Strategic Forces in the Czech Brewing Industry from 1990-2015

The need for this research stems from the dynamic development that the brewing industry has undergone since the Velvet Revolution when the market was split between seventy-one regional breweries. In the 1990s, customers began to prefer the larger nationwide breweries, a trend that led to the bankruptcy of some regional breweries thereby creating a market niche that was quickly filled by microbreweries. By 2015, there were 44 industrial breweries and around 300 microbreweries. By then, the beer market had diversified, and since the brewing industry had been highly dynamic, managers had to change strategy regarding customer requirements. Strategic change has since been reflected in the pricing and quality of the beer, marketing communication, and merchandising. Knowledge of developments in the industry and adapting strategies to meet these changes have been key factors in determining future survival. The purpose of this study is to describe the development of the brewing industry and the resulting strategic changes of different breweries. Historical knowledge is required for future research into the perception of the brewery managers' strategic thinking. This paper is the first step in longitudinal research focused on strategy formulation at the business level in the brewing industry and brewery performance. The study is based on qualitative approaches and a two-step research design: the first phase is historical research, where the data was obtained from contemporary newspapers, professional and scientific journals, and annual reports from breweries. The second phase is composed of interviews conducted at four breweries, which are representative of the population. The results of this study help to clarify industry behaviour and are intended as a source of knowledge that practitioners can use in their strategic decision-making process. The study reflects previous industry behaviour and describes current trends in customer requirements that can be used when forming a business level strategy and identifying an appropriate generic strategy.