Beer,brewing, and business history

Abstract

This editorial introduces the eight articles in the special issue on ‘Beer, brewing and business history’. Following the BEERONOMICS conference held at the University of York, 2013, and the subsequent approval of the editorial board of Business History, we received many submissions discussing beer, brewing, and their importance to business history (broadly defined). In this editorial we provide a brief overview of the historical development of beer and brewing; explain the appeal to business historians of the principal themes which have emerged in the historiography of this industry, and provide a short introduction to the articles accepted for publication in this special issue.     

Social Interaction and Beer Consumption

The aim of this article is to describe young consumers’ attitudes and conduct regarding beer consumption, analyzing the consumer as an individual (addressing internal factors) and in a collective (external factors). The research was designed in Brazil involving 52 participants, divided into 16 focus groups, and the respective data was transcribed and analyzed. The findings show three distinct types of consumers were identified. The authors termed these the Inductor, the Induced, and the Sophisticated. The article details how each type of consumer can be distinguished through different attitudes and factors. The results suggest that, rather than thinking of beer consumption as an individual item, beer consumption should be thought of as different types, involving different behavior, attitudes, and social interaction. The article demonstrates originality and value to put forward the notion that beer consumption should not be defined as an individual item. The framework offered in this article will assist future researchers to consider consumption of different types and brands of beer, based on social interaction.     

Apartheid and business: Competition,monopoly and the growth of the malted beer industry in South Africa

The South African brewing industry experienced enormous growth in the apartheid era, following the lifting of prohibition on the sale of ‘European liquor’ to Africans in 1961. Successive international brewers and local entrepreneurs sought to benefit from increased demand in the 1970s but were unable to withstand competition from South African Breweries (SAB), the dominant player in the industry. A decade of intense competition in the brewing industry ended with the intervention of the cabinet of the Afrikaner Nationalist government. SAB's status as ‘sole supplier to the industry’ remained virtually unchallenged until the demise of apartheid and the end of South Africa's international isolation. The end of apartheid and changes in the global brewing industry brought renewed competition to the South African beer market in the late 1990s and early 2000s.     

New identities from remnants of the past: an examination of the history of beer brewing in Ontario and the recent emergence of craft breweries

Abstract

We present an exploratory analysis of historical narratives and data covering 200 years of beer brewing in the Canadian province of Ontario. These data are used to illuminate the process of collective identity emergence in established organisational fields. We argue that established fields are typically littered with identity remnants from ancestral organisations and related institutional configurations that can facilitate the successful emergence of new collective identities. In our analysis we first show how multiple identity elements fell by the wayside as the beer brewing field matured and settled on a corporate path. We go on to detail how some of these identity elements were subsequently recovered during the recent decades which marked the successful emergence and proliferation of craft beer brewing. Our study has implications for research on collective identity and organisational legacy, and we stress the importance of taking a historical lens for understanding present day phenomena.     

Entrepôt Trade and Smuggling in West Africa: Benin,Togo and Nigeria

Official trade statistics indicate very little intra‐African trade, but this is often because of the prevalence of unrecorded trade, particularly smuggling. This paper explores smuggling from Benin and Togo into Nigeria. Nigeria has very high import tariffs and bans on certain products. Togo and Benin have deliberately maintained low import barriers to facilitate an Entrepôt role vis‐à‐vis Nigeria and land‐locked Sahelian countries. Togo competes at a geographic disadvantage relative to Benin for access to the Nigerian market and compensates with lower transit taxes. The volume and composition of cross‐border trade is analysed using data obtained from Benin and Togo customs authorities, as well as interviews with traders and customs officials in both countries. Benin and to a lesser extent Togo are the origin of a very large volume of transshipment of precisely those products which are heavily protected in Nigeria, such as used cars, cloth and rice. It is common knowledge in Benin and Togo that these imports, although declared for domestic consumption or transit to other countries, are in fact overwhelmingly intended for Nigeria. Smuggling is a major source of income and employment in Benin and Togo, but provides a fragile and unreliable foundation for economic development.     

