“Draft” Day

American football is slowly catching on overseas, especially in Europe. The NFL Draft, which is taking place today in New York, remains uniquely American. We are the only nation on earth that spends an entire weekend glued to the television watching 20-something kids talk on cell phones in what amounts to the world’s most popular human resources meeting. And to think I used to make fun of my Australian and Indian friends for watching cricket… Sorry guys, I take all that back.

As a die-hard football fan, however, I can’t resist watching. Besides, the draft is really just an excuse to drink beer instead of doing something productive–a desire that is shared by many cultures. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn something about the borderless world at the same time.

I recently discovered a Polish beer called Zywiec. The Oxford Bottled Beer Database (yes, there is such a thing, but I don’t think it’s affiliated with the university) has reviews here.

I didn’t find it on a trip to Poland or in a trendy bar, though. I found it around the corner in a Mexican-owned deli in Brooklyn. Now that’s pretty global if you ask me.

My second discovery was that Zywiec is owned by Heineken. Not only is the Heineken brand itself sold in some 200 countries, but the company owns a number of regional brands as well.

These beers make Heineken the top brewer in countries such as Chile, Nigeria and Indonesia. Thanks in part Zywiec, Heineken controls the #2 position in the Polish beer market. In Russia, where the company holds the #3 slot, Heineken owns 36 different brands.

My point here is not that Heineken is the world’s best beer company. There are many others with strong brands that operate in a lot of far-flung places. But Heineken is an excellent case study in the concept of borderlessness.

Heineken is based in Amsterdam. Does that make it Dutch? European? I suppose that’s techincally correct, but it doesn’t even begin to describe the Heineken story. Less than half of their revenue comes from Western Europe. The remainder is nicely distributed everywhere else: Central & Eastern Europe (26%), Americas (16%), Africa & Middle East (10%) and Asia-Pacific (5%). Revenue in Europe was flat last year, while all of these other regions posted solid gains. Heineken’s future lies in markets such as Taiwan and Vietnam, where sales are growing at a 20%+ clip. They even have a brewery in Mongolia.

So, what kind of company is Heineken? There’s only one answer: borderless.

Have another beer and give it some thought. I need to get back to football.