Strategic Management 

Anheuser-Busch 

Mission Statement: What it is all about 

The Mission Statement is a vital component in the strategic planning of a business organization.

Creating a mission is one of the first actions an organization should take. This can be a building

block for an overall strategy and development of more specific functional strategies (Abrahams,

1995). By defining a mission an organization is making a statement of organizational purpose. 

Christopher Bart a foremost researcher in the art of mission statements articulates, 

"A good mission statement portrays an organization's unique and lasting reason for being, and

energizes stakeholders to follow common goals. It likewise enables a focused allocation of

organizational resources since it compels a firm to address some hard questions: What is our

business? Why do we exist? What are we trying to accomplish?" (Bart,1998). 

A mission statement should be inspiring (Bailey, 1996). The reader should want to be a part of

an organization after reading its mission statement. It should be enduring, though not ca...

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Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.

Address: 

One Busch Plaza 

St. Louis, Missouri 63118 

U.S.A. 

Telephone: (314) 577-2000 

Toll Free: 800-342-5283 

Fax: (314) 577-2900 

http://www.anheuser-busch.com  

Statistics: 

Public Company 

Incorporated: 1979 

Employees: 23,645 

Sales: $11.70 billion (1999) 

Stock Exchanges: New York London Frankfurt Tokyo Paris Zurich Geneva Basel Boston

Midwest Cincinnati Pacific Philadelphia 

Ticker Symbol: BUD 

NAIC: 31212 Breweries; 332431 Metal Can Manufacturing; 71311 Amusement and Theme

Parks; 23311 Land Subdivision and Land Development 

Company Perspectives:

Innovation, a long-standing strategy at Anheuser-Busch, represents the path to greatness.

Adolphus Busch employed this strategy 120 years ago to make Budweiser the first national

beer--using new ideas like pasteurizing beer, refrigerating railcars to transport it across the

country and mobilizing grassroots salespeople to market the product. Today, Anheuser-Busch

has some of the most innovative brewing, packaging and adventure-park facilities in the world.

Leaders keep their eye on the future and continually find new ways to think about their business.

Anheuser-Busch is no exception. 

Key Dates:

1852: St. Louis soap merchant Eberhard Anheuser acquires the Bavarian Brewery. 

1853: Anheuser, together with son-in-law Adolphus Busch, expand sales into Texas and

Louisiana. 

1876: Budweiser is introduced. 

1896: Michelob is introduced. 

1936: Budweiser is packaged in cans for the first time. 

1955: The Busch brand is launched. 

1959: Company's first amusement park, Busch Gardens, opens in Tampa, Florida. 

1964: Annual production reaches ten million barrels. 

1982: Bud Light is introduced. 

1984: Through licensed brewers, Budweiser is introduced in England and Japan. 

1989: Anheuser-Busch Companies purchases Sea World. 

1997: Worldwide annual production eclipses 100 million barrels. 

Company History:

Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. is the largest brewer in the world, producing more than 100

million barrels of beer each year. The company's primary brands, Budweiser, Bud Light,

Michelob, and Busch, are market leaders, enabling the massive St. Louis enterprise to claim

nearly 50 percent of the U.S. beer market. Anheuser-Busch also operates nine theme parks,

including Busch Gardens and Sea World properties at several locations.

19th-Century Origins

Anheuser-Busch has been overseen by a member of its founding family since 1852, when

Eberhard Anheuser, a prosperous soap manufacturer in St. Louis, bought a failing brewery from

Bavarian immigrant George Schneider. The brewery's cool underground caverns near the

Mississippi River were conducive to good brewing, and Anheuser was determined to turn the

business around, but he lacked experience in the industry. Therefore, he hired his son-in-law,

Adolphus Busch, a recent German immigrant schooled in the art of brewing, as his general

manager. Together, Anheuser and Busch approached the enterprise with an aggressive business

strategy and knowledge in quality brewing, two factors that have informed Anheuser-Busch's

history ever since.

According to a popular company legend, Adolphus Busch obtained the recipe for his beer during

a visit to a German monastery. There, monks provided him with a recipe and some of their

brewer's yeast, the secret of their excellent beer. That recipe became the basis of Anheuser-Busch

beers, and the original strain of yeast, allegedly preserved for years in Adolphus's ice cream

freezer, remained in use in the 1990s. Although fictitious, the story highlighted two important

philosophies at Anheuser-Busch: only the finest 'European' ingredients were to be used and the

basic recipe would remain essentially unchanged.

