Competitive Strategies in the Chinese beer industry
Tsingtao: The race for Growth through Acquisitions
Tsingtao is one of the oldest and most famous Chinese breweries, the largest brewer in China, (with Yianjin and SAB hot on it heels) and the first mainland company to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
It was founded by German settlers in Qingdao in 1903.
It is one of the better-managed local brewers, in an industry often characterized by firms with nonexistent quality-control systems, sloppy, unhygienic and unsafe operational practices, and human resources steeped into the historical mentality of a centrally planned economy where pay had no relation with performance and employees are rarely motivated to contribute beyond their specific job scope.