Asahi Group Holdings - Company History

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Financial history 1960–2025 — revenue, cost structure, balance sheet, cash flow and key ratios, year by year →

Founded 1949
Founder Torii Komakichi (鳥井駒吉) · Toyama Shuzo (外山脩造) and others
Founding location 大阪府吹田市
Core business at founding Brewing and selling beer and Mitsuya Cider
Listed 1949
President Katsuki Atsushi President since 2021 (age 66, as of 2026)
Current priority Overseas expansion · Capital efficiency Running Japan, Europe and Australia as three poles while paying down debt
Founding
In September 1949 Dai Nippon Beer, then fifty years old, was split into two companies under the Act on the Elimination of Excessive Concentration of Economic Power, and Asahi Breweries was founded with capital of $277,778 (¥100m) to take over one of the two halves. It inherited four plants — Azumabashi, Suita, Nishinomiya and Hakata — together with the Asahi Beer and Mitsuya Cider trademarks, and Yamamoto Tamesaburo took office as its first president. Three of the four plants, however, stood in western Japan, and the company was sent out into the market with neither the capacity to supply the Tokyo area nor a nationwide sales network. Shipment share turned over from Asahi 36.1 per cent and Kirin 25.3 per cent in 1949 to Asahi 24.3 per cent and Kirin 46.5 per cent in 1963, the year Asahi also fell below Sapporo at 26.3 per cent into third place. The company was renamed Asahi Breweries in January 1989 and, on the move to a holding company structure in July 2011, Asahi Group Holdings.
The Decision
It changed its taste once, and after that went on buying the established brands of other companies. In August 1954 it took an equity stake in Nikka Whisky, widening its range of alcoholic drinks without building a distillery of its own. In March 1982, with its share on the edge of falling below 10 per cent, it brought in Murai Tsutomu, deputy president of Sumitomo Bank, as president, and began its recovery by remaking the culture of the company and the way it trained its people. In March 1987 it switched over entirely to Super Dry, a taste narrowed down from twelve trial brews, and changed the very flavour of beer, which had grown alike across the four companies that shared the market. From there it moved onto a course of acquiring the established brands of mature markets, and in February 2016 it bought four European businesses, among them Peroni of Italy and Grolsch of the Netherlands, for about $2.7B (¥294bn). Its character changed from a company that grew on products it made at home into one that took on the assets others were letting go to satisfy the competition authorities, and in three and a half years it put close to $22.0B (¥2.4tn) into Europe and Australia.
Today
More than half of sales lie overseas, and four-tenths of assets are goodwill arising from acquisitions. Of revenue of $19.3B (¥2.89tn) in the year to December 2025, overseas accounted for $10.8B (¥1.62tn), or 56 per cent, leaving Japan at $8.5B (¥1.27tn). What sits behind the overseas figure is the former SABMiller businesses in five countries of Central and Eastern Europe, bought for about $7.9B (¥888bn), and CUB of Australia, bought for about $11.0B (¥1.2tn) — in each case leading local brands acquired outright. The price of that was interest-bearing debt swelling to $11.0B (¥1.64tn) at the end of the year to December 2025 from $8.4B (¥1.28tn) a year earlier, and goodwill of $16.1B (¥2.41tn), four-tenths of total assets of $40.3B (¥6.03tn). Operating profit fell from $1.8B (¥269bn) to $1.2B (¥186bn), as currency movements and the weight of the debt cancelled out the growth coming from overseas.
Competition
At home the company competes with Kirin; abroad it competes with the side that sold it its businesses. In 1982 shipment share stood at Asahi 10.0 per cent against Kirin 62.2 per cent, and Murai Tsutomu saw the cause of that gap in Kirin's grip on the household channel, which accounted for seven-tenths of the market. When Super Dry moved demand in 1987, Kirin answered with Ichiban Shibori, and it was 1998 before Asahi returned to first place for the first time in 45 years. Abroad the positions are reversed. Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe and Australia alike came to Asahi because AB InBev let those assets go to satisfy the competition authorities, and the seller remains the largest brewer in the world and a competitor in each of those markets. At home Asahi took first place back through the design of a taste; abroad it replaced competitive advantage by buying the leading brands themselves.