In 1853, Anheuser and Busch increased the rejuvenated brewery's capacity from 3,000 to 8,000

barrels per year and began to expand their sales effort into Texas and Louisiana, as well as their

home state of Missouri. The beverage became increasingly popular, as cowboys reportedly

deserted their beloved red-eye whiskey for the light Bohemian beer, which became known as

Budweiser in 1891, when the company purchased the rights to the name from the Bohemian

brewer of 'Budweis.'

Budweiser's formula was enhanced by innovations in the brewing industry, particularly as

pasteurization allowed for longer preservation periods. Moreover, newly invented refrigerated

railroad cars permitted the transport of beer across state borders, and the bottling of beer allowed

for easier distribution throughout the country. Regional brewers lost their advantage to large

breweries such as Anheuser-Busch, which had found the means to supply beer to every state in

the union. Despite the growth of its market, however, Anheuser-Busch still referred to itself as a

'regional brewery'--an institution that understood the distinct needs and tastes of local people.

Anheuser gave over the day-to-day operations to Busch in the 1870s. The company continued to

prosper, and its workforce increased. During his tenure, Busch initiated the concept of

considering employees members of a family: cared for and nurtured by the company and

expected to remain loyal to the company for a lifetime. Anheuser-Busch considered this unique

relationship between employer and employee, intimate and cooperative, vital in producing an

outstanding product.

In the 1890s, Pabst, a competitor, was the best-selling beer in the United States. Busch and his

'family' thwarted the competition, however, with the introduction of Michelob in 1896. Forceful

and frequent advertising promoted Budweiser and Michelob as the most popular beers in the

country, and this goal was realized in 1901, when Anheuser-Busch became the leading national

brewery.

Busch died in 1913, and his son, August A. Busch, Sr., took over; the younger Busch soon

focused on diversifying the company's interests. Toward this end, Busch patented the first diesel

engine, which was installed in the brewery to increase production. With the onset of World War

I, Busch founded a subsidiary to produce the engines for Navy submarines. In addition, the

Anheuser-Busch family purchased sufficient war bonds to finance two bombers--each named

'Miss Budweiser.'

After the war, in November 1918, President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill that instituted

Prohibition. During this hiatus, Anheuser-Busch diversified into related fields. Malt syrup was

canned and sold to people who required malt for their homemade brews. A refrigeration car

company was established to transport perishables. Bevo, a soft drink made from ingredients

similar to those in beer, was a great success for three years; it later failed when Prohibition laws

concerning the use of yeast forced the company to change ingredients. Nevertheless, Anheuser-

Busch began a trend toward diversification that would thereafter characterize the history of the

company.

When Prohibition ended, the company experienced an unforeseen problem: people had become

used to the sweet taste of the soft drinks and homemade brews that were available during

Prohibition and were not willing to return to the more bitter commercial beer. In response, many

brewers changed their formulas to achieve a sweeter taste. However, Anheuser-Busch refused to

alter the formula for best-selling Budweiser, a decision endorsed by Dr. Robert Gall, the

company's post-Prohibition brewmaster. Instead, the company initiated a major advertising

campaign, challenging consumers to a 'five-day test.' Busch predicted that after five days of

drinking Budweiser the consumer would not drink a sweet beer again. The advertising campaign

was successful and established a trend for future consumer appeals.

During World War II, the company, led by Adolphus Busch III, again made substantial

contributions to the war effort. Anheuser-Busch supplied the military with ammunition hoists,

which were in production at a new company subsidiary. Moreover, the distribution of Budweiser

beer was withdrawn from the Pacific Coast in order to supply the government with additional

freight cars for war essentials, and spent grain was sold to financially troubled wartime farmers

for poultry and livestock food. These patriotic actions elevated sales and advanced Anheuser-

Busch's image as a patriotic company.

Between 1935 and 1950, the demand for Anheuser-Busch beer consistently exceeded the supply.

In 1941, three million barrels of beer were produced, a figure that doubled by 1950. After the

death of Adolphus Busch III in 1946, the company temporarily relinquished its lead in the

industry. But with the succession of his brother, August 'Gussie' Busch, Jr., the company became

the nation's top brewer once again.

