's chief executive sits in a dark-paneled office surrounded by stern portraits of three generations of Heineken ancestors. The corporate offices in Amsterdam extend from the building that once served as the family manse. And if Ruys were ever to forget that he was the guardian of a company that traces its roots back more than 400 years, he would have to reckon with his main shareholder: Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, a descendant of the company's founder "There's a long tradition," says Ruys with typical Dutch understatement.

Starched white collars are no longer the order of the day at 21 Tweede Weteringplantsoen, but Heineken headquarters is still a pretty buttoned-down place. True, the vending machines in the corridors are stocked with -- what else? -- Heineken. But they're programmed not to dispense the brew until after 4 p.m. "Not much has changed" since Charlene's father, Alfred H. "Freddy" Heineken, ran the company, says Ruys, a 56-year-old former Unilever executive who was elevated to the top job 10 years after joining the company, a relatively short tenure by Heineken standards. Freddy, a legendary bon vivant with a hard nose for business, passed away last year. And while no one from Ruys on down would dare dishonor his memory by claiming that anything as radical as a revolution is in the making at Heineken, there's an unmistakable whiff of change in the air.

It's about time, too. The world's No.3 brewer, with $11 billion a year in sales, can no longer take for granted the strengths that have made its squat green bottle the envy of the business. Budweiser may have crowned...