Timeline

1949–1981A tilt to western Japan inherited from the break-up, and a quarter-century of falling share

  1. 1949Dai Nippon Beer is split; Asahi Breweries is founded in September
  2. 1949Shares listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October
  3. 1954Equity stake taken in Nikka Whisky
  4. 1957Asahi Gold launched, building the name of the Asahi of technology
  5. 1958Japan's first canned beer goes on sale
  6. 1962Omori plant completed in Tokyo
  7. 1963Falls to third place in the domestic beer market
  8. 1964Asahi Stiny opens new demand in the home
  9. 1965Outdoor fermentation tanks patented; first export of brewing technology
  10. 1966Kashiwa plant, dedicated to soft drinks, comes on stream
  11. 1973Nagoya plant completed
  12. 1976Enmei Naomatsu, from Sumitomo Bank, becomes president
  13. 1979Fukushima plant completed
  14. 1981Juzenkai buys up shares; the Maru-yu cuts remove 500 employees

1982–1989A rebuild that began by remaking the corporate culture, and a total change of taste

  1. 1982Murai Tsutomu comes from Sumitomo Bank as president in March
  2. 1982Subsidiary Ebios Pharmaceutical merged into the parent
  3. 1984TQC declared, with Murai himself as head of the promotion office
  4. 1985Corporate identity declared; the New Century Plan
  5. 1985Share falls to 9.6 per cent, the lowest since the break-up
  6. 1986Asahi Draft Beer, the Koku-Kire beer, halts the 25-year slide
  7. 1986Higuchi Hirotaro becomes president in March
  8. 1987Asahi Super Dry launched in March
  9. 1987Annual plan revised up from one million to eight million cases
  10. 1988Standalone sales reach $4.3B (¥545bn)
  11. 1989Share reaches 24.9 per cent; Asahi holds 73 per cent of the dry category
  12. 1989Renamed Asahi Breweries in January; Akashi soft-drinks plant completed

1990–2012Clearing up after the financial engineering, and a long rebuild at home

  1. 1990A 50-month run of outgrowing Kirin ends; Kirin launches Ichiban Shibori
  2. 1991Ibaraki plant completed
  3. 1992Seto Yuzo, the first career insider, becomes president; debt near $11.1B (¥1.4tn)
  4. 1994Full-scale entry into China begins
  5. 1995Management control of two Chinese companies taken jointly with Itochu
  6. 1996Super Dry becomes the top brand for a single month in June
  7. 1998Overtakes Kirin in domestic beer — first in 45 years; Shikoku plant opens
  8. 1999A $295.2M (¥34bn) loss booked at AB Service
  9. 2001The happoshu Honnama launched
  10. 2002Liquor businesses acquired from Kyowa Hakko and Asahi Kasei; Ikeda Koichi president
  11. 2006Wakodo acquired; Ogita Hitoshi becomes president
  12. 2008Clear Asahi launched; Asahi Soft Drinks made a wholly owned subsidiary
  13. 2009The lead in beer-type drinks is handed back to Kirin
  14. 2011Pure holding company formed; renamed Asahi Group Holdings
  15. 2012Calpis acquired from Ajinomoto

2013–2025A three-pole structure built by buying the staple brands of Europe and Australia

  1. 2016Peroni, Grolsch, Meantime and Miller Brands (UK) acquired for about $2.7B (¥294bn)
  2. 2016Share purchase agreement signed for SABMiller's five central and eastern European businesses
  3. 2017The €7.3bn central and eastern European acquisition completes in March
  4. 2017Group sales reach $18.6B (¥2.08tn); employees 30,864
  5. 2017Shares in Tingyi Beverage Holding sold, beginning the retreat from China
  6. 2018Tsingtao Brewery stake sold; Shoji Akiyoshi's title changed from COO to CEO
  7. 2019Agreement to buy Carlton & United Breweries for $11.0B (¥1.2tn)
  8. 2020CUB acquisition completes in June, putting the three poles in place
  9. 2021Asahi Group Japan established; Maru-ef launched
  10. 2022Super Dry wholly renewed; the lead in beer-type drinks retaken from Kirin
  11. 2023Matsuyama Kazuo becomes president of Asahi Breweries; two domestic plants closed
  12. 2025East African liquor business bought from Diageo for about $3.1B (¥465bn)

Founding Story

1949–1981A tilt to western Japan inherited from the break-up, and a quarter-century of falling share

For its first three decades Asahi grew and lost at the same time: sales rose from $141.1M (¥51bn) in 1960 to $899.6M (¥198bn) in 1981, while its share of the Japanese beer market fell from 36.1 per cent to 10.2 per cent. New plants, patented tanks and a run of national firsts could not offset a production base weighted to western Japan and a sales network that never reached the households where beer was increasingly being drunk, and by 1981 the question was no longer growth but survival.

