South African Breweries Research Articles

Beverley-Anne Joseph: cheers to the perseverance of an entrepreneur

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes of this study are as follows:▪ evaluate the difficulties of entry-level women entrepreneurs in the South African farming industry;▪ appreciate the entrepreneurial journey of a women entrepreneur in the farming industry;▪ assess the role of networking and support programmes in prompting women entrepreneurs in South Africa;▪ understand the role of diversification in building a sustainable business in today’s COVID-19-affected economic environment;▪ make an informed decision regarding how COVID-19 had negatively affected the farming industry; and▪ critically evaluate which options are available for women entrepreneurs to overcome the negative effects of COVID-19 and remain sustainable businesses. Case overview/synopsis In April 2021, managing director and co-owner Beverley-Anne Joseph, was considering the long-term business strategy options for Zelpy, her hop farm business outside George, a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. As the first black woman hop farmer in Africa, she had run a successful business supplying hops to South African Breweries (SAB), a subsidiary of the global conglomerate Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev). To date, her hop farming business had not been impacted by the South African Government’s COVID-19 lockdowns that impacted the sale of alcoholic beverages. However, it had given her a wake-up call as to the risk of having most of her eggs in one basket. She now had to consider how to diversify her farming business to minimise risk. Complexity academic level MBA, Masters in Management, Postgraduate Diploma in Business and Executive Education short courses. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

AB InBev, Carling Black Label, and Femicide in South Africa (A)

Alarmed by the recent statistics of violence against women (a woman in South Africa was murdered every four hours, and half of them were killed by their partner or spouse), leaders of the African arm of global beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) and the South African Breweries (SAB) wanted to address the problem. AB InBev's biggest seller in South Africa was Carling Black Label (Carling), a brand with a traditionally masculine appeal. In considering different options, the company had to consider what obligation it had to ensure responsible consumption and, perhaps, to utilize Carling to challenge the public to recognize and change behaviors. How could the company use brand activism, for example, to effect social change. Should they consider other issues? In short, what role could AB InBev play in taking action against domestic violence? Should it provide funding, create partnerships with the government or nongovernmental organizations, or develop some sort of initiative? Excerpt UVA-E-0425 Rev. Nov. 15, 2019 AB InBev, Carling Black Label, and Femicide in South Africa (A) Andrea Quaye, vice president of marketing at the African arm of global beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) and the South African Breweries (SAB), was alarmed by the 2015 statistics. South African society had struggled for years with domestic violence issues, but in recent years, the incidents of femicide—the killing of women and girls by their husbands, partners, or family members—in South Africa was four times greater than the global average. The newspapers had been full of lurid stories. Earlier in the year, a Johannesburg woman, Karabo Mokoena, had been killed by her ex-lover, but she was only one of many victims whose stories appeared frequently in the media. Many factors were blamed for these murders, including general lawlessness, easily available guns, low self-esteem on the part of many South African men, and alcohol misuse. ABInBev's biggest seller in South Africa was Carling Black Label (Carling), a brand with a traditionally masculine appeal. With its high visibility, Carling might be the entry point, whether via a targeted campaign or other endeavor, for addressing the violence. Quaye and her team needed to determine what role, if any, ABInBev and Carling should play in addressing this social ill. There was pressure on companies both in South Africa and internationally to respond to this and other social issues. Where exactly did AB InBev's responsibility lie, and how could the company best utilize its resources, financial or other, to ameliorate the drastic situation? . . .