Study of Consumer Preferences in Regard to the Blonde Orange Cv. Washington Navel “Arancia Di Ribera PDO”

Consumers’ attitude and preferences in regard to food ingredients, country of origin, social corporate responsibility toward the environment, and work conditions have changed over the last 10 years. Consumers are getting more educated and therefore more sensitive around cultivation practices in agriculture and food processing, which increases concerns in regard to production practices in agriculture. Several studies have been conducted on consumers’ preferences about quality food, but not with regard to blonde oranges cv. Washington Navel cultivated in southern Italy. This quality fruit is a niche product that achieved the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) certification for high organoleptic properties and fine taste. In this study, by a survey of 400 Italian consumers, we discovered preferences in regard to the cv. Washington Navel PDO (Riberella) attributes and revealed variables that may influence consumers’ purchasing behavior. Cluster analysis, based on respondents’ rates on 20 attributes, revealed preference segmentation. Freshness, taste, and origin were the most important attributes for consumers, following visual appearance and quality/price ratio. In responding to the demands of consumers for quality fresh fruit, information about quality standards and about the Riberella PDO is poor. Therefore, there may be potential to develop specific policies and marketing strategies to product the position in the international market.     

The Effect of Advertising on the Total Consumption of Alcoholic Drinks in the United Kingdom: Some Econometric Estimates

This paper reports upon an econometric investigation, using aggregate time series data, of the influence of prices, income and advertising upon the demand for alcoholic drink in the UK. The demand for alcoholic drink as a whole is studied initially, and then the analysis is disaggregated to the more detailed level of beer, spirits and wine, taken separately. Income appears to have a marked effect on the demand for these products, and price elasticities are in most cases low.

There is no evidence of a link between total advertising and the total consumption of all alcoholic drinks, spirits or wine. For beer, the evidence on the demand—advertising relationship is ambiguous but, for reasons discussed in the paper, there must be considerable doubt that beer advertising has had an expansionary effect on total beer consumption.     

A taste for temperance: how American beer got to be so bland

ABSTRACT

This article examines the historical origins of bland American beer. The US was not strongly associated with a particular beer type until German immigrants popularised lager beer. Lager, refreshing and mildly intoxicating, met the demands of America's growing working class. Over time, American lager became lighter and blander. This article emphasises America's uncommonly strong temperance movement, which put the industry on the defensive. Brewers pushed their product as ‘the beverage of moderation,’ and consumers sought out light, relatively non-intoxicating beers. The recent ‘craft beer revolution’ is explained as a backlash aided by a changing consumer culture and improved information technology.     

我国粮食流通政策的内需效应分析

我国的粮食流通政策经过多年的改革已经日趋成熟和完善,通过提高农民的收入水平等途径,粮食流通政策对内需的增长做出了一定的贡献。本文在建立粮食流通政策变量指标的基础上,运用实证方法对粮食流通政策的内需效应进行了分析,结果表明国家粮食流通政策对内需有着较大的影响。     

Investigating the direct and indirect effects of corporate hypocrisy and perceived corporate reputation on consumers’ attitudes toward the company

Consumers are placing increasing importance on the social responsibility of firms when making purchase decisions. Nonetheless, corporate irresponsibility has become more prevalent in the corporate world. Through corporate social responsibility (CSR), companies can showcase their virtues and appear as good citizens while ignoring many internal standards. Hence, the primary purpose of this study was to explore the impact of corporate hypocrisy on CSR belief, corporate reputation, and consumers’ attitudes toward a company that may have a bad reputation. Second, we investigated the mediating effect of CSR belief and perceived corporate reputation on the relationships between corporate hypocrisy and consumers’ attitudes toward the company. We asked a sample of respondents in Australia (n =518) to respond to a real CSR campaign launched by a beer company. The results showed that CSR belief mediates the relationship between corporate hypocrisy and consumers’ attitudes toward the company. The results indicated a perception that companies may use CSR to try to shift the blame from producers to users. The results of this study provide guidelines for managers, social marketers, and public policy makers on how to create and evaluate companies’ CSR campaigns. The results of this study contribute to the debate on how consumers respond to various CSR campaigns as well as the intended or unintended consequences of CSR in directing consumers’ attention away from the negative impacts businesses have on society.     

The Relevance of Soft Information for Predicting Small Business Credit Default: Evidence from a Social Bank

Using a unique, hand‐collected database of 389 small loans granted by a French social bank dealing with genuinely small, informationally opaque businesses (mainly social enterprises), our study highlights the relevance of including soft information (especially on management quality) to improve credit default prediction. Comparing our findings with those of previous studies also reveals that the more opaque the borrower, the higher the predictive value of soft information in comparison with hard. Finally, a cost‐benefit analysis shows that including soft information is economically valuable once collection costs have been accounted for, albeit to a moderate extent.     