Four plants and two brands: the founding of Asahi Breweries

In September 1949 Dai Nippon Beer, a brewer with fifty years of history behind it, was split into two companies under the Act on the Elimination of Excessive Concentration of Economic Power[1], and Asahi Breweries (朝日麦酒) was incorporated as one of the two successors with capital of $277,778 (¥100m)[2]. As productive plant it inherited four factories — Azumabashi, Suita, Nishinomiya and Hakata[3] — and as its principal brands Asahi Beer and Mitsuya Cider[4], and Yamamoto Tamesaburo (山本為三郎) became its first president[5]. Initial capacity across the four plants was about 520,000 koku of beer (koku, a traditional Japanese measure of volume) and 630,000 cases of soft drinks[6]. Three of the four plants, however — Suita, Nishinomiya and Hakata — stood in western Japan, so the break-up left the company's operating base tilted to the west; nor could it adapt to the change in the structure of demand as the main battleground of consumption moved from bars and restaurants to ordinary households[7].

As the fruit of the technical innovation it had pursued since its founding, Asahi brought out one new product after another[8]. Asahi Gold, a speciality beer launched in 1957, raised the name of the Asahi of technology[9] and was the first real step in the post-war improvement of beer quality in Japan. The following year, 1958, it launched Japan's first canned beer and set out to open up new demand[10], and Asahi Stiny (アサヒスタイニー), launched in 1964, opened new demand in the home[11]. The outdoor fermentation and storage tanks the company developed and installed unaided in 1965 worked to stabilise quality and cut manufacturing cost[12]; they were patented in Japan, the United States and Belgium, and a patent licensing agreement was concluded with Ziemann, the West German brewing-equipment maker — Japan's first export of brewing technology[13]. As one move to widen its range of alcoholic drinks, it took an equity stake in Nikka Whisky in August 1954[14].

The Omori plant in Tokyo was completed in May 1962[15] and the Kashiwa plant, dedicated to soft drinks, came on stream in December 1966[16], but sales volume did not keep pace with the added capacity and the gap with Kirin Brewery only widened. Shares of shipment volume in the domestic beer market changed places: from Asahi 36.1 per cent against Kirin 25.3 per cent in 1949[17] to Asahi 24.3 per cent against Kirin 46.5 per cent in 1963[18], the year Asahi also fell below Sapporo's 26.3 per cent to third place in the industry[19]. The decline did not stop there — in 1983 Asahi stood at 10.2 per cent and Kirin at 61.3 per cent[20]. Between the break-up and 1985 beer consumption in Japan swelled roughly thirty-five-fold, while Asahi Breweries' own sales volume grew only ninefold[21].

A run of presidents seconded from Sumitomo Bank, and the crisis of 1981

Sumitomo Bank, the main bank, sent two of its own men in succession to the presidency of Asahi Breweries: Takahashi Yoshitaka (高橋吉隆) in 1971 and Enmei Naomatsu (延命直松) in 1976[22]. Enmei had joined Sumitomo Bank in 1939 and served as far as managing director; he entered Asahi Breweries as executive vice-president in February 1971, became vice-president in August 1974 and president in February 1976[23]. Capacity continued to be added meanwhile — the Nagoya plant was completed in April 1973[24] and the Fukushima plant in March 1979[25]. Yet six years in office did not turn performance around, and the share of domestic beer shipments fell further, from 11.8 per cent in 1976 to 10.2 per cent in 1981[26]. Murai Tsutomu (村井勉) would later describe this long descent as having dropped share like Niagara Falls.[27]

In 1981 two things came together — the buying-up of Asahi shares by Juzenkai, a medical corporation in Kyoto Prefecture, and the large restructuring known as Maru-yu (マル優)[28] — and anxiety among employees about the crisis and about the company's survival rose[29]. The staff cuts were carried out that same year under the name of a preferential measure for honourable retirement, and more than 500 employees left Asahi Breweries. The chairman of the labour union at the time left the words hell if you go, hell if you stay in the company history published for the 120th anniversary of the founding. The man who dealt with management as the union's general secretary in those negotiations was Izumiya Naoki (泉谷直木), later president. Izumiya had spent five years at the Hakata plant and then six years as a full-time union official, after which he was posted to public relations, one of the company's prestige departments.