Post-World War II Expansion and Diversification

August Busch, Jr., continued the practice of aggressive advertising established by his brother and

father, which had involved the distribution of pocket knives and gold pieces; advertisements

featuring reproductions of patriotic art such as 'Custer's Last Stand'; and the 1933 introduction of

the famous Clydesdale horses, which remained popular in the 1990s. Under August Busch,

Anheuser-Busch became the first brewery to sponsor a radio network. Positive consumer

response prompted William Bien, the vice-president of marketing, to design a legendary

advertising campaign: 'pick-a-pair-of-six-packs.' The campaign cost $2.5 million for two months,

but was the most successful promotion in the history of the beer industry.

Despite its successful promotions, Anheuser-Busch entered a close competition at the beginning

of the 1950s with Carling beer. During this time, a holiday was declared in Newark, New Jersey,

in honor of the opening of a new Anheuser-Busch factory in that city. The new facility and new

equipment necessitated a price hike, however, and Carling profited when its economical beer

attracted customers put off by Anheuser-Busch's higher prices. In response, Busch introduced a

new, low-priced lager beer and also pursued aggressive advertising promotions. In 1953,

Anheuser-Busch bought the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, targeting sports fans as a new

category of consumers. Ultimately, the company was successful in rebuffing Carling's challenge.

Another brewery soon attempted to displace Anheuser-Busch from its number one market

ranking. Decreasing the price of its beer in the 1960s, the Schlitz brewery hoped to force

Anheuser-Busch into a price war. August Busch, Jr., remained confident that consumers would

recognize Anheuser-Busch beer as superior in quality. Public opinion, however, was never

tested, as Schlitz committed several marketing and advertising mistakes, and Anheuser-Busch

retained its ranking.

During this time, August Busch III began his career at his father's company. After attending

college for two years in Arizona and undergoing instruction in the art of brewing at a school in

Chicago, Busch III started in an entry-level position at the company. In 1979, he took over as

CEO, vowing to uphold Adolphus Busch's philosophy that natural ingredients be used to

distinguish the company's fine brewing from the lower quality brewing of other beers.

The Miller Brewing Company challenged this philosophy during the 1970s and 1980s. Miller

introduced a light, low-calorie beer in 1974, which became the best-selling beer for a few

months. Although Anheuser-Busch soon edged back into the top ranking, it remained closely

followed by the Miller brewery. In response to Miller's challenge, Anheuser-Busch introduced

two light beers in 1977, Natural Light and Michelob Light, and the popular Budweiser Light was

introduced soon thereafter.

Under Busch III, the company developed a unique strategy for dealing with competition that

included introducing new brands, increasing the advertising budget, and expanding its breweries.

Moreover, Busch III refocused the company's marketing practices to target more specific groups

of consumers. He hired a team of 100 college graduates to promote the sale of Anheuser-Busch

beers on college campuses. He also oversaw the development of new advertisements designed to

appeal to the working class. In the process, the company's marketing budget quadrupled, and

sales increased.

Busch III also adopted a 'management control system' that increased the efficiency of the

company, redefining it as a modern corporation rather than a small family business. The new

management system emphasized planning, teamwork, and communications, controls that,

ironically, were intended to promote Anheuser-Busch's image as a regional brewery producing

different beers to satisfy individual tastes. Anheuser-Busch continued to rank first in the brewing

industry into the 1980s. By 1980, sales had reached 50 million barrels, increasing to 86.8 million

barrels by 1992. Although competition with Miller remained intense, the Budweiser brand

outsold its next four competitors combined.

Anheuser-Busch initially espoused an acquisition policy of purchasing companies that would

enhance its brewing operations, including malt plants in Wisconsin and Minnesota, beer can

factories in Florida and Ohio, and yeast plants in Missouri, New Jersey, California, and Florida.

The St. Louis Refrigerator Car Company inspected and maintained the 880 refrigerated railroad

cars used to transport the company's beer across the country. Manufacturers Railway shipped

Anheuser-Busch beer after it was manufactured at the brewery with help from the malt and yeast

subsidiaries.

Other subsidiaries, however, were soon established that were not directly related to the beer

industry. Campbell-Taggart, Inc., the second largest bakery in the United States, was acquired in

1982, associating Anheuser-Busch's name with the food industry. In the 1980s, 6.7 percent of

Anheuser-Busch's operating income was spent on food products. Another acquisition, Eagle

Snacks, Inc., nationally distributed food products to bars, taverns, and convenience stores.

Despite intense competition from Frito-Lay and Planters Peanuts, Eagle Snacks enhanced

Anheuser-Busch's beer business by targeting consumers likely to purchase beer to complement

their food products.