Institutional Complementarity and Substitution as an Internationalization Strategy: The Emergence of an African Multinational Giant

Research SummaryWe examine the internationalization decisions made by one of Africa's most successful companies, South African Breweries, as it underwent a period of aggressive expansion. We see processes of both institutional complementarity and substitution at different phases and with different motives. At first it sought countries that played to its strength, namely the knowledge of doing business in environments of institutional uncertainty, but later it pursued an institutional diversification strategy whereby it attempted to minimize its institutional risk exposure. As it became larger, its aspirations increased too, and its over‐exposure to emerging market institutional risk saw it engage in institutional substitution into advanced countries. Through this phased international process, it was able to develop its internal assets, and this enabled the moves into developed markets.Managerial summaryWe demonstrate that firms can exploit their knowledge of ‘weak’ institutional settings and turn it into a source of advantage as they internationalize into locations with similar institutional ‘weaknesses.’ Using the case of one of Africa's most successful multinational enterprises, we illustrate the value gained from initially capitalizing upon institutional complementarity (utilizing the comparative advantage linked to institutional know‐how) by exploiting the experience of the home country's environment into similar settings. Over time and through learning‐by‐doing, pressure arose to diversify the risk linked with over‐exposure to institutional uncertainty and country risk, and this was associated with the process of institutional substitution into more advanced countries. We see emerging multinational learning and building its capabilities by leveraging its understanding of its home country institutional environment. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Affirmative Action Application or Black and White in South Africa Higher Education Institutions: Is it the way forward or not?

We will, demonstrate what affirmative action entails, its origin and the relationship with discrimination and equality. The paper will also highlight the implementation of affirmative action in the Higher Education sector in South Africa. Affirmative action or black and white are the additional corrective steps which must be taken in order that those who have been historically disadvantage by unfair discrimination before 1994 are able to derive full benefits from an equitable employment environment. While there has been a significant increase in the number of women appointed into management positions, the proportion in relation to the total number of women in senior posts such as those of Vice Chancellors, Deputy-Vice Chancellors and Executive Deans still remains problematic. Considerations should be taken with regard to issues of access, equity and relevance. Indeed, affirmative action should be located within a rigorous process that will ensure that those who are for example, promoted to senior positions both in private and public sectors are able to demonstrate strategic thinking and action, quality execution of tasks, efficiency and effectiveness in achieving organisational goals. This will also be followed by a brief South Africa’s case study of different entities (South African Breweries and Sowetan Newspaper). A comparison of USA’s affirmative action and whether “there is a light at the end of a tunnel – affirmative action” will be done.

Why South Africa's proposed advertising ban matters

Why South Africa's proposed advertising ban matters

Trade Marks and the Protection of Cultural Integrity

In this paper, the role of the trade mark in both facilitating and resisting cultural change is considered. In considering the South African case of Laugh It Off Promotions CC v. South African Breweries International, the role of trade mark legislation and its interpretation by the courts is discussed in light of the balance between the rights of trade mark owners and cultural integrity. Furthermore, the legislative approaches in protecting indigenous cultures in the United States, Columbia and New Zealand are considered. While New Zealand arguably provides for greater protection of indigenous cultures through its recently enacted trade mark legislation, it is argued that laws broader in scope could be more effective in protecting cultures from not only exploitation, but from any use of trade marks that may degrade cultural integrity. However, the role of intellectual property law as a mechanism for extensive cultural protection is debatable in itself.

Apartheid and business: Competition, monopoly and the growth of the malted beer industry in South Africa

The South African brewing industry experienced enormous growth in the apartheid era, following the lifting of prohibition on the sale of ‘European liquor’ to Africans in 1961. Successive international brewers and local entrepreneurs sought to benefit from increased demand in the 1970s but were unable to withstand competition from South African Breweries (SAB), the dominant player in the industry. A decade of intense competition in the brewing industry ended with the intervention of the cabinet of the Afrikaner Nationalist government. SAB's status as ‘sole supplier to the industry’ remained virtually unchallenged until the demise of apartheid and the end of South Africa's international isolation. The end of apartheid and changes in the global brewing industry brought renewed competition to the South African beer market in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The Black Label: Trade Mark Dillution, Culture Jamming and the No Logo Movement

