...the mindset of brewers in the region
has changed
In what way has your life changed since BBAG
merged with Heineken?
In what ways has the Central European market
developed since you first entered a brewery in 1973?
Looking back on your career, what are you most
proud of?
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
Karl Büche (58) was appointed Member of the Heineken
Executive Board at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders
on 29 April 2004. He has an impressive track record of more
than thirty years in the beer business, of which more than fifteen
years in the Central European market.
First of all my wife and I moved to Vienna. That was certainly a
good move. Vienna was where I spent my college days and many
of my friends still live there. It's a sparkling and lively city, also
easier to reach and more centrally located for the Brau Union
Operating Companies. As to my new position, I am now spending
an average of one to two days a week in Amsterdam and I definitely
enjoy that. Learning much more about the beer business on a
global scale is enriching.
The main development, as I see it, is that the mindset of brewers
in the region has changed. The former focus on production output
has shifted towards offering our consumers what they really need.
Following the collapse of the Communist regime, producers in
Central Europe learned the rules of consumer demand. The same
was true for Austria several years ago: it was not a Communist
country, but until the late seventies we did have a cartel with
strict rules. There was no room for what the customer actually
wanted. Nowadays we invest a lot in research into consumer
behaviour, innovation, marketing and trends.
When I started my career in Sales, only a few people were
KARL
B C H E
ON BOARD