促进收入公平分配的财政政策取向

改革开放以来,我国城乡居民收入的总体水平得到了很大的提高的同时,收入分配领域存在的矛盾和问题也日益突出,对经济和社会发展产生越来越明显的不利影响。我国应大力推进农业和农村经济结构的战略性调整,发展高产优质高效农业,千方百计增加农民收入;切实提高劳动报酬在国民收入初次分配中的比重;充分运用税收手段调节居民收入;大力调整垄断行业的利润分配格局;进一步提高社会保障标准,从而切实解决收入分配问题,缩小收入差距。     

“To love beer above all things”: An analysis of Brazilian craft beer subculture of consumption

In this article, we describe and analyze the Brazilian craft beer subculture of consumption. We observed that feelings play an important role inside this subculture and used a sociocultural approach to analyze it. Field notes from 9 months of fieldwork at beer festivals, craft beer meetings, and Collective Brassages and 40 interviews with consumers are used as data. “Drink less, drink better” is the subculture’s motto and shows commitment to enjoyment and responsibility as craft beer consumers reject mass-produced beer and antisocial behaviors usually associated with beer drinkers. We differentiated members of the craft beer subculture of consumption according to their commitment to subculture ethos, beer-specific knowledge, experience drinking and making beer, and emotional attachment to craft beer. Craft beer consumers experience different sentiments as their status inside the subculture increases and hard-core members show a religious fervor for the beer that is similar to consumer devotion.     

Cutting through the clutter: purchase intentions as a function of packaging instrumentality,aesthetics, and symbolism

This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the impact of packaging in marketing, and confirms the importance of perceived instrumentality, aesthetics, and symbolism in this process. This study examined two types of packaging used by a firm that makes chilled meals. One package had a transparent cover showing the food inside and the other had an opaque wrapper showing a picture of the food. Sales for the product with the transparent cover were 30% lower than for the same product packaged in the opaque wrapper. An experimental study examined the effects of packaging on buying intentions. Supermarket shoppers (n = 100) were shown the same product in one of the two packages and answered a survey about the mediating variables: perceived instrumentality, aesthetics, and symbolism, and the dependent variable, purchase intentions. As predicted, participants expressed more interest in buying the product with the opaque packaging. In addition, the transparent packaging was perceived as more instrumental, less aesthetic, and less symbolic of quality than opaque packaging. Perceived aesthetics and symbolism, but not instrumentality, were documented to mediate this process. Analyzing packaging using the instrumentality, aesthetics, and symbolism model can help marketers and designers develop more effective packaging for various products, contexts, and consumer groups. The study views packaging as a critical marketing tool and not merely a logistic tool, and identifies one psychological mechanism that underlies the impact of packaging on purchase intentions.     

Posted price and name-your-own-price in a product line design problem

In this research, we address Name your own price (NYOP) as a mechanism to offer products with transparent, rather than opaque, quality levels. We compare posted price (PP) and NYOP in a product line design problem from a firm’s viewpoint. We first consider the firm offering two vertically differentiated products that each can be priced by NYOP or PP. The quality level of products is considered either as a decision variable or as a fixed predetermined value for the firm. A customer correspondingly decides which product to purchase and if applicable, the bid at NYOP. We characterize both the customer’s and the firm’s decisions under four possible pricing scenarios. The results show that, it is most profitable for the firm to use PP for both products. We then consider if each product is offered by a competitive firm, where quality levels might again be decision variables or fixed. Results show that both competitive firms prefer PP to NYOP when they can create quality differentiation. The firm that offers the product with a lower quality level prefers PP to NYOP for all combinations of fixed quality levels as well. The other firm, with a higher quality level, also usually prefers PP to NYOP; However, it can be better off using NYOP when fixed quality levels are large and close enough to each other. In this case, the preference of NYOP over PP increases as customers’ willingness to pay enhances.     