As of 1982 Asahi Breweries was in a state of piling retreat upon retreat, standing at the brink of whether its share would fall below 10 per cent.[30] Its share of shipment volume that year was indeed 10.0 per cent against Kirin's 62.2 per cent[31] — a gap of 52 points. On Murai Tsutomu's analysis, the cause of that gap was that Kirin Brewery had locked up the household sales channel, which accounted for seventy per cent of the market[32]; regionally it showed up as a lopsided sales network, strong in the cities and weak in the provinces[33]. That year Sumitomo Bank sent in a third president, its deputy president Murai Tsutomu[34]. In July of the same year the company merged its subsidiary Ebios Pharmaceutical (エビオス薬品工業)[35], taking the pharmaceutical field into the parent.

1982–1989A rebuild that began by remaking the corporate culture, and a total change of taste

Two men sent from Sumitomo Bank turned Asahi round in eight years, and neither of them started with the product. Murai Tsutomu spent four years remaking the culture through training, TQC and a corporate-identity programme, and Higuchi Hirotaro then bet the company on an entirely new taste — a sequence that took standalone sales from $1.5B (¥259bn) in 1986 to $4.3B (¥545bn) in 1988 and lifted share from a post-break-up low of 9.6 per cent to 24.9 per cent.

Murai Tsutomu begins the rebuild with education and corporate identity

In March 1982 Murai Tsutomu, deputy president of Sumitomo Bank, became president of Asahi Breweries[36]. From 1976 Murai had been seconded as executive vice-president to the loss-making Toyo Kogyo (now Mazda), where he had shown striking managerial skill in its rebuild, and he held to the conviction that without selling there is no company.[37] Where Toyo Kogyo had been a secondment, this time he resigned from Sumitomo Bank, saying he was prepared to lay his bones at Asahi[38]. After taking office he travelled the country from north to south, holding knee-to-knee talks with customers and employees, pouring his effort into getting them to hold a sense of the problem, a sense of crisis.[39] He gave up whisky and drank only beer himself, and he withdrew from the anti-karaoke campaign he had championed as a matter of principle, on the grounds that it would antagonise the bars that were the company's on-trade channel[40].

Asked what the way out was, Murai's answer was neither capital spending to raise output nor price-cutting, but first, to remake the corporate culture.[41] Asahi had plenty of clever employees, but cleverness alone left them weak in the legs; selling beer and gathering deposits were much the same thing, and once the target was set all that remained was to strengthen the legs and walk the earnings in — that was the diagnosis of a man who had come through rebuilds in both banking and manufacturing[42]. A culture does not change easily, so the decisive thing is education,[43] he said: putting people through training and drilling them thoroughly was the short way round, and he ordered a training centre built himself[44]. While the near-term task was to raise share to where the company could feed itself, there was also the question of what kind of company it should become, and from his first year in office he spoke publicly of CI, QC and diversification into four fields — alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, food and pharmaceuticals[45].

Execution came in stages. In January 1984 he declared the introduction of TQC and took the chair of the promotion headquarters himself[46], and in October 1985 he declared the introduction of a corporate identity programme[47]. The man named to lead CI was Izumiya Naoki, from public relations; the nickname chosen from entries submitted by all employees was the New Century Plan.[48] The decline in share itself continued through Murai's term, reaching 9.6 per cent in 1985, the lowest since the break-up[49]. Four months after the declaration, in February 1986, the company launched Asahi Draft Beer (アサヒ生ビール) — popularly the Koku-Kire beer, for its body and its sharp finish — with the company logo redrawn under CI and both taste and label renewed[50]; the quarter-century slide in share was arrested and the year's share recovered to 10.2 per cent[51]. Beer-division sales in 1986 rose 12 per cent on the year, far above the industry average of 3.9 per cent[52]. In March of that year Murai stepped up to the chairmanship after four years in office, and was succeeded by Higuchi Hirotaro (樋口廣太郎), who had come in as an adviser in January 1986 from the deputy presidency of Sumitomo Bank[53].