Anheuser-Busch also developed and acquired theme parks, forming the Busch Entertainment

Corporation in 1979. The first 'Busch Gardens' opened 20 years earlier in Tampa, Florida, and

featured a 300-acre park boasting one of the world's largest collections of wildlife under private

ownership. Another tourist attraction, 'The Old Country,' in Williamsburg, Virginia, was

modeled after villages in 17th-century Europe. Anheuser-Busch also acquired the eight-park Sea

World chain of mostly aquatic theme parks in 1989 for $1.3 billion. Although these

entertainment parks were not particularly profitable, they helped expose Anheuser-Busch's name

to a new target group--a younger generation and their parents--and enhanced the company's

reputation for contributing to the public welfare. Anheuser-Busch's ownership of the St. Louis

Cardinals served a similar function.

Anheuser-Busch also devoted considerable energy to nurturing its foreign market. The

corporation formed Anheuser-Busch International, Inc. in 1981 to expand its presence in the

global beer market through joint ventures, licensing agreements, and equity investments in

foreign brewers. The corporation's timing in this venture proved fortuitous: the fall of trade

barriers and conversion of formerly communist and socialist governments to free enterprise

systems opened a wealth of opportunity for Anheuser-Busch. By 1993, the company's beers were

offered in 21 European countries and ranked as the second most popular lager beer in the

Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Budweiser was introduced to Japan in 1981 and

stood as that country's leading import by the early 1990s because of successful promotion to the

young adult market. With a nine percent market share worldwide, Anheuser-Busch had the

largest export volume of any American brewer in 1993, accounting for more than 45 percent of

U.S. beer exports.

Adjusting to a New Marketplace: 1990s

During the early 1990s, Anheuser-Busch was compelled to face the declining--and more

discerning--use of alcoholic beverages among Americans. The company had introduced LA, the

first low alcohol beer, in 1984, but this product did not prove widely successful. LA was

replaced by O'Doul's in 1990, however, which soon became the nation's most popular nonalcohol

brew. Moreover, as Americans' tastes grew more refined and microbreweries made

unprecedented inroads into the modern beer industry, Anheuser-Busch sought to enhance the

appeal of its brew. The company introduced eight new beers between 1984 and 1991, and, by

1993, Anheuser-Busch offered 19 beer brands, three of which were imports. Anheuser-Busch's

Bud Dry and Ice Draft from Budweiser appealed to such premium beer drinkers. New brand

introductions did not seem to detract from Budweiser's brand power; the new variations captured

17 percent of the market, while Bud only lost half a share point.

As the decade progressed, so too did the growth of the craft-brewing industry, forcing the

nation's three largest brewers to take heed of the beer industry's upstarts. Anheuser-Busch's

closest rivals, Adolph Coors Company and Miller Brewing Company, introduced a host of new

brands during the mid-1990s as a riposte. Anheuser-Busch followed suit, but to a much lesser

extent, pursuing a more conservative strategy that proved to be a prudent approach later in the

decade when many of the specialty brands introduced by the big breweries were confirmed

failures. Bill Weintraub, the senior vice-president of Adolph Coors, noted as much. 'I think

they've (Anheuser-Busch) understood that supporting their core brands is a smarter way to build

brands over the long term,' he conceded in the May 5, 1997 issue of Brandweek. Although

Anheuser-Busch invested substantially in the craft-brewing phenomenon--including signing a

distribution and equity partnership agreement in 1994 with Red Hook Brewery, a leading craft

brewer--the company's primary focus was on its core brands.

Amid a flurry of new beer brands introduced during the mid-1990s, Anheuser-Busch scaled back

its operations, divesting properties while other large brewers expanded their portfolios. In 1995,

the company announced it was severing its ties with Eagle Snacks after 17 years of losses.

Concurrently, Anheuser-Busch announced it was divesting itself of the St. Louis Cardinals and

Busch Memorial Stadium properties. In 1994, the baseball franchise posted a loss of $12 million,

and Eagle Snacks racked up $25 million in losses. The divestitures were made so that the

company could direct more of its attention and resources to beer and theme parks, the two

principal areas of Anheuser-Busch's focus for the future.

Of particular importance was injecting new life in the company's all-important Budweiser brand,

which was suffering from stagnant sales growth as the company entered the mid-1990s.

