Case Name :      Wolters Brewery (A): Negotiating Restructuring

Authors :           Klaus Meyer

Source :             Ivey Publishing

Case ID :            W12805

Discipline :        General Management

Case Length :    14 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

This sequence of two cases presents in the (A) case the situation of a multinational brewer, Inbev, having acquired several breweries in Germany, wishing to proceed with operational integration and the closure of smaller, less efficient plants. This move triggers resistance not only from the local workforce, but the local community. For Inbev, this is a case of corporate restructuring and strategy implementation. Yet for a group of local entrepreneurs, this is an opportunity to plot a management buy-out (MBO) and to recreate a historical local brewery. The case is designed as a business negotiation setting bringing together the multinational, local entrepreneurs, the city council and a local bank; instructions for four teams involved in the negotiations are provided in the teaching note. The case can also be used as a conventional case on entrepreneurship or strategy implementation.