ABSTRACT
Consequently, over the last two decades, the brewery industry has experienced numerous small-and medium-sized cross-border acquisitions. Heineken, the most active company in this respect, acquired no fewer than 35 smaller breweries around the world between 1990 and 2008. Often, these acquisitions involve partial shareholdings. Besides the lower risk compared to the full takeover, partial shareholdings o er the MNC a “foot in the door” in areas where a “big bang” market entry is not feasible due to market and ownership structures. Alternatively, such shareholdings may enable the MNC to enlarge its infl uence in a given country by gaining access to more fi rms in the local market. The following section will elaborate on these tendencies from one company point of view. The Danish MNC brewery is the fourth-largest brewery and is a typical example of the patterns described earlier.