Internationally, the company was realizing encouraging growth, thanks in large part to

investments such as the 50 percent of Grupo Modelo (brewer of Corona beer) acquired in 1993

and the majority stake purchased in the Chinese brewer Budweiser Wuhan International Brewing

Company, in 1995, but domestically the brand's sales had flattened. The task of spurring

Budweiser sales fell to August Busch IV, whom many regarded as the next in line to lead the

family business. (In 1997, August Busch III announced his intention to retire in 2003.) Under the

30-year-old's direction, a revamped marketing plan was developed that aimed at winning over

younger consumers, who had gravitated to imports and microbrews. 'There was a culture weaved

into the Budweiser brand,' the younger Busch explained to Fortune on January 13, 1997. 'No one

wanted to change it.' August Busch IV spearheaded the widely popular 'talking frogs' advertising

campaign for Budweiser and the successful 'I Love You Man' advertising campaign for Bud Lite,

both of which were credited with lifting sales. In 1997, two years after the irreverent, youth-

oriented advertising campaigns were launched, annual worldwide beer volume (including the

interests Anheuser-Busch held in other breweries) eclipsed 100 million barrels for the first time,

as Budweiser sales moved measurably upward.

At the end of the 1990s, Anheuser-Busch's dominance of the U.S. beer industry testified to the

prolific growth of the company during the 20th century. By 1999, the company's share of the

U.S. beer market had risen to 47.5 percent, fueling confidence that August Busch III's goal of

capturing 60 percent of the market by 2005 could be achieved.

Principal Subsidiaries: Anheuser-Busch, Inc.; Busch Entertainment Corporation;

Manufacturers Railway Company; St. Louis Refrigerator Car Company; Busch Properties, Inc.;

Metal Container Corporation; Anheuser-Busch Recycling Corporation; Anheuser-Busch

International, Inc.; Busch Media Group, Inc.; Busch Creative Services Corporation; Busch

Agricultural Resources, Inc.; Precision Printing & Packaging, Inc.

Principal Competitors: Miller Brewing Company; Adolph Coors Company; Heineken N.V.

Executive Summary 

From our research, Anheuser-Busch is content with being the number one beer company in the

world, increasing sales each year in operation. We found that Anheuser-Busch met many views

associated with the world, business, and behavioral dimensions. The company also displayed its

stability as we reviewed one of its most successful products Budweiser, owned by Anheuser-

Busch, under the marketing view and the financial view. Not only do they hold almost half of the

market share in the industry but their stock prices, sales volume, and net sales have all increased

from 2002 to 2003. We also looked at Budweiser in terms of geography and culture. We found

due to the fact that the "western" countries consume the majority of beer, it only makes sense

that Anheuser-Busch concentrates on that market. Along these lines, another key goal that is also

important to Anheuser-Busch is to boost other beer markets that are located in other cultures,

where at the time beer is not a major consumption. 

Input-Processing-Output Model for Budweiser 

Mission Statement of Budweiser

Budweiser's mission is to be the number one beer company in the world by enriching and

entertaining an increasing global audience. To deliver a substantial amount of 15% return to our

shareholders, we will add to life's enjoyment through our products, services, and relationships. In

addition our goal is to increase sales by 25% each 

year. 

Organizational Dimensions of Budweiser

World Dimension 

Geographical View: Anheuser-Busch is a global enterprise with distribution centers in the United

Kingdom, Japan, Canada, and Spain. 

Civilization View: Due to Anheuser-Busch's global distribution, the company itself cannot

represent only one single civilization. If fact, the company is made up of many different

civilizations, including the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, and Spain. One of the main reasons

that these particular countries have a distribution center may be due to their culture. The people

there view beer as a favorable product that everyone should be able to enjoy, and one of the

reasons the product is popular may be because of that belief. This provides an enormous market

for the beer industry. 

Behavioral Dimension 

Culture View: Since Anheuser-Busch is a global enterprise, there are many different cultures

represented in their workforce. By embracing a well-diversified workforce, Anheuser-Busch

promotes a well-rounded organization. Employees are more likely to have self-motivated goals

that are inline with the company's goals of the company, and without satisfied employees the

company would not maximize its profits. "We actively support numerous community programs

sponsored by a wide variety of ethnic groups; we encourage the development of minority- and

women-owned companies by purchasing $250 million in annual goods and services from those

companies; and one of our 10 core values is building a high-performing, diverse workforce"

(Diversity at Anheuser-Busch, pg. 1). 

