¶ … SAB Miller In the 1990s, South Africa was undergoing a major transformation. This was in response to: the sudden social, economic and political changes in the post-apartheid environment. SAB Miller was able to use this change as a way to solidify their home market and expand to other regions. This is helped the firm to become the second largest beer producer in the world. However, like many multi-national corporations, the firm has been facing tremendous challenges. In some cases, this can be from having large amounts of saturation in particular markets (i.e. The U.S. And Europe). While at the same time, there are issues affecting the ability of the company to take advantage of growth in many emerging economies (i.e. Africa, Asia and Latin America). (Jacob 2009)

To help the firm deal with these issues requires examining the challenges they are facing and how they will be addressed. This will be accomplished by focusing on: their strategic position, assessing an appropriate model to assist them in tackling various problems and the utilization of a specific framework to highlight the benefits / drawbacks of these options. Together, these elements will provide insights that will illustrate how the firm can address these issues. This is when the company will be able to increase their market share and bottom line results exponentially. (Jacob 2009)

What is SAB's strategic position as of 2007?

The strategic picture of the firm is that they are facing a number of opportunities and challenges. This is because there are varying results, for different regions of the world. In some cases, (i.e. The United States and Europe) sales have remained flat and the company is struggling...

(Jacob 2009)
Yet, at the same time there are regions that can provide SAB Miller with the ability to realize above average earnings growth. This is accomplished through working on building off of the strong reputation for the brand name in these areas. The problem is that some regions are being impacted by health conditions such as: HIV / AIDS. At the same time, there are select brands that are performing well. (Jacob 2009)

The combination of these factors is showing how the external environment has splintered the performance of SAB Miller. This is from uneven levels of execution in their various brands. The capabilities / competencies of the firm include: a large number of popular beers (which are realizing strong sales), the ability to use its organizational structure to increase market share and they have a foot print in nearly every region of the world. As a result, stakeholders are expecting the firm to be able to maximize its profit margins in these areas. The problem is with the company unable to achieve these objectives. This is troubling, as stakeholders are demanding that they increase the underlying profit margins to reflect the size of the organization. (Jacob 2009)

Use an appropriate model (Ansoff Matrix) to suggest a range of possible strategic options open to SAB.

The Ansoff Matrix is focused on a number of criteria in understanding the challenges impacting a firm and how to address them. The most notable include: market penetration, market development, product development and diversification. In the case of market penetration, the company needs to focus on introducing its premium brands inside the U.S. This is because…