Brewing Up Innovation: How InBev Merged Beer Giants into a Global Powerhouse

Situation

Two brewing titans, Interbrew and AmBev, joined forces to create InBev, the world's largest beer company. Now a global leader, InBev needed a dynamic and effective innovation engine to fuel future growth.

The Catch

Despite the success each Interbrew and AmBev had in their respective markets, InBev now needed to become a global leader in innovation and protect its future assets. Each company brought its own culture, terminology, methodology, processes, resources and expertise to the new company, and the challenge was to establish the new 'InBev Way of Innovation', as well as the team that could effectively and quickly bring it all together.

Innovative Actions

InBev set the stage for innovation with the Global Innovation and Technology Center (GITeC) and satellite centers around the world. This change of scenery encouraged openness, fostering collaboration and unlocking the best from each team member's skillset.

The Innovation Leadership Team identified key personnel and evaluated existing innovation practices across both companies. They meticulously selected the best components and methodologies, merging them into a cohesive team. This diverse group, encompassing consumer advocates, product developers, and technical experts, formed a global innovation community nearly 100 strong, with crucial links to marketing, operations, and local teams. Notably, this leadership team embodied the "3 Kinds of Leaders" – Edisons, Indiana Jones (think collaboration), and St. Pauls (communication) – essential for successful innovation, according to Third Angle.

Growth & Value

While building the global innovation team, InBev maintained its focus on delivering results. Following the team's formation, they launched over 30 new consumer innovations in each of the first two years, surpassing volume goals by 11% and gross margin goals by an impressive 50%. Furthermore, they reshaped InBev's commercial innovation strategy, development process, and team roles. Additionally, they crafted long-term strategies for market share in both beverages and beer, laying the groundwork for future innovation platforms and project pipelines.

Mini-Lessons Learned

This case study underscores the importance of empowering the "collective" – the combined knowledge, experience, and capabilities of a team. Building strong "Networks for Integration" is crucial.  Prioritizing team formation and function is essential.  Unearthing and utilizing "Hidden Treasures" – undervalued assets from both companies – presented opportunities to pursue and develop new strengths. Lastly, leveraging relationships and fostering alliances proved invaluable.  In summary, InBev's success hinged on "Sifting Quick" (identifying key personnel) and "Building Fast" (creating a powerful innovation team).

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