Forbes: The World's Fastest-Changing Markets
The prospect of putting bottles of Budweiser or Bud Light into the hands of overseas imbibers was a major driver of InBev's $70 billion purchase of Anheuser-Busch this week.
The notion of a Belgian boss taking the reins of the Budweiser Clydesdales drives the Beltway's protectionist politicians nuts. A U.S. senator who opposed the deal blamed it on a weak dollar.
Truth is, elevating an iconic American beer brand into a globally recognized product is on the strategic agenda because so many emerging foreign markets are opening up at a dizzying speed, namely in Asia and Eastern Europe. After all, snapping up Bud allows InBev to regain the world-brewing top spot it lost last year to SABMiller (other-otc: SBMRY – news – people ), which has benefited from increased market penetration in China.
How quickly bar patrons in Poland and Paraguay crack open Bud bottles will influence whether InBev looks smart a few years from now. But it does reflect a desire among brand-conscious businesses to bring their most powerful assets to foreign markets where citizens' needs and tastes are rapidly changing. …
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