This article considers the ongoing debate over the appropriation of well-known and famous trade marks by the No Logo Movement for the purposes of political and social critique. It focuses upon one sensational piece of litigation in South Africa, Laugh It Off Promotions v. South African Breweries International (Finance) B.V. t/a Sabmark International. In this case, a group called Laugh It Off Promotions subjected the trade marks of the manufacturers of Carling Beer were subjected to parody, social satire, and culture jamming. The beer slogan “Black Label” was turned into a T-Shirt entitled “Black Labour/ White Guilt”. In the ensuing litigation, the High Court of South Africa and the Supreme Court of Appeal were of the opinion that the appropriation of the mark was a case of hate speech. However, the Constitutional Court of South Africa disagreed, finding that the parodies of a well-known, famous trade mark did not constitute trade mark dilution. Moseneke J observed that there was a lack of evidence of economic or material harm; and Sachs J held that there is a need to provide latitude for parody, laughter, and freedom of expression. The decision of the Constitutional Court of South Africa provides some important insights into the nature of trade mark dilution, the role of parody and satire, and the relevance of constitutional protections of freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Arguably, the ruling will be of help in the reformation of trade mark dilution law in other jurisdictions – such as the United States. The decision in Laugh It Off Promotions v. South African Breweries International demonstrates that trade mark law should not be immune from careful constitutional scrutiny.

Traditional Home-Brewed Beer Consumption and Iron Status in Patients With Esophageal Cancer and Healthy Control Subjects From Transkei, South Africa

: Consumption of home-brewed beer is associated with dietary iron excess and a high incidence of esophageal cancer in Transkei, South Africa. We examined the relationship between home-brewed beer consumption and body iron status in 234 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and 595 control subjects residing in Transkei. Subjects were screened for iron overload using transferrin saturation >45%, and/or serum ferritin >200 μg/l for women and >300 μg/l for men.Aquestionnairewas administered to all subjects, and iron content of randomly selected home-brewed beer samples was determined. The iron content of home-brewed beer was 258-fold higher than the commercial Castle Lager beer produced by South African Breweries. The prevalence of home-brewed beer consumption was 30.1% in esophageal cancer patients and 15.5% in control subjects and was found not to be a risk factor for esophageal cancer after adjustment for age, sex, and tobacco consumption (male subjects, odds ratio= 1.6 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.7–4.5); female subjects, odds ratio=1.7 (95% CI: 0.7–4.5). Iron overload as determined by transferrin saturation and elevated serum ferritin was observed in 4.3% of patients with esophageal cancer and 0.7% of control subjects and was not associated with the consumption of home-brewed beer. Consumption of home-brewed beer is not a risk factor for esophageal cancer and is not linked with iron overload in either cancer patients or control subjects; however, iron overload is likely to result from a combination of dietary intake and a genetic component.

Trafficking in Liquor, Trafficking in Heritage: Beer Branding as Heritage in Post‐apartheid South Africa

A burgeoning literature on post‐apartheid heritage configuration has largely overlooked the use of branding in the creation of heritage discourses in South Africa and the significance of liquor for national identity. This article brings these two concerns together through an examination of two heritage‐scapes—the SAB World of Beer and the SAB Newlands Brewery Heritage Centre—constructed by South African Breweries (SAB) in 1995. It suggests that the commercial construction of heritage as branding provided a vehicle for a powerful corporate capitalist narrative in the post‐apartheid rhetorical contestation over a desired path for the future. It also suggests that dissonance within and between these corporate visitors’ centres mirrored a wider uncertainty over the meaning of national identity in early post‐apartheid South Africa.

