Tsingtao Beer President Mingbo Sun went to the podium of JOIN Forum in the School on evening of October 23, to share experience and thoughts with the students on development strategy of the company and the growth of Chinese beer market.

Tsingtao Beer President Mingbo Sun is delivering a speech to the School students

Firstly, Mr. Sun took a retrospective view at the development of Tsingtao Beer, from 1903 when German and British merchants of Hong Kong Anglo-Nordic Brewery created the Nordic Brewery Co., Ltd. Tsingtao Branch, to 1993 when Tsingtao Brewery was listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, making it the first mainland China-based enterprise to be listed overseas, even to the most recent several years which have witnessed rapid progress of the company.

He said to the students that Chinese beer market is promising, which was supported by detailed market analysis data offered during the speech.

First reason is that, he said, China is part of leading force – which is mainly composed of emerging countries – to push forward the growth of global beer industry. Second reason is that, Chinese beer market has a lot of potential to explore, because of huge beer-drinking population and much more share of market to be developed in rural areas and mid-and-western part of China.

That certainly presents great opportunities for Tsingtao Beer. Mid-and-upper level of market is developing fast, surrounded with rosy predictions for profit-making future. Chinese beer industry is re-structuring, and the national top beer brands have advantages over others in competitions within the industry.

Meanwhile, President Sun pointed out that, the major problems in Chinese beer industry are that the profit margin is quite slim, the concentration level within industry is low, and that overcapacity is still a hovering problem that can not be ignored for the whole industry. While in the world’s main beer markets, the concentration level is fairly high and the industrial structure stays comparatively stable.

Assistant Professor Cheng-hua Tzeng from Department of Business Administration is, on behalf of the School, presenting a gift to Mr. Sun

According to Mr. Sun, the next three-year strategy of Tsingtao Beer will be focused on integration and expansion.

He said that Tsingtao Beer will continue to concentrate on brand building with preference on high-end market, and that the brand concept is to develop a young, trendy and dynamic brand by means of sports marketing.

He emphasized that quality is the key to retain the loyalty of Tsingtao Beer consumers.

In the final session of speech, Mr. Sun interacted with the School students by answering their questions of interest in Tsingtao Beer’s branding efforts and how it is going through the current financial crisis.

October 27, 2009