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

Abstract

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.beer industry, South Africa, competition, apartheid,

International Expansion and Contexts of a Global Player from an Emerging Market: The Case of Sabmiller 1993–2013

“…About the company's internationalization process, Mager (2008) states that the end of Apartheid in South Africa happened at the same time that the international brewing industry entered a period of intense M&A. At that moment, South African Brewery (SAB) was able to compete in global markets, becoming first a leader in emerging markets and later an important player in developed markets.…”

“…During the period that the company was not pursuing international markets, it was able to domestically grow in terms of sales and assets; this was achieved through diversification: The company went into different industries like other type of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, glass production for bottles, crops, hotels, food, retail and clothing. According to Mager (2008), this happened because ‘the South African economy was isolated from world markets as consequence of Apartheid and direct investment was limited, so local capital was prevented from leaving the country’ (Mager, 2008, p. 283). By 1997 the company have decided to focus on its fundamental business and sold off or closed non-core operations, and it focused again on the production and selling of beer (SABMiller, 2013).…”

Formalising urban informality: micro-enterprise and the regulation of liquor in Cape Town

“…Under apartheid, informal liquor retailing became a major urban livelihood opportunity and the country's most significant retail market for the formal liquor trade (Kudva 2009; Samara 2010). This history of shebeening has received considerable scholarly attention, especially in relation to the development of state brewing capacity (Rogerson 1992), the growth and globalisation of SAB (Mager 1999), the changing delineations of liquor ‘appropriate’ to African culture and biology (Mager 2004, 2008) and the trade's gender dynamics. The appendage of the title shebeen ‘Queen’ or ‘King’ to the patron is perhaps misleadingly grand, as what little is actually known about shebeens and township drinking indicates, to the contrary, that ‘backyard shebeens … were modest enterprises’ (Mager 1999: 379).…”

Postcolonial Transitions in Africa: Decolonization in West Africa and Present Day South Africa

“…(2005). Recently, however, Thunderbird International Business Review published a special issue on sub‐Saharan Africa (2009), and more research on African business history is appearing (Austin and Uche, 2007; Mager, 2008), which reflects the increasing interest in the region. A comparison between the historical case of two Anglophone West African countries, Ghana and Nigeria, and present‐day South Africa shows that postcolonial transitions in Africa take similar forms despite significant differences between the countries.…”