Is Beer Becoming More Concentrated Essay Example for Free

Is Beer Becoming More Concentrated Essay At first glance, the UK brewing industry might appear to be highly competitive, with many pubs in close proximity to one another and with many brands of beer and lager offered for sale. However, in reality most pubs are owned by the major brewers. Tied houses, as they are called, account for about 40 per cent of a brewer’s turnover, and sell only a limited range of the beers and lagers that are available. Consumer choice is clearly constrained. The oligopolistic nature of the brewing industry can be seen when we consider the market shares of the leading brewers (see table). In 1985 the three largest brewers held 47 per cent of the market. By 2001 this had grown to 73 per cent. What is also significant is that small independent brewers, which generally operate within a local or regional market, have seen a dramatic fall in their market share. With this huge growth in the market power of the major brewers have come large rises in the price of beer (even after taking inflation and tax increases into account). Prices in the UK have risen faster than anywhere else in Europe. Market shares of the largest brewers | |1985 | | |2005 | | |(%) | | |(%) | |Bass |22 | |Scottish-Courage |27 | |Allied Lyons (Carlsberg) |13 | |Coors (Carling, Worthington) |20 | |Grand Met (Watneys) |12 | |! nbev (Bass, Beck’s, Stella) |19 | |Whitbread |11 | |Carlsberg UK (Carlsberg, Tetley’s) |13 | |Scottish and Newcastle |10 | |Diageo (Guinness) |6 | |Courage |9 | |Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser) |2 | |Others |23 | |Others |13 | |Total |100 | |Total |100 | |3-firm concentration ratio |47 | |3-firm concentration ratio |66 | |5-firm concentration ratio |68 | |5-firm concentration ratio |85 | 1987, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, the forerunner to the Competition Commission (see section 6. 6), investigated the brewing industry and in 1989 issued the ‘Beer Orders’, requiring the large brewers to sell many of their pubs. The objective was to increase competition as smaller brewers and other companies and individuals bought these pubs and then stocked a range of beers. However, the hopes were ill-founded. The pubs that were sold were the least profitable, and many have since closed. There is thus now less competition between pubs. Also, about 40 per cent of UK pubs are now owed by large pub chains. The Beer Orders also required that over 10 000 pubs owned by the big breweries should stock ‘guest beers’ from rival breweries. But the big breweries responded by selling most of these pubs. In pubs not owned by the big breweries, and where there is the threat of genuine competition, the big breweries often supply their beers at lower prices, thus making it impossible for the smaller breweries to compete. The brewers, finding a reduction in their scope for achieving economies of scale from vertical integration (owning both breweries and pubs), have sought to gain economies of scale from horizontal integration (having a larger share of total brewing). Mergers and takeovers in the brewing industry have been common. For example, in May 2000 Interbrew (the Belgian brewer and owners of the Stella Artois brand) acquired Whitbread, the UK’s third largest brewer, and a month later acquired Bass, the second largest. This gave Interbrew nearly one third of the market. The acquisitions were referred to the Competition Commission, which recommended a break up of the new giant: a recommendation accepted by the government. In response, at the end of 2001 Interbrew (now called !nbev) sold most of the Whitbread division, including brands such as Carling, Caffrey’s and Worthington, to the US brewer Coors. In the light of this splitting of Interbrew, and feeling that this proved that competition policy was effective, the government in 2002 decided to scrap the Beer Orders. This was greeted with dismay by small independent brewers, which were already reluctant to expand, faced with the power of such massive competitors in both production and retail, with heavily advertised brands gaining larger and larger shares of the market. Small independent brewers are understandably reluctant to expand, faced with the power of such massive competitors in both production and retail, with heavily advertised brands gaining larger and larger shares of the market. |Questions | |1. What are the barriers to entry in (a) brewing; (b) opening new pubs? | |2. Do small independent brewers have any market advantages?

