The creation of big business in the Swedish brewing industry during the aftermath of the Second World War

Abstract

Before the First World War, the Swedish brewing industry was organised into cartels that fixed prices and established distribution areas. During the inter-war years, the major combines in the three biggest cities strengthened their position, since they controlled the market in the most populated areas. Because of the agreements within the brewing cartel Bryggeriidkareförbundet, there was hardly any competition among the breweries and the only way to expand the business was to buy cartel-associated smaller breweries in the fixed ‘natural distribution area’. When the cartel ceased to exist in the mid 1950s, the agreements among AB Stockholms Bryggerier in Stockholm (StB), AB Pripp & Lyckholm in Göteborg (P&L) and AB Malmö Förenade Bryggerier in Malmö (MfB) were informally maintained. They managed to expand in their old distribution areas and beyond, but there was no interference in each other's home market.

This article examines why and how these agreements finally came to an end and the effects of the increased competition. The so-called ‘beer war’ between StB and P&L during the early sixties paved the way for negotiations, which in the end led to a merger of the breweries and a new big combine – Pripps – was created. We take up questions related to the formation of the company, its market expansion, the diversification and other organisational strategies. Pripps's monopolistic position on the Swedish market and the institutional pressure that followed started a process leading in the end to a reorganisation and a holding company, PRIBO, was formed in the early 1970s. A few years later the majority of PRIBO's brewing division (Pripps) was bought by the Swedish state and the rest of PRIBO was sold to one of the upcoming holding companies in Sweden during that time – Beijer Invest.

Keywords:

• brewing industry
• cartels
• mergers
• Sweden

Notes

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3. A.D. Chandler, Strategy and Structure. Chapters in the History of the American Enterprise (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1962 [1990]), 30.

4. Chandler, ‘The United States’, 38f.

5. H. Daems, ‘The Rise of the Modern Industrial Enterprise. A New Perspective’, in Managerial Hierarchies. Comparative Perspectives on the Rise of the Modern Industrial Enterprise, ed. A.D. Chandler and H. Daems (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980), 204.

6. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 46ff.

7. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 73ff.

8. B. Rydén, Fusioner i svensk industri. En kartläggning och orsaksanalys av svenska industriföretags fusionsverksamhet 1946–69 (Stockholm: Industriens utredningsinstitut, 1971), 55; C.R. Pokorny, Investmentbolagen och deras roll på börsen, i Stockholms fondbörs 100 år (Stockholm: Nord.Bokh, 1963), 314ff; and S. Benestam ed., Traditionella investmentbolag och utvecklingsbolag. Med speciell hänsyn till deras syfte i strukturrationaliseringssyfte (Lund: Studentiltteratur, 1967), 18ff.

9. P. Sandberg, ‘Från hantverk till industri. Den svenska bryggerinäringens organisatoriska och produktionstekniska utveckling under institutionella förändringar och tyska influenser’ (Unpublished master thesis, Göteborg University, 2003), 92f.

10. Statens offentliga utredningar (SOU) 1952: 55, Tillverkning och försäljning av maltdrycker. 1944 års Nykterhetskommittés betänkande (Stockholm, 1953), 90

11. Kartellregistret. Meddelanden från Kommerskollegii monopolutredningsbyrå, 1947:1, 1f.

12. Svenska Bryggareföreningen, Bryggeriidkareförbundet, Förtroendenämndens möte 8/12 1955, A:10, RA.

13. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 133ff.

14. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 349f.

15. Stockholms Bryggerier, meeting of the board 30/3 1962, A2 AA: 34, CfN.

16. Stockholms Bryggerier, ratified document concerning the merger of P&L and StB 28/11 1963, A2 AA: 35, CfN.

17. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 319.

18. Pripps Bryggerier, Pripp & Lyckholm, agreement between Bryggeriforeningen and the Swedish Brewery Association (SBF) 1946, appendix to the group of management records Dp 719, A3 BA: 58, C76: 1, GLA.

19. Pripps Bryggerier, meeting of the board 14/6 1968 (appendix), A2 A: 17, C76: 1, GLA.

20. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 278ff.

21. Pripps Bryggerier, meeting of the board 5/4 1972 (appendix), A2 A: 31, C76: 1, GLA.

22. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 273ff.

23. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 233ff.

24. Pripps Bryggerier, meeting of the board 9/6 1972, A2 A: 29, C76: 1, GLA.

25. Statens offentliga utredningar (SOU) 1974: 91, Alkoholpolitik del 2. Åtgärder. Betänkande av alkoholpolitiska utredningen (Stockholm, 1974), 325ff.

26. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 319.

27. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 292 ff.

28. Kurt Rydé, former Pripps executive manager, interview with author, 29 June 2005.

29. Kurt Rydé, former Pripps executive manager, interview with author, 4 October 2005.

30. Statens industriverk (SIND) 1976: 6, Malt- och läskedrycksindustri Stockholm, 1976), 45.

31. Pripp Bryggerier, PM concerning Pripps sales problem 27/2 1973, F7: 10, C76: 1, GLA.

32. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 300ff.

33. Pripp Bryggerier, meeting with the board of PRIBO (memorandum appendix) 10/6 1974, A2 A: 40, C76: 1, GLA.

34. Pripps Bryggerier, written agreement between the Swedish State and PRIBO 19/11 1974 (appendix in the record of the meetings of the board 12/12 1974), A2 A: 40, C76: 1, GLA.

35. Pripps Bryggerier, written agreement between the Swedish State and PRIBO 19/11 1974 (appendix in the record of the meetings of the board 12/12 1974), A2 A: 40, C76: 1, GLA.

36. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 309ff.

37. Kurt Rydé, former Pripps executive manager, interview with author, 29 June 2005.

38. SIND, Malt- och läskedrycksindustri, 141.

39. SIND, Malt- och läskedrycksindustri, 45.

40. Sandberg, Kartellen som sprängdes, 324.

41. Pripps Bryggerier, written agreement 28/5 1975, F7: 12, C76: 1, GLA.

42. Pripps Bryggerier, Danish press releases 23/6 1975, F7: 12, C76: 1, GLA.