‘One Beer, One Goal, One Nation, One Soul’: South African Breweries, Heritage, Masculinity and Nationalism 1960–1999*

‘One Beer, One Goal, One Nation, One Soul’: South African Breweries, Heritage, Masculinity and Nationalism 1960–1999*

‘White liquor hits black livers’: meanings of excessive liquor consumption in South Africa in the second half of the twentieth century

Four years into South Africa's first democracy, the African National Congress Youth League, with the help of the liquor industry's Social Aspects of Alcohol Committee 1 1 Social Aspects of Alcohol Committee (SAAC), initiated by the South African Breweries, was reconstituted as Association of Responsible Alcohol Use (ARA) in 1998. drafted a policy to prevent substance abuse in black communities. They declared that alcohol was ‘often not used in a socially acceptable way’. Concerned not so much with post-apartheid policy as with making sense of what socially acceptable alcohol usage might mean, this article explores narratives of alcohol use and abuse in South Africa in the second half of the twentieth century. It demonstrates that while multiple understandings of excess in alcohol consumption were articulated, those notions tied to particular constructions of racial difference prevailed. Ideas pairing drinking habits with race were given effect by state institutions. By tying drinking habits to ‘race’ and by locating ‘race’ in a social hierarchy, state institutions determined access to liquor and welfare services. By naturalising Africans as heavy drinkers, the state justified its sale of liquor to African men while denying the need for rehabilitation in the event of alcoholic dependence. By placing ‘coloured’ closer to ‘white’ in its racial order, the apartheid state found cause to extend limited rehabilitation services to those designated ‘coloured’. 2 2 The Population Registration Act (1950) designated as ‘Coloured’, those individuals who were neither ‘white’ viz. of European ancestry, nor black viz. black African. By tying liquor revenues to apartheid administration, the ruling regime exonerated its policy of excluding blacks from the retail liquor trade even after lifting prohibition in 1962. This policy encouraged rampant illicit liquor dealing, created a social environment in which alcoholic excess, particularly after 1976, reached new proportions and generated new and dangerous meanings of socially acceptable drinking. Against the grain of these dominant discourses of racially designated meanings of drinking, African people forged a more complex set of practices and meanings not rendered any clearer by the ANC Youth League's discourse of acceptable and unacceptable usage.

Diversity creates global competitive advantage for South African Breweries

South African Breweries (SAB) Group, one of the world’s largest beer distributors, is at the forefront in addressing social inequities in its hiring, promoting and training practices, and combating discrimination. The 49,000‐employee, multidivisional company operates in 19 countries around the world. Group chief executive Graham MacKay directs operations from London, while the Johannesburg‐based Beer South Africa division is the country’s biggest brewer, with 98 percent market share.

Diversity creates global competitive advantage for South African Breweries

South African Breweries (SAB) Group, one of the world’s largest beer distributors, is at the forefront in addressing social inequities in its hiring, promoting and training practices, and combating discrimination. The 49,000‐employee, multidivisional company operates in 19 countries around the world. Group chief executive Graham MacKay directs operations from London, while the Johannesburg‐based Beer South Africa division is the country’s biggest brewer, with 98 percent market share.

HerdBuoys McCann-Erickson's Chairman Peter Vundla on black entrepreneurs and economic empowerment

Executive Overview HerdBuoys McCann-Erickson, formerly HerdBuoys Advertising, is the first major black- owned business in South Africa. HerdBuoys merged in 1997 with McCann-Erickson. which is the largest and most developed global advertising agency system in the world, with operations in 129 countries. With its merger with McCann-Erickson Worldwide, HerdBuoys became the first black-owned agency with an international link. Today it is known as Herdbuoys McCann-Erickson and employs over 100 people. Its clients include Coca-Cola. Caltex, South African Breweries, Johnson & Johnson, Gillette, UPS, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Peter Vundla, one of the founders of HerdBuoys Advertising, is one of South Africa's leading entrepreneurs and executives. Currently, he is chairman of HerdBuoys McCann- Erickson and deputy executive chairman of the African Merchant Bank. Mr. Vundla's current directorships include Digicore Holdings, Midrunners, Pamodzi Investment Holdings, African Renaissance Board, Allianz Insurance, Univ...

South African Breweries Group

South African Breweries Group