Mein Kampf And The Formation Of Hitlers Ideas Essay -- Adolf Hitler Hi

Mein Kampf And The Formation Of Hitlers Ideas The dominant political figure of German history in the twentieth century, Adolf Hitler, was born in a lower middle class family in the provincial Austrian town of Braunau am Inn on 20 April 1889. In 1907 Hitler applied to enter the Vienna Academy of Art but his application was rejected. After the death of his mother Klara, Hitler decided to move to Vienna. He drifted from job to job, often selling sketches or painting scenes of Old Vienna and it was a period that he himself later called the most miserable period of his life. Many of Hitler’s views of the world were shaped by his experiences on the streets of Vienna and it is probable that his violent anti-Semitism dates from this time. In 1924 Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for his part in the Munich Putsch. During this time in prison Hitler began work on his book entitled Mein Kamph (My Struggle). The book outlines some of Hitler’s political ideas and his views on race and Germany’s future role in world affairs. Hitler had a racist view of world history and the dominant theme running through Mein Kamph was his concept of race. In Hitler’s view, civilization and nations decline when the fail to maintain the purity of the race. â€Å"Mixing blood and lowering of racial quality† according to Hitler is the â€Å"sole cause for the decline of all culture, for humans do not perish from lost wars but from the loss of that power of resistance that is characteristic only of pure blood†*. The fundamental duty of the government in Hitler’s mind was to preserve the racial purity of state for only this way can the superior race maintains it dominance over inferior races. To Hitler, the Aryan (an earlier Indo-European race from which the Germans were descended) was the master race and the other races were inferior. To Hitler the Jew represented the absolute contrast to the Aryan. The Aryans were the creators of culture and civilization, where else the Jew was the destroyer for they had no nation or culture of their own. They were â€Å"a parasite in the body of other nations†* contaminating the purity of the blood, exploiting and corrupting the nation. Hitler saw a Jewish world conspiracy and held absolute conviction that the Jews were responsible for all the evils that had befallen Germany – defeat of in war, revolution, economic collapse and Marxism. But abo... ...ak, that superior races prevail over inferior races. This concept with its theme of struggle and survival of the fittest appealed to Hitler. â€Å"Struggle† wrote Hitler â€Å"is the father of all things†¦He who wants to live must fight and who does not want to fight in this world where external struggle is the law of life has no right to exist†*. In Mein Kamph Hitler offered some insight into his thinking on exercise of power and in particular the important role of propaganda, his contempt of parliamentary democracy and the Weimar Republic. Hitler also wrote of the need for a national revival and the quest for living space. Hitler linked his hatred of communism with his hatred of Jews. In Hitler’s mind Russia was the centre of a Jewish conspiracy, a concept reinforced in Hitler’s thinking by the fact that many of the leaders of the Bolshevik Revolution were Jewish. Mein Kamph is an important book because it reveals a great deal about Hitler’s mind, outlook and the ideas that became the basis of National Socialism. What he wrote as his philosophy in 1924 he began to implement as policy when he became supreme ruler of Germany after 1934. * Quoted from Mein Kamph, Adolf Hitler, 1924

Family vs. Law Essay

Family, an important theme of life, gets expressed throughout many ways in society. Family may take precedence over many things, including authority and the law. Within the tragic play, Antigone, the author Sophocles presents situations where the characters have to choose between their family and the law. The characters must choose what is more important to them, their family or obeying the laws of Thebes. Throughout the play, Sophocles presents a strong theme of family values and the importance of it through the actions of Antigone, Creon and Haimon. Antigone, placed in many situations throughout the play, has to choose between her family and the law. Antigone chooses to honor her brother, Polyneces, by burying him even though she will break the law by doing so. Antigone asks her sister Ismene to help bury their beloved brother, but when Ismene says no, Antigone responds by saying, â€Å"But as for/ me/ I will bury the brother I love† (Prolouge. 192). Antigone chooses to honor her brother and risk breaking the law because family means more to her. Antigone puts her family first, presenting her as a selfless person. Along with the risk of breaking the law, Antigone also risks her death. Once Creon tells Antigone of her punishment after finding out she buries Polyneces, she has to decide whether or not burying her brother is worth it. After Creon tells Antigone of his plan for her, she says, â€Å"This death of mine/ is of no importance; but if I had left my brother/ lying in death unburied, I should have suffered. / Now I do not† (SceneII. 208). Antigone shows Creon that he cannot stop her from saving her family by trying to punish her with death. Antigone chooses to help her family and stand up for them, even when faced with death. Sophocles shows Antigone as a brave person by denouncing Creon’s rules and saving her brother. Through Antigone’s actions, Sophocles shows how he favors family over authority and the law. Sophocles expresses his devotion to family throughout Creon’s actions in the tragic play. Prior to Creon’s initial decision to let Antigone die, the Choragos convinces him to let her go free. Creon, reluctant at first, listens to the Choragos and says to them, â€Å"It is hard to deny the heart! † (SceneV. 235). Creon knows deep down inside that he will be doing the right thing by letting Antigone go free. Although Creon wants Antigone to pay for breaking the law, his family ties with her prove to out shine his devotion to the law. As Creon orders the Choragos on what weapons to bring, he says, â€Å"I buried her, I/ Will set her free† (SceneV. 236). Creon realizes that his family ties with Antigone mean more to him than justice and he wants her to know that by freeing her himself. Creon wants to prove to Antigone that he does care about her safety and her future so he will set her free so she can go on living her life with Haimon. Although Creon decides to free Antigone partly out of guilt, he mostly does it because of her love for her. Sophocles shows throughout the tragic play that he prefers family over the law through the actions of Creon. Sophocles shows his devotion to family over the law by the actions of Haimon. Haimon has to decide whether to fight for his wife’s life or obey his father. Haimon, driven mad by the situation he has at hand, decides to kill himself after he finds out Antigone has done the same. The messenger delivers the horrible news to the Choragos and says, â€Å"Haimon is dead; and the hand that killed him/ Is his own hand† (Exodos. 239). If he cannot live with Antigone, then Haimon does not want to live at all. Haimon’s devotion and love for Antigone is stronger than his will to obey the law. Even as Haimon â€Å"died/ He gathered Antigone close in his arms again,† (Exodos. 241). By having Haimon’s last moves before his death be hugging his wife one last time, Sophocles shows that family takes precedence over the law through Haimon’s selfless acts. Haimon wants to show to everyone, especially his father, that his love for Antigone overrules everything else, particularly the laws that Creon creates. Throughout Haimon’s actions in the play, Sophocles shows that family means more to him than the law. Throughout Antigone, Sophocles shows that his strong devotion to family overrides authority and the law. Sophocles proves this to the reader through the actions of Antigone, Creon and Haimon and the choices that they make throughout the play. Even at the face of death, Antigone chooses to honor her brother over obeying the law as a way of showing Sophocles’ devotion to family. Prior to Creon’s original decision to kill Antigone, he changes his mind and decides to spare her life to exemplify Sophocles’ loyalty to family life. Haimon chooses to spare his own life to support his wife and rebel against the laws his father creates to prove Sophocles’ commitment to family. Sophocles shows that his devotion to family overrides the law by the situations and decisions Antigone, Creon and Haimon make. Not just in the play Antigone, but even in the world today, family values have high precedence over the laws and rules created to follow.