Walking the talk about corporate social responsibility communication: An elaboration likelihood model perspective

Large organizations, including listed businesses, financial service providers as well as public services entities are increasingly disclosing information on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues through corporate websites or via social media. Therefore, this research uses valid measures from the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to explore the individuals’ attitudes toward online corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications. The data were gathered from a structured questionnaire among three hundred ninety-two respondents (n = 392). A structural equations modeling partial least squares (SEM-PLS 3) approach was used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that the timeliness, relevance and accuracy of information as well as the source expertise were highly significant antecedents that were affecting the research participants’ attitudes toward CSR communications. This contribution implies that there is scope for content curators to publish quality online information on their business activities to improve their trustworthiness and positive credentials among stakeholders.     

Parental perception and attitudes on infant feeding practices and baby milk formula in East Malaysia

A survey on infant feeding and weaning practices of 505 respondents who had children currently aged between 0 and 6 years old was carried out in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The decisive factors, which influence parents’ purchase decision of infant and follow‐up formula were also determined. Initiation of breastfeeding was practised by 86.3% of respondents, but only 8.3% of 436 respondents exclusively breastfed for 6 months and beyond. An association was established where parents with a higher educational level (χ ² = 70.191, d.f. = 28, P < 0.001) and household income (χ ² = 74.863, d.f. = 28, P < 0.001) were found to have a higher tendency in initiating formula feeding earlier. Parents who practised partial breastfeeding (OR = 2.0) and had a shorter duration of breastfeeding (OR = 2.4), respectively, were at least two times more likely to initiate early formula feeding. Parents who were highly educated (χ ² = 99.107, d.f. = 9, P < 0.001) and had a higher income (χ ² = 96.501, d.f. = 12, P < 0.001) also tended to wean their babies earlier. Parents became acquainted to infant and follow‐up formulas mainly through advertisement and promotion (32.9%). Quality and brand were the two most influential factors in determining parents’ purchase decision on infant and follow‐up formulas. Most respondents within the same income range were also found to purchase the same brands of baby formulas. Although breastfeeding is widely practised, its prolongation is still hindered by many social constraints such as lack of facilities and support in the workplace to encourage mothers to breastfeed and therefore most parents resolved to early formula feeding for their convenience.     

Once more, with feeling: Empathy and technology in customer care

Information technology is reshaping relationships between companies and customers, often bringing benefits to both. The unfettered use of technology, however, can erode customer care. For a company to care for customers, its managers and front-line employees must listen empathetically to what they have to say. But a rash of ‘innovations’ aimed primarily at reducing costs has made many companies opaque to their customers, who are—as a consequence—inadequately served and increasingly frustrated. Equally damaging is the resulting estrangement of employees from customers, a separation that dampens the empathy upon which true care for customers depends. As a number of innovative companies have shown, though, technology need not necessarily sour relations between businesses and those they serve. Indeed, technology can actually enrich them if senior managers (1) affirm their commitment to active, empathetic involvement with customers; (2) understand the ways in which current procedures and systems mediate interactions with customers; and (3) promote the deployment of social networks and other technologies to help customers tell their stories, and to enable workers and managers alike to hear them. Only when employees can step into their customers’ shoes can companies add authenticity to the claim: “We care for you.”     

Visualizing financial success: planning is key

Recent economic troubles in the US and abroad highlight the importance of family financial capability, including an understanding of financial markets. Financial capability is the foundation for desired financial behaviours, such as saving, budgeting, using credit wisely and planning. Study participants, a subsample of respondents to a Turkish university financial literacy survey (n = 374), who reported uninterrupted income for a 3‐year period were grouped as ‘planners’ and ‘non‐planners’. These groupings allowed examination of the relationships between planning, financial management decisions, and differential outcomes in daily household financial well‐being. The practice of preferred financial management behaviours was predictive of debt. This research makes a unique contribution to the literature, demonstrating the importance of uninterrupted income over income amount in support of the planning process. Findings of this study have implications for professionals in the family and consumer sciences field and other practitioners assisting consumers with improving financial management outcomes.     

SOCIAL CONFLICT,GROWTH AND FACTOR SHARES

Standard growth theory is based on atomistic agents with no strategic interactions among them. In contrast, we model growth as resulting from a one‐off, strategic game between ‘workers’ and owners of capital (‘capitalists’) on factor shares, in an otherwise standard ‘AK’ growth model. The resulting distribution of income between factors further determines the marginal revenue product of capital and the rate of growth. We analyse the properties of four equilibria: competitive, Stackelberg equilibrium, a hybrid non‐cooperative regime and cooperative, in terms of labour shares, growth and welfare. Our model thus endogenizes key aspects of the ‘social contract’.