Overview

A definitive study that uses a blend of theory, history, and data to analyze the evolution of the US brewing industry; draws on theoretical tools of industrial organization, game theory, and management strategy. This definitive study uses theory, history, and data to analyze the evolution of the US brewing industry from a fragmented market to an emerging oligopoly. Drawing on a rich and extensive data set and applying the theoretical tools of industrial organization, game theory, and management strategy, the authors provide new quantitative and qualitative perspectives on an industry they characterize as ""a veritable market laboratory."" The US brewing industry illustrates many of the important topics in industrial organization, economic policy, and business strategy, including industry concentration, technological change, brand proliferation, and mixed pricing strategies. After giving an overview of the industry, Tremblay and Tremblay discuss basic demand and cost conditions and industry concentration. They describe the evolution of the leading mass-producing brewers and the emergence of both specialty brewers and imports. They analyze the history and the causes of product and brand proliferation (showing how product proliferation leads to firm dominance), discuss price, advertising, merger, and other management strategies, and examine the industry's economic performance. Finally, they discuss public policy, including anti-trust and public health issues. The authors' set of industry, firm, and brand data for the period 1950-2002 -- the most comprehensive data set of economic variables available for an oligopolistic industry -- will be available to purchasers of the book who send an e-mail request. Data sources are listed in an appendix. Robert S. Weinberg, a management strategy scholar and leading consultant to the brewing industry, contributes a foreword. This ambitious, authoritative work, capping the authors' 25-year study of the brewing industry, will be a valuable resource for industry analysts, economists, and students of industrial organization.

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9780262201513

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Reviews

This is a remarkably thorough analysis of an important American industry, running the gamut from its history and the laws and regulations that govern it to practical aspects of the business and econometric analyses of production and demand. The brewing industry is a surprisingly dynamic place, and the Tremblays have done a fascinating job of tracing the evolution of its many component aspects, as well as the strategic behavior of the member firms. The authors have compiled an impressive survey that will be a valuable resource for practitioners and researchers alike. --William Greene, Professor of Economics, New York University This book has two great strengths. First, it provides the most detailed account of the history of the brewing industry and its firms. It also makes available the most comprehensive set of data about the industry ever gathered. These, along with the book's broad and detailed economic analyses, will make the Tremblays' work a landmark. --John E. Kwoka, Neal F. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Economics, Northeastern University The Tremblays provide a detailed description of the American brewing industry, a fascinating market laboratory in which a variety of strategic and policy issues are at play. They have assembled an impressive array of data, the analysis of which is thorough and persuasive. Their account of this industry should interest a wide audience. --Robert Porter, Department of Economics, Northwestern University

The Tremblays provide a detailed description of the American brewing industry, a fascinating market laboratory in which a variety of strategic and policy issues are at play. They have assembled an impressive array of data, the analysis of which is thorough and persuasive. Their account of this industry should interest a wide audience. --Robert Porter, Department of Economics, Northwestern University An extremely useful book that business historians, industry executives, and corporate analysts undoubtedly will consult, while students of applied economics, business strategy, and organization theory will find in it much to support their work. Terence R. Gourvish Enterprise & Society

Author Information

Victor J. Tremblay is Professor of Economics at Oregon State University. Carol Horton Tremblay is Associate Professor of Economics at Oregon State University.

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