Anheuser-Busch: Strategic Analysis

Assignment 1-4

Jessica Waltzer

BSAD 495 † H2FF

Professor Roger Kisiel

April 9, 2009

Anheuser-Busch: Strategic Analysis

An overview of the organization:

According to their website, Anheuser-Busch was formed when a soap manufacturer, Eberhard Anheuser, joined forces with his son-in-law and took over a struggling brewery in St. Louis back in 1852. Being a soap manufacturer, Eberhard knew very little of brewing beer, but his son-in-law Adolphus Busch did. Busch brought to the table the skill and the knowledge of making a successful business. Together they were able to turn the small town brewery into an industry leader.

In the early 1870s, Anheuser-Busch became the first American brewery to use pasteurization. Later that decade, they introduced artificial refrigeration, therefore refrigerating railcars and creating rail-side icehouses (Anheuser-Busch.com). This was essential to their growth because this now allowed the beer to be shipped long distances without spoiling. Budweiser, a brand of Anheuser-Busch, became the first national beer, while a couple years later Michelob became America’s first national beer (Anheuser-Busch.com). Anheuser-Busch was very innovative with their selling methods. The company would use their brewery as a showcase to the public and they “pioneered the use of premiums and giveaways” (Anheuser-Busch.com). Anheuser-Busch even prospered through the Prohibition era. Ever since the father and son team saved that small town brewery from eradication, Anheuser-Busch has been the nation’s leading brewery.

Organizational vision, mission, and objectives:

Anheuser-Busch has three core objectives. One being to increase the U.S. beer segment volume, the second being to increase the international beer segment profit growth, and the third being to continue growth in pretax profits and free cash flow from the packaging and entertainment segments (2007 Annual Report). These objectives are intended to increase the long-term shareholder profit....