SWOT-analysis Strengths:Several strengths in Carlsberg as a company.

They have a strong, durable and well known brand which they utilise to create international and recognised sponsorships which connects them with the local consumers. It is important for Carlsberg in Western and Northern Europe to make sure the consumers request their beer in particular, as consumer awareness is important for the companys position in the market. This is one of the reasons they advertise as much as they do. Their commercials try to show that their high quality beer should be associated with good and fun times. They have managed to position themselves as a strong player in their core markets, Western & Northern Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia. Carlsberg is available in restaurants, supermarkets or pubs, if not all, in the markets where they operate with both their mainstream and premium beer. This shows that they have a good and efficient distribution channel as well as good deals with the distributors and that they are available. The company has a wide portfolio of beer which is suitable for both the younger and elder generation. Carlsberg is in possession of some very durable resources, which they manage to utilise in the optimal way. Most of the resources are hard to imitate and substitute. These resources include their brand and quality of the beer. This is something that they are extremely concerned about and they use time and resources on exposing the brand. Carlsberg is trying to improve efficiency and lowering costs through the Operational excellence program. This was also one of the reasons why the company in April 2006, announced the set up of a new accounting department for the whole Carlsberg Group in Poland. The accounting departments from the different Western European countries were moved to Poland from 2006 through 2008 (Carlsbergs annual report 2007:23). We assume that Carlsberg is financially stable. In 2008 they had a net cash flow of 743 million DKK (Carlsbergs annual report 2008:77). Regardless, Carlsberg has decided to try and reduce their debt faster than was originally intended. This is done to protect their position in the market and show that they are a solid and stable organisation. The turbulence in the financial markets can also be considered an important factor for why they feel the need to secure their assets and assure their investors that the company is a safe investment. The current ownership relations with the Carlsberg Foundation owning 51 % of the voted and 25 % of the share capital, does not put Carlsberg in any danger. Takeovers are not something they should fear as long as they keep their debt at a reasonable level.

8.2 Weaknesses When looking at Carlsberg there are some obvious weaknesses as well. As mentioned earlier the Carlsberg Foundation can be considered a weakness in relation to future opportunities for expansion and acquisition. Seeing as Carlsberg has recently acquired parts of S&N it is not an option to make such a big purchase in the near future. The Foundation is an obstacle in the strategy for Carlsberg to grow through mergers as they do not have the sufficient capital required for them to buy 51 % of the shares of the new division created by the merger. The debt of Carlsberg is another weakness, which is an obstacle in terms of investments in growth. In the near future Carlsberg intends to pay off some of the debt and will then again be able to make large investments. The debt poses some risk for the company and has recently affected the stock price of the company. 8.3 Opportunities Carlsbergs strategy is still concerned with growth and expansion. They have the possibility to become larger, enter new markets and grow in their existing ones. Obviously expansion can be done by takeovers and mergers, particularly of small, local companies that they can use to their advantage in their existing markets. However, they cannot go out and invest as they please. They have to evaluate every option carefully and choose the ones they find most valuable to the company. Carlsberg is now in the market for alcoholic beverages with products such as Somersby cider and EVE beer in addition to regular beer. EVE is a beer that is mainly targeted towards women and comes in two variants with different fruit flavours and it is only sold in Switzerland and Germany. Carlsberg sees this product as a product with great potential (Carlsbergs annual report 2008:45). Carlsberg has recently launched a new variant of Somersby cider and we have yet to see if this will be a success. Since EVE and Somersby have been such a great success, Carlsberg should try to be innovative and find new products aimed towards different groups e.g. women. Innovation can also be used to design new packaging and new bottles, which can increase the interests in the products. The current packaging and bottles have been the same for a long time. However Carlsberg have previously tried to make new bottles, but this was not a success (Kronborg 2008). So it depends on how they look at consumer preferences and if the consumers will stay loyal after a change of packaging. In relation to new products from Carlsberg they have developed the organic beer Jacobsen extra pilsner. Carlsberg also reports that the sale of organic beer has increased in 2008 (Carlsbergs annual report 2008:46). Organic products have become more and more popular and the consumers are concerned with the environment as well as additives. This is a development that is likely to continue in the future

and Carlsberg has to keep an eye out for this and always know what the consumers want. Carlsberg should consider a product mix which means mixing different products and sell them in a package together. By offering for example a package of six different products at a certain price, like mainstream beer, premium beer and cider, the consumers can get different products at a lower price than by buying all six products separately. Hopefully this will familiarise the consumers with more products than they already know and increase the knowledge of Carlsbergs product portfolio. When it comes to the Scandinavian countries, one might hope that the consumers will like the premium beer and buy it on other occasions, and not in a package. This can increase sales of premium beer in the Scandinavian countries, and make the Scandinavian population more familiar with it. It is important for such a global and large brewery as Carlsberg to know what their consumers prefer. When looking outside the Western and Northern European market, Russian consumers especially the nouveau riche, might want exclusive beer, something that is not a common good for everyone. They are interested in luxury goods and want something unique such as the super-premium beer Carlsberg can supply. Carlsberg could also consider making bottles that would fit the preferences of this market to make sure that it fits the consumers. After the acquisition of part of S&N, Carlsberg acquired full ownership of BBH (Carlsbergs annual report 2008:34). This strengthened their position in this market and we consider this as one of Carlsbergs strengths as this is an important growing market. The Eastern European market is a very vulnerable market at the moment for Carlsberg, as the exchange rate fluctuations and the devaluation of the RUB has decreased the earnings of Carlsberg considerably. However this market has great prospects and potential due to the large populations and the upper class of the societies. Carlsberg is already present on the Asian market, but it is still an emerging market with plenty of opportunities. The beer culture in Asia is not the same as the one that exist in Europe and the Asian population does not consume as much alcohol in general and especially not beer, as the Western population. This is partly due to their culture and religion. Carlsberg currently sells 10 % of their volume of beer on the Asian market and with the fast growing Asian economy this is a market with potential to grow (Carlsbergs annual report 2008:3). Carlsberg is facing a large task in being innovative and finding out, which products the Asian population want and in this market it would be smart to look at the local competitors and find out the key to their success. They have to familiarise themselves with consumer preferences and make products that the consumers will like and buy.