System View: At Anheuser-Busch, the process of making beer is one that is and has been

followed very closely. In order to produce one of the world's top beverages, all the task

associated with the process must be done in "an efficient, reliable, and predictable manner"

(Rienzo, pg. 64). Technology plays a major role, as the beer must go through many stages from

the milling to the fermentation and aging of the beer. Mash tanks, brew kettles, fermentation

tanks, and lager cells are some of the machinery and equipment needed to produce a consistent

beer time and time again. Not to mention the refrigeration process needed to keep the finished

product fresh. But machinery is not the only tool being used to make sure Budweiser's beer is

consistent. A brew master follows the beer through every process, tasting it for consistency. This

person must ensure that the final product is fresh, tasty, and drinkable for future customers. 

Business Dimension 

Product View: Anheuser Busch is most commonly known for the different types of beer that they

produce. Most people are not aware of the other things that exist within the corporation. Along

with its theme parks, Anheuser Busch owns its locomotive, packaging, recycling, and media

companies. Anheuser Busch also sells other products related to their beer, such as clothing and

other accessories. 

Service View: At first glance, Anheuser-Busch's service view is to provide its customers with

quality beer. However, Anheuser-Busch is a corporation that provides a broad range of services

within different aspects of the corporation. These special groups need to come together to create

the final product. The different companies and services within the corporation include:

Anheuser-Busch, Inc, the company's brewing subsidiary, Anheuser-Busch International Inc., the

company's international beer subsidiary, Busch Agricultural Resources Inc. which provides high

quality brewing raw materials and services to Anheuser-Busch's brewing operations, and Busch

Media Group, Inc, who performs all media planning and buying for Anheuser-Busch's

advertising. A great deal of effort and coordination within these groups is the way that a quality

Anheuser-Busch product such as Budweiser can be found at any grocery or convenience store at

a cheap price with attractive packaging.

Marketing view and the Financial view of Budweiser

Anheuser Busch is an extremely large corporation that operates internationally. Budweiser is a

product of Anheuser Busch and is currently the number one selling beer in the world. Anheuser

Busch's marketing strategy makes this possible. 

Anheuser Busch typically advertises their products during sports events. The sport audience is a

large audience that typically consists of people that have the same general attitude toward the

sport they are watching. Similar target markets exist for Anheuser Busch because of this reason.

Budweiser is advertised excessively throughout the football season. This means that their target

market during football season are typically loud and obnoxious men that range from the ages of

18-49 are overweight and have a crude sense of humor. This is great because a large part of the

United States population seems to fit this profile. 

Anheuser Busch currently holds 49.2% of the market share and has had a 5.4% volume growth.

The marketing strategies of Anheuser-Busch make this domination of the beer industry possible.

The great thing about beer is that there is no substitute for it. A better or more efficient product

will never replace beer. As long as Anheuser-Busch effectively markets their product to the

consumer masses they will continue to dominate the beer industry well into the future. 

Anheuser-Busch is a corporation that focuses its resources on a variety of operations and

investments that include beer, adventure park entertainment, packaging, aluminum beverage

container recycling, malt production, rice milling, real estate development, turf farming,

metalized paper label printing and transportation services. However, the most profitable and well

known aspect of these investments is beer. Budweiser has been the world's best selling beer since

1957, and is distributed in more than 70 countries. Budweiser leads the U.S. premium beer

category, outselling all other domestic premium beers combined. Also, one in almost every five

beers sold in the United States today is a Budweiser, this makes Anheuser-Busch a very

profitable and financially stable company (Anheuser-Busch, 2004). 

Due to a sluggish economy, 2002 was not a stellar year for most companies. However, Anheuser

Busch experienced significant gains in many areas; stock price was up 7.1% with total return to

stockholders, including dividends at 8.7%. Domestic market share reached 49.2% and sales

volume grew to 101.8 million barrels (Anheuser-Busch, 2004).

As the following table shows, recent highlights from 2003 show net sales increased by 4.3

percent compared to 2002, reflecting a 3.9 percent increase in domestic beer segment net sales

and increased sales for the international beer, packaging and entertainment segments. Income

before income taxes increased 7.7 percent vs. the full year 2002, due to increased domestic beer

segment pretax income, along with improved profit contribution from all of the company's

remaining business segments. Domestic beer segment pretax income was up 6.8 percent,

reflecting higher revenue per barrel and increased beer volume. International beer segment

pretax income increased 19.3 percent, primarily due to volume and profit growth in China

(Anheuser-Busch, 2004). 

