THE CLIENT
Anadolu Efes is the 10th-largest brewer in the world and the 5th-largest in Europe. Operating in 6 countries with 21 breweries they have a portfolio of 100+ brands and exports to over 70 countries. Partnerships with Global Brands such as ABInBev, Asahi and Molson Coors.
OUTCOMES AND IMPACT
By the end of the engagement, Anadolu Efes had:
A portfolio of 90+ identified opportunities across adjacent and transformational spaces
A final set of 5 prioritized strategic opportunity areas selected with the CEO and innovation team
A quantified view of the potential, with these five opportunities representing a total addressable market of approximately $20 billion
More importantly, they gained a structured framework and shared language for thinking about adjacencies and future growth – enabling better strategic conversations and more focused investment decisions going forward.
A DEEPER VIEW
The leadership team wanted to understand where they could credibly grow beyond beer, how far their existing capabilities could stretch into new markets, and which spaces should be prioritised first for investment and learning. Anadolu Efes partnered with Strategos to identify and prioritise new arenas for growth beyond the core, anchored in the capabilities that make the business distinctive today.
THE CHALLENGE
Anadolu Efes asked Strategos to help:
- Look beyond their core beer business
- Identify a portfolio of strategic growth opportunities in adjacent and transformational spaces
- Focus on products, services and new business models that could leverage existing strengths while stretching into new territory
This wasn’t about marginal innovation inside the core. It was about answering a bigger strategic question: “Where else do we have the right to play and the capabilities to win – and what should we focus on first?”
OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE
Over the course of four months, Strategos and Anadolu Efes worked together to:
Identify a broad growth portfolio of adjacent and transformational opportunity areas where Anadolu Efes’ capabilities could be relevant
Build a growth portfolio of over 90 opportunity areas across products, services and business models
Prioritize down to a focused set of 5 high-potential growth opportunities to take forward
The emphasis was on adjacent markets, complemented by selected opportunities in more transformational spaces to ensure a balanced growth portfolio.
APPROACH
The project was sponsored by the CEO, with day-to-day collaboration led by the Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Director and her team.
Strategos’ role was to:
Provide an external perspective and identify a broad growth portfolio beyond their core business
Engage leadership early to understand strategic