Betting on a total change of taste with Super Dry

As Higuchi Hirotaro saw it, beer was an oligopoly protected by licensing, the tastes of the four major brewers were much of a muchness, and there was even a degree of comfort taken in the fact that blind tests failed to identify the brand[54]. A ten per cent share was also the dividing line for survival: fall below ten and the product vanishes from five or six shops in ten, whether in Akihabara in Tokyo or Nipponbashi in Osaka[55]. Indeed, when Higuchi became president in 1986, only 47 per cent of outlets in Tokyo stocked Asahi[56]. He therefore adopted a policy of putting out an entirely new product and differentiating on what was inside, asked his technical staff to confine themselves to assisting the consumer, and narrowed the taste down through repeated tastings of twelve trial beers[57]. So it was that in March 1987 Asahi Super Dry, a dry draught beer, went on sale[58].

The bet was underwritten by fundraising: Higuchi built up the company's investment assets through market-price share issues, convertible bonds and foreign bond issues[59]. At the end of the December 1987 financial year shareholders' equity stood at $552.6M (¥80bn), 2.4 times the previous year's, and investment assets had risen by $249M (¥36bn) to $541.5M (¥78bn)[60]. With the financial income those assets generated as the source, sales-promotion spending in 1987 was raised by $86.4M (¥13bn) on the year to $262.8M (¥38bn) and advertising by $49.8M (¥7bn) to $131.4M (¥19bn)[61]. His touchstones were the two principles the industry's elders had given him on his courtesy calls as incoming president: quality first and fresh rotation.[62] To protect freshness the company took what is said to be the industry's first step of buying back and scrapping old beer left sitting in the distribution chain rather than selling it at a discount[63]. The effect of that spending showed in shelf placement: the new draught beer reached 70 to 80 per cent of outlets in Tokyo, and Super Dry 99.8 per cent[64].

Sales ran ahead of the demand forecast. Against an initial annual plan of one million cases, three million had already been sold by the end of June, before the peak of summer, and the plan was revised up to eight million[65]. To meet demand in the Tokyo area the Tokyo plant was put entirely onto Super Dry, and other beers were supplied by transport from plants outside the block[66]. Beer-division sales in January–June 1987 rose 25 per cent on the year, far above the industry average of about 8 per cent[67]. Standalone sales expanded from $1.5B (¥259bn) in the December 1986 year to $2.4B (¥345bn) in December 1987 and $4.3B (¥545bn) in December 1988[68], and share grew from 12.9 per cent in 1987 to 20.6 per cent in 1988 and 24.9 per cent in 1989[69]. The rival dry products the other brewers launched one after another widened the dry category itself, and of the 30 per cent of the 1989 beer market that dry accounted for, Asahi held 73 per cent[70].