Year Ended December 31 ($ in millions, except per share) 

2003 vs. 2002 

2003 2002 $ % 

Gross Sales $16,320 $15,687 Up $633 Up 4.0% 

Net Sales $14,147 $13,566 Up $581 Up 4.3% 

Income Before Income Taxes $2,824 $2,624 Up $200 Up 7.7% 

Equity Income $345 $352 Dn $7 Dn 1.9% 

Net Income $2,076 $1,934 Up $142 Up 7.4% 

Diluted Earnings per Share $2.48 $2.20 Up $.28 Up 12.7% 

Relationships between Geographical and Culture View from World and Behavioral Dimensions

Global distribution allows Anheuser-Busch to belong to several civilizations, but mainly Western

and Japanese. The many different geographical locations and cultures share in their enjoyment

for several sport activities including golf, baseball, and soccer. These activities are typically

viewed by most Western civilizations as leisure activities, providing Anheuser-Busch with a

market in which to promote their product. Since Anheuser-Busch was founded in the United

States, they are continually striving to reach out to other countries where the people have similar

wants and needs as Americans. They recognize that in order to distribute their product globally,

they have to not only provide a superior product to the people, but become a part of their

civilization. 

Since the consumption of beer is most popular in the Western countries, Anheuser-Busch is most

dependent on maintaining a relationship with that market. Though you do not need beer to

survive (even though some would argue that fact), the Western culture would not be the same

without the presence of beer. Anheuser-Busch would most likely try to strengthen that belief

among the other cultures they distribute to in the venture to increase sales. The more that the

beliefs of the culture are like those of the company's, the more beer they will sell. 

The company needs to know whether the product will fit into the new culture. One of the most

important pieces of information gathered while researching the expansion site is about the

culture. If the culture is not compatible with the product, or there is no potential in that market,

that information must be given to management immediately. Building the business in the right

geographical location so that the existing culture will value the product is crucial to whether or

not the business will be successful.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS FOR ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC.

Anheuser-Busch, Inc. to Invest More Than $1 Billion in U.S. Operations through 2014

10/4/2011

Anheuser-Busch, Inc. announced plans to invest more than $1 billion in its breweries and other

facilities nationwide that will support the growth of its brands and reinforce its commitment to

local U.S. communities where it operates. These capital expenditures include resources spent or

committed in 2011 toward projects to further modernize brewing processes, upgrade systems to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and install equipment for new products and innovations,

among other items, with additional allocations being made for projects through 2014. In addition

to its breweries, company was investing in its agricultural operations and other facilities. For

example, earlier 2011 the company announced a $40 million investment in its Longhorn Glass

facility in Houston. The project involved a re-bricking of the very heart of the plant - its furnace -

and expanded production capacity with the introduction of one of the fastest glass-forming

machines in the world.

Francine I. Katz Sues Anheuser-Busch Inc. for Gender Discrimination

06/14/2011

A woman suing Anheuser-Busch Inc. for gender discrimination cannot be compelled to arbitrate

her claims. Francine I. Katz, who worked for Anheuser-Busch for 20 years before leaving in

2008, alleges the company paid her 60% less than her male predecessor and that the company's

corporate culture encourages a "locker room" and "frat party atmosphere" that created barriers to

women employees' advancement. Anheuser-Busch argued that two separate arbitration

agreements barred Katz from taking her claims to a jury. St. Louis Circuit Judge Mark Neill

ruled against the brewery last August, and on Tuesday, the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern

District affirmed that neither agreement could be enforced against Katz. The contractual

language defeated A-B's argument that Katz must arbitrate her claims because her legal claims

involve conduct that occurred before the MAAC terminated. The appellate court pointed out that

another provision of the MAAC specifies that the obligation to arbitrate survives the termination

of an employee. The distinction between the two provisions shows the parties intended the

MAAC to expire upon a change in control of the company.

Anheuser-Busch, Inc. Presents at 4th annual International Biomass Conference & Expo,

May-03-2011 01:30 PM

04/5/2011

Anheuser-Busch, Inc. Presents at 4th annual International Biomass Conference & Expo, May-03-

2011 01:30 PM. Venue: America's Center® convention complex, St. Louis, Missouri, United

States. Speakers: Thea Cummings, Engineer, Wastewater and Residuals Management.