8.4 Threats One of the most serious threats that Carlsberg face in the market today is the stagnation in the Western and Northern European market. As Carlsberg does not operate in a wide variety of markets, it is vital for them to maintain their position in this market. The Western and Northern European market is the market where Carlsberg has the highest revenue, but it is also the market where they have the highest costs. This means that Carlsberg needs to set high prices on their products to cover all their expenses in this market. The Western and Northern European market is not as profitable on the operating profit before special items as e.g. the Eastern European market. However the Western and Northern European market is still vital for Carlsberg as it is an established and less risky market (Carlsbergs annual report 2008:84). The unstable world economy cannot be ignored and it has already had a great effect on Carlsberg in terms of fluctuating exchange rates. This is mostly seen in relation to the British and the Russian markets, where Carlsberg has suffered losses on sales. This is a factor that Carlsberg cannot change or affect. They just have to keep supplying to their markets and try to reduce internal costs to increase the profit margin of the products. Increases in the unemployment rate and insecurity among the consumers have affected the sales of premium beer. Consumers are more likely to replace their premium beer with more mainstream beer, which is cheaper. Carlsberg could use this as an opportunity to promote and increase sales of their mainstream beer. In the Western and Northern European market there is intense competition. Carlsbergs largest competitor in this market is Heineken, but there are also several local players that have a good position in the local communities. There are also other international players as this market is the market where all the large breweries are present. Carlsberg has a good position in this market as they are the second largest supplier here. As parts of the world are becoming more health conscious, people might choose to substitute beer for alcoholic products they find healthier. However this is a threat that has become an opportunity for Carlsberg as they have launched a light beer with fewer calories. This creates the opportunity to increase profits by selling both types of beer. By broadening the portfolio the company will be able to target a larger group of segments. In relation to the health consciousness, several countries have passed laws on non-smoking in bars and restaurants. This will possibly affect the consumption of beer in these places, as people will spend less time there.

Strategic Planning Process Set Objective:Initiate local production and community water management activities at high-risk sites. Carlsberg has added an idea to its Eco-friendly nature as they decided to reduce water consumptions by 9% to 3.2hl/hl* within and outside their brewery as water wastage may cause a lots of issues in the future and giving a kick-start to this project hoping that other companies will also support in saving the mother nature and leaving our future generation with a better environment to stay in. Formulated:This idea has been formulated since early 2008 as they have participated in the Designing Water's Future in 2009 with INDEX and AIGA. Since then we can see the continuous effort from this brewery to reduce the usage of water in their daily efforts to produce one of the finest beers. Although its a challenging task, Carlsberg did some research on this matter and came out with an excellent idea of producing higher end barley's which are more resistant to climate change and also last longer with fresher taste. With this discovery they have a clear picture and speculations that will assist them for their 2013 project with the Russian's Baltika Breweries to conserve water in their breweries. Implementation:Implementation of this significant idea will begin early 2013 in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) where they will later have an oppurtunity to further strengthen one of their core values of engaging with society through dedicated community activities focused at improving the environment and implementing sustainable practices in agro-projects. Certain information about the progress of the Group in the 8 key CSR directions: Environment, Responsible drinking, Community engagement, Marketing communications, Labour and human rights, Health & safety, Business ethics, and Responsible sourcing. The online document also includes the targets of Carlsberg Group concerning CSR for 2012-2013. The report is based on data provided by the companies of the Group including Carlsberg Ukraine. Evaluation:This projects seems to be beneficial for the both the breweries and also for the brewing industry as it takes them them to the next level considering the mother nature and making our living environment a safer place to be. Taking risk to improve our surrounding is never a harm as Carlsberg may regain its investments once people starts to realize the difference and the effort put in by this company to make a difference for our future generation.

Generic Strategy Carlsberg has a very different sort of strategy where it depends on the locals and their customer's to be more precise on their market. They learn as they mature in this business, in the sense of when they set a base in certain markets they offer their global product and also adapt to local strong beers to work together and tries to cover the entire market. Within this process itself they tend to learn their competitors and partners marketing strategy up till their brewing skills in order to improve their own quality in almost everything with this they gain more and more experience in order to understand their customers base. This information will then be processed and presented during the Annual Meeting among all the global Carlsberg Leaders. This is not only a very unique but a very beneficial technique which will keep them on the track as they mature in this line of business. Another marketting strategy that is strongly being imposed by Carlsberg is that they do heavy advertising job from a banner till the extend to sponsor a famous football club and even collaborating with charity and human rights association. This sort of activities may not only lead fame to the company but will also provide a high return and within few years almost everyone shall be aware of this amazing brand.