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 10

Jaarverslagen en Personeelsbladen Heineken

Jaarverslagen | 2002 | | pagina 13