What are some of the challenges that are particular to the China market?
The challenges China presents are very similar to the situation in the U.S. in the 1960s. You have an industry that is consolidating, but has not consolidated fully yet. You have an industry where the wholesale-distribution system is very fragmented and is probably not adding as much value to the retail system and to the consumer. Brand development hasn’t moved along [as well as it could have]. There’s a lot of opportunity to develop the imagery of brands. We just brought out a new brand here in Harbin aimed at the popular segment, Harbin 1900. This is an attempt to go back to the brand’s heritage — go back and say we are the oldest brewery in China, and here’s a beer that commemorates the origins of this brewery. That’s something that I don’t think a lot of Chinese brands would have thought about because it’s not their normal way of developing a brand.
