Report of the Executive Board
holding in CCU, the largest brewery in Chile with an 88%
share of its home market. Licensing agreements have
been signed with CCU for the brewing and distribution of
Heineken beer in Chile and Argentina. Our 15% interest
in the holding company Quilmes International Bermuda
was sold at a net book profit of €73 million and the licens
ing agreements with Quilmes were terminated.
Also in early 2003 we reached an agreement in principle
with Southern Breweries Establishment on the acquisition
of a 68.8% interestin Karlovacka Pivovara, the second
largest brewery in Croatia, which has a 19% market share
and also exports within the Balkans.
Taking Heineken to the Next Level
A new programme has been launched with the object
of raising our operating efficiency and performance to a
higher level. Greater efficiency and effectiveness and a
management which works closer to the market will help us
to perform better. Maximising our performance is essen
tial if we are to achieve our long-term strategic objectives
and retain our place among the world's top brewing
groups. The activities under this programme, which we
call 'Taking Heineken to the Next Level', include speeding
up business processes, creating 'win/win' situations in our
dealings with customers, measuring our performance and
costs and comparing them with both internal and external
benchmarks to identifying and implementing best prac
tices around the world. The aim of the Executive Board is
to foster an inspiring and challenging culture of innovation
and diversity, as only with such a culture can our employ
ees lift themselves and Heineken to a higher level.
Young and relevant
To maintain brand relevance, it is important to know
your target groups well. During 2002, Heineken launched
a global programme known as the 'Beacon' project to
gather in-depth information on young adults' aspirations,
motivation and needs, as we place great value on ongoing
dialogue with this age group. We are working with young
adults, selected as representative of their target groups,
to evaluate our current marketing activities and devise
and implement new activities to reinforce and optimise
young people's affinity with our brands on a market-by-
market basis. We can only keep our brands young, strong
and relevant if we strike the right balance between brand
consistency and prompt updating of our marketing com
munication to reflect cultural change.
Cooperation
We aim to integrate our support services in the Nether
lands so that our accumulated expertise and available
capacity can be utilised more efficiently. Good progress
has been made with the development of a uniform
ICT infrastructure and uniform software. New applications
have been installed which enable us to work together
more effectively and increase our productivity, and we
have continued to develop e-business applications for
transactions with our customers and suppliers. Heineken
places great value on the establishment of efficient and
transparent relationships with customers and suppliers
which benefit all parties.
Cooperation is facilitated by our systems, networks,
databases and training courses and by the knowledge
that we always have colleagues somewhere in the world
who have extensive experience with specific market
situations or business processes. In more and more areas,
it is our people who are making this cooperation a success,
in more and more areas, and I am pleased to see that
our determination to learn from one another is still grow
ing and that operating companies have taken over many
successful programmes from one another in the past year.
I thank all our staff for their untiring enthusiasm, profes
sionalism and commitment during 2002.
Thony Ruys
Chairman of the Executive Board
HEINEKEN N.V. ANNUAL REPORT 2002
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