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Notes

  1. Asahi Group Holdings, annual securities report, corporate history section↩
  2. 企業の歴史（明治百年） (Corporate Histories: A Century of Meiji, Keizai Shunju-sha, 1968)↩
  3. Asahi Group Holdings, annual securities report, corporate history section↩
  4. Asahi Group Holdings, annual securities report, corporate history section↩
  5. 企業の歴史（明治百年） (Corporate Histories: A Century of Meiji, Keizai Shunju-sha, 1968)↩
  6. 企業の歴史（明治百年） (Corporate Histories: A Century of Meiji, Keizai Shunju-sha, 1968)↩
  7. Takai Koichiro, Okawa Hiroshi and Okakura Toru, “The development of Asahi Breweries’ Taikoban system”, Akamon Management Review, vol. 5 no. 6 (June 2006)↩
  8. 企業の歴史（明治百年） (Corporate Histories: A Century of Meiji, Keizai Shunju-sha, 1968)↩
  9. 企業の歴史（明治百年） (Corporate Histories: A Century of Meiji, Keizai Shunju-sha, 1968)↩
  10. 企業の歴史（明治百年） (Corporate Histories: A Century of Meiji, Keizai Shunju-sha, 1968)↩
  11. 企業の歴史（明治百年） (Corporate Histories: A Century of Meiji, Keizai Shunju-sha, 1968)↩
  12. 企業の歴史（明治百年） (Corporate Histories: A Century of Meiji, Keizai Shunju-sha, 1968)↩
  13. 企業の歴史（明治百年） (Corporate Histories: A Century of Meiji, Keizai Shunju-sha, 1968)↩
  14. Asahi Group Holdings, annual securities report, corporate history section↩
  15. Asahi Group Holdings, annual securities report, corporate history section↩
  16. Asahi Group Holdings, annual securities report, corporate history section↩
  17. 純生の挑戦 (The Challenge of Junsei, Ninomiya, 1968)↩
  18. 純生の挑戦 (The Challenge of Junsei, Ninomiya, 1968)↩
  19. 純生の挑戦 (The Challenge of Junsei, Ninomiya, 1968)↩
  20. 洋酒・ビール 比較日本の会社 (Western Spirits and Beer: Japanese Companies Compared, Kaito, 1985)↩
  21. Takai Koichiro, Okawa Hiroshi and Okakura Toru, “The development of Asahi Breweries’ Taikoban system”, Akamon Management Review, vol. 5 no. 6 (June 2006)↩
  22. Takai Koichiro, Okawa Hiroshi and Okakura Toru, “The development of Asahi Breweries’ Taikoban system”, Akamon Management Review, vol. 5 no. 6 (June 2006)↩
  23. Nikkei Business, 24 May 1976, “New president: Enmei Naomatsu”↩
  24. Asahi Group Holdings, annual securities report, corporate history section↩
  25. Asahi Group Holdings, annual securities report, corporate history section↩
  26. 洋酒・ビール 比較日本の会社 (Western Spirits and Beer: Japanese Companies Compared, Kaito, 1985)↩
  27. Nikkei Business, 18 June 1990, “Asahi Breweries: after the miracle — three anxieties”↩
  28. Takai Koichiro, Okawa Hiroshi and Okakura Toru, “The development of Asahi Breweries’ Taikoban system”, Akamon Management Review, vol. 5 no. 6 (June 2006)↩
  29. Takai Koichiro, Okawa Hiroshi and Okakura Toru, “The development of Asahi Breweries’ Taikoban system”, Akamon Management Review, vol. 5 no. 6 (June 2006)↩
  30. Nikkei Business, 4 October 1982, editor-in-chief interview with Murai Tsutomu↩
  31. 洋酒・ビール 比較日本の会社 (Western Spirits and Beer: Japanese Companies Compared, Kaito, 1985)↩
  32. Nikkei Business, 4 October 1982, editor-in-chief interview with Murai Tsutomu↩
  33. Nikkei Business, 4 October 1982, editor-in-chief interview with Murai Tsutomu↩
  34. Nikkei Business, 28 June 1982, “New president: Murai Tsutomu”↩
  35. Asahi Group Holdings, annual securities report, corporate history section↩
  36. Nikkei Business, 28 June 1982, “New president: Murai Tsutomu”↩
  37. Nikkei Business, 28 June 1982, “New president: Murai Tsutomu”↩
  38. Nikkei Business, 4 October 1982, editor-in-chief interview with Murai Tsutomu↩
  39. Nikkei Business, 28 June 1982, “New president: Murai Tsutomu”↩
  40. Nikkei Business, 4 October 1982, editor-in-chief interview with Murai Tsutomu↩
  41. Nikkei Business, 4 October 1982, editor-in-chief interview with Murai Tsutomu↩
  42. Nikkei Business, 4 October 1982, editor-in-chief interview with Murai Tsutomu↩
  43. Nikkei Business, 4 October 1982, editor-in-chief interview with Murai Tsutomu↩
