Further development of the Heineken brand fits within the corpo rate strategy and there are plenty of opportunities in this direction. Traditionally, Heineken has always opted for the local approach in Asia, which means paying attention to local brands such as Bintang in Indonesia, Number One in New Caledonia, and Tiger in Singapore and Malaysia. "In many countries we have a good standard beer on the market. The Heineken brand can book further growth if we use the big local stand ard brands as a platform for achieving the required cost leadership." Over-estimation The strong rate of economic growth in many countries in Asia, notably in China and Vietnam, makes the coordinating director optimistic about future possibilities for Heineken. But he does not allow his judgment to be swayed by these pros pects, as 'there is a risk of over-esti mation'. "Just look at a country like Not all of Heineken's activities in Asia are linked to those of APB. Heineken also holds majority inter ests in Multi Bintang (Indonesia) and in Grande Brasserie de Nouvelle Calédonie in New Cale donia. In Japan Heineken has esta blished a joint venture with Kirin. Heineken has concluded licensing agreements with Asia Pacific Breweries (Singapore), Guinness Anchor Berhad in Malaysia, with Kirin in Japan, and with Brasserie de Tahiti. Heineken also has substantial export interests in Asia which are managed from the regional office in Singapore. China. In some of the coastal provin ces the economy is currently boom ing, growing by some 20 to 25% per year. At a certain moment they will have to apply the brakes, because of the risk of overrheating. It's impossi ble to guess what will take place after that." Mr Rijkens admires countries like Indonesia and Malaysia which show moderate, yet solid growth figures. "They are keeping growth within limits." A sunny economic future is no automatic guarantee that a joint venture will be a success, feels Mr Bijkens. "The project in Thailand is a very substantial challenge. A green- field brewery is being built there based on the assumption that the Heineken brand has good opportu nities in Thailand, even though Heineken Beer is scarcely obtainable there at the moment because of import restrictions." "Challenges like this are charact eristic of the spirit that now lives within Heineken to forge ahead with creating new business, to take risks and to ensure that in the year 2000 Heineken will play a leading role in the Asia Pacific region". Despite the fact that 1993 was in itself a record year for Heineken in the region, Mr Rijkens assures us that the rate of growth will not slow down in the forthcoming years. Proof of this state ment came in April. The Executive Board announced that over the next five years APB will set aside 800 mil lion guilders for further expansion in the region. 31 THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN

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World of Heineken | 1994 | | pagina 31