CEO video: Building resilient growth at AB-InBev

Anheuser-Busch InBev is the largest beer company in the world, with US$46.8 billion in 2020 revenue. Its globe-spanning footprint is the result of a more-than-10-year worldwide expansion conceived and overseen by CEO Carlos Brito. His distinctive strategy reflects a deep-seated conviction that giving employees opportunities to thrive is central to Anheuser-Busch InBev’s resilience.

Brito recognized that to produce sustainable, long-term growth, Anheuser-Busch InBev would need to improve its ability to retain the best talent. That meant giving employees more, and better, paths to enrich their own careers without leaving the company, which in turn required larger, more-global operations. “A company is simply a group of people working together,” Brito says. “What differentiates one company from another is the quality of the people and how engaged they are. We expanded so we’d be an attractive place for people to come develop their careers and their lives so they would stay here for the long term.”

In 2004, AmBev merged with the Netherlands’ Interbrew (becoming InBev). They purchased America’s Anheuser-Busch (becoming Anheuser-Busch InBev) in 2008 and acquired the multinational SABMiller in 2016. As the company expanded across the world, Brito focused on establishing a consistent set of values, embodied in Anheuser-Busch InBev’s 10 Principles — precepts such as: “We are never completely satisfied with our results,” “The consumer is our boss,” and “We never take shortcuts.”

“To go from a one-country footprint to a global footprint, you need to have a set of values that are ingrained within the company,” Brito says. “As you go more places, it will be harder for you to have oversight of everything. You need to have a core set of principles that will guide people through decisions.”