Business

Monday August 31, 2009

Three pillars of growth help Guinness bolster market share

By DANNY YAP


KUALA LUMPUR: Guinness Anchor Bhd’s (GAB) is reaping rich dividends from its strategy of focusing on three pillars of growth – people, trade and brands – judging from the growth in its share of the beer and stout market to 57% currently from 42% in 2001.

Managing director Charles Henry Ireland attributed the steady improvement in market share to GAB’s steadfast belief in the three pillars of growth.

Ireland said in the past three years, GAB had invested RM3mil in people development and would next year increase this investment by 50%.

Charles Henry Ireland says GAB has a policy of no retrenchment

“We are proud the company’s staff attrition is only one-third of the national average with some employees working for over 20 years and we have a policy of no retrenchments despite the challenging economic times,” he told StarBiz.

In February, GAB signed a collective agreement that gave unionised workers enhanced benefits and a 9% salary increase.

This year, GAB won the Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards for the Investment in People category.

Besides investing in people, Ireland said GAB also had a strong focus on trade as a second pillar of growth.

“We are happy that 75% of the new and renewable contracts signed last year were with GAB, indicating that the company is the preferred trade partner,” he noted.

Ireland said GAB offered innovative trade promotions and creative marketing campaigns to add value to its trade partners’ business.

“We progressively engage trade partners in regular dialogue to better understand the dynamics and needs of their business and customers,” he said.

Last year, the company introduced the GAB Academy, the first-of-its-kind initiative to assist trade partners with creative business solutions to improve cost efficiency and training in marketing, serving and retailing. It has to date managed to engage about 300 trade partners.

Ireland said GAB was also committed to strategic and innovative advertising campaigns to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of its brand positioning.

Advertising campaigns this year included organising events such as the Tiger Football Club at various GAB outlets during live viewings of British soccer and GAB’s 250th anniversary celebration bash from April 1 to May 31.

Other events include GAB’s Heineken Green Room initiatives to introduce innovative Malaysian music and provide a platform for local acts to showcase their talents.

Ireland said earlier this year, GAB introduced three new imported brands – Sol, Paulaner and Strongbow – into the local market.

“These new brands will not contribute significantly to our bottom line but GAB wanted to introduce something fresh and exciting to add value to our brand name and reward our loyal consumers ... sort of like icing to the cake,” he said.

Ireland said GAB would continually innovate and introduce new and exciting products to the market.

In 2008, GAB invested RM30mil in capital investment to bring its brewery to world-class standard.

Major accolades won by GAB include three consecutive years of winning the Guinness League of Excellence for best Guinness brewed in the world, beating 47 Guinness breweries globally; the Tiger In Market Quality Awards 2008 for outstanding quality of Tiger Beer internationally by Asian Pacific Breweries; and runner-up in Asia Pacific for the Diageo Market of the Year Award.


GUINESS : [Stock Watch] [News]


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