How much does this tell you?
The quote appears on Page 95 of Dethroning the King: The Hostile Takeover of Anheuser-Busch and comes for Charlie Claggett, an advertising guy. That’s the context.
“I think he (August Busch III) genuinely wanted to pass it down to his son, but I think his son wasn’t up to it. August used to say, ‘You’re thinking with your heart and not your head.’ And I think that was the weakness his son had. He just did not have the cutthroat willingness to cut somebody off at the knees if he had to, which is the way you have to run a brewery. Because let’s face it, anybody can brew beer. It’s just a matter of who has the most money and power, and who is willing to do what it takes.”
What a paragraph.
stone cold
Obviously, this awful sort of behvaviour isn’t limited to breweries. However, I would be surprised if many of the industrial brewers today didn’t behave like this.
Several things
1) It’s obvious the advertising guy is exactly why beer ads have been how they have been for so long. For them beer is a bland commodity to be sold in 30 packs at Walmart.
2) The writer is oblivious to the numerous examples of breweries being run by people who don’t cut others off by the knees. If Sierra Nevada isn’t in his range of consciousness, then at least Yuengling should be.
3) If Augie IV was the problem, you don’t have to sell the company, just hire a new CEO. They sold because the offer was too good to turn down and because they didn’t own enough of the company to be able turn it down anyway.
Just see what happens to the ad industry once I’m dictator.
Business 101.
I’d quibble with a couple things. First, anyone can brew beer, but not anyone can brew good beer–and fewer still can brew great beer. The best products don’t always win out, but it’s not like quality and success are wholly uncorrelated variables.
Second, while I think it’s true that businesses must be cognizant of the competitive nature of markets, not every brewer wants to control 50% of the segment. Different breweries may adopt different strategies for different goals–not all of which require (or are even benefited by) cutthroat tactics.
Jeff – This isn’t something I’ve seen in the book so far, but A-B was dedicated to using top flight ingredients and training of brewers. There the advertising guy seems out of touch.
What’s well documented in the book is that both III and IV trained as brewers and also worked in other parts of the business. By the time of the takeover the family held only a tiny portion of company stock.
The Genco Puro Olive Oil company has come a long ways.
Don’t get into the boat, Fredo.
I’m just glad I’m not the son. Cant be to much fun to have your dad put it in writing that you are a dud and not capable of carrying on the family legacy
“Because let’s face it, anybody can brew beer”
This should be
“Because let’s face it, anybody can brew tasteless bulk lager”