The Emergence of the National Brewing Oligopoly: Competition in the American Market, 1933–1958

A. M. McGahan

Business History Review, 1991, vol. 65, issue 2, 229-284

Abstract: In 1966 the Supreme Court expressed a desire to arrest consolidation of the brewing industry “in its incipiency.” This article argues that a national brewing oligopoly had already emerged by that date. In the 1930s and 1940s, restrained demand and regulatory pressure discouraged price and advertising competition and forced brewers to adopt cost-saving technologies. By the end of the Second World War, the largest brewers harbored unexploited economies of scale in processing. With relief from war shortages in the 1950s, large regional brewers expanded to pursue processing economies and secured their advantages with scale in distribution and advertising.

Date: 1991
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