  44. Nikkei Business, 4 October 1982, editor-in-chief interview with Murai Tsutomu↩
  45. Nikkei Business, 4 October 1982, editor-in-chief interview with Murai Tsutomu↩
  46. Takai Koichiro, Okawa Hiroshi and Okakura Toru, “The development of Asahi Breweries’ Taikoban system”, Akamon Management Review, vol. 5 no. 6 (June 2006)↩
  47. Takai Koichiro, Okawa Hiroshi and Okakura Toru, “The development of Asahi Breweries’ Taikoban system”, Akamon Management Review, vol. 5 no. 6 (June 2006)↩
  48. Takai Koichiro, Okawa Hiroshi and Okakura Toru, “The development of Asahi Breweries’ Taikoban system”, Akamon Management Review, vol. 5 no. 6 (June 2006)↩
  49. Takai Koichiro, Okawa Hiroshi and Okakura Toru, “The development of Asahi Breweries’ Taikoban system”, Akamon Management Review, vol. 5 no. 6 (June 2006)↩
  50. Takai Koichiro, Okawa Hiroshi and Okakura Toru, “The development of Asahi Breweries’ Taikoban system”, Akamon Management Review, vol. 5 no. 6 (June 2006)↩
  51. Takai Koichiro, Okawa Hiroshi and Okakura Toru, “The development of Asahi Breweries’ Taikoban system”, Akamon Management Review, vol. 5 no. 6 (June 2006)↩
  52. Nikkei Business, 20 July 1987, “The aggressive logistics behind Asahi’s hit”↩
  53. Nikkei Business, 23 June 1986, “New president: Higuchi Hirotaro”↩
  54. Nikkei Business, 15 February 1988, editor-in-chief interview with Higuchi Hirotaro↩
  55. Nikkei Business, 15 February 1988, editor-in-chief interview with Higuchi Hirotaro↩
  56. Nikkei Business, 15 February 1988, editor-in-chief interview with Higuchi Hirotaro↩
  57. Nikkei Business, 15 February 1988, editor-in-chief interview with Higuchi Hirotaro↩
  58. Nikkei Business, 20 July 1987, “The aggressive logistics behind Asahi’s hit”↩
  59. Nikkei Business, 15 February 1988, editor-in-chief interview with Higuchi Hirotaro↩
  60. Nikkei Business, 15 February 1988, editor-in-chief interview with Higuchi Hirotaro↩
  61. Nikkei Business, 15 February 1988, editor-in-chief interview with Higuchi Hirotaro↩
  62. Nikkei Business, 15 February 1988, editor-in-chief interview with Higuchi Hirotaro↩
  63. Nikkei Business, 15 February 1988, editor-in-chief interview with Higuchi Hirotaro↩
  64. Nikkei Business, 15 February 1988, editor-in-chief interview with Higuchi Hirotaro↩
  65. Nikkei Business, 20 July 1987, “The aggressive logistics behind Asahi’s hit”↩
  66. Nikkei Business, 20 July 1987, “The aggressive logistics behind Asahi’s hit”↩
  67. Nikkei Business, 20 July 1987, “The aggressive logistics behind Asahi’s hit”↩
  68. Asahi Breweries, company history Asahi100 (standalone results)↩
  69. Nikkei Business, 18 June 1990, “Asahi Breweries: after the miracle — three anxieties”↩
  70. Nikkei Business, 18 June 1990, “Asahi Breweries: after the miracle — three anxieties”↩

References & sources

  1. Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. (annual securities reports), and, the company history published for the centenary.
  2. Corporate Histories: A Century of Meiji, Keizai Shunju-sha (1968), the Asahi Breweries entry.
  3. Nikkei Business: 4 Oct 1982 (interview with Murai Tsutomu); 15 Feb 1988 (interview with Higuchi Hirotaro); 1 Jan 1990, on what followed the Asahi miracle; 15 Jul 1996, on deregulation as a tailwind for Super Dry.

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Data API

Asahi Group Holdings’s history, presidents and financials are published as static JSON — no key, plain GET. One API per public page, and one per section where a page carries several tables. Full specification →

/api/2502/company.json ·/api/2502/history.json ·/api/2502/ceo.json ·/api/2502/financials.json ·/api/2502/financials/segment.json ·/api/2502/financials/pl.json ·/api/2502/financials/cf.json ·/api/2502/financials/bs.json ·/api/2502/financials/employee.json ·/api/2502/financials/stock.json ·/api/2502/financials.csv ·/api/2502/financials_history.csv

/api/companies.json ·/api/decisions.json ·/api/api-manifest.json