Literary Techniques Used in Edgar Allen Poes Work

Literary Techniques Used in Edgar Allen Poes Work 1. At the end of the first paragraph Poe uses foreshadowing when he writes â€Å"And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour† (1). I see this as foreshadowing the event that ends the party and the lives of all those present. The entire thousand assembled die when the Red Death came. T he â€Å"last chime had utterly sunk† (3) also foreshadows the end where each individual â€Å"died in the despairing posture of his fall† (4). Combining both these instances together shows that the whole situation or incident, from the â€Å"presence of a masked figure† (3) to â€Å"one by one dropped† (4), ended before the clock chimed the next passing hour. The â€Å"seventh apartment† (1) also foreshadow the presence of the Red Death. The entire apartment was â€Å"shrouded in black velvet tapestries† and the window â€Å"panes hereShow MoreRelatedEdgar All Poes Style901 Words   |  4 PagesEdgar Allen Poe’s style in The Black Cat and Tell-Tale Heart In many of Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories, a reader can encounter with many similarities of style and technique. In this paper, I am going to state the similarities of The Black Cat and Tell-Tale Heart to understand Poe style in short stories. To start with, in both of the stories, the setting is jail because the main characters of two stories are criminals. Such an entrance to the stories enables the reader’s attention to be moreRead MoreEssay about Literary Devices Used in the Raven by Edgar Allen Poe959 Words   |  4 PagesAnalysis of the Raven by Edgar Allen Poe The nineteenth century poet Edgar Allen Poe makes use of several literary devices in order to create a gloomy atmosphere in his poem â€Å"The Raven†. 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He was forcedRead More A Comparison of House of Usher, Bierces Beyond the Wall, The Black Cat, John Mortonsons Funeral1742 Words   |  7 PagesParallels in Poes House of Usher and Bierces Beyond the Wall, Poe’s The Black Cat and Bierces John Mortonsons Funeral, and in M.S. Found in a Bottle by Poe and Three and One are One by Bierce.      Ã‚  Ã‚   When one decides to become an author, one can not help being influenced by his predecessors, causing some of ones work to reflect and echo the predecessors. Such is the case between Ambrose Bierce and his predecessor, Edgar Allen Poe. Excluding the obvious fact that both Poes and BiercesRead MoreRomantic Writing : Edgar Allan Poe1112 Words   |  5 Pagesof the written word and the ability to illustrate intense emotion. Edgar Allan Poe, born in 1809, was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his short stories and poetry, especially those consisting of tales of mystery and horror. 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