The Emergence and Survival of Microbreweries in Hungary

Abstract

This chapter investigates the emergence of microbreweries in Hungary after 2000. The privatization of the Hungarian beer industry leads to the dominance of the big multinational enterprises. Although in the early phase of the transition the number of microbreweries increased rapidly, their number had declined considerably during analyzed period. Our major findings are as follows: Microbreweries are typically short-lived, and they live only four years in average during a fifteen-year period. The entry rate of microbreweries was greater after the economic crisis than before it, while the exit rate decreased. However, in recent years, due to the new regulations on the beer market, relatively low entry costs, and rapidly growing demand for craft beers, the number of microbreweries started to increase again. New wave microbreweries efficiently reflect to the new generation demand for higher priced craft beers, and thus, they are able to create and exploit a new market segment. They concentrate on large university cities and Budapest using efficiently social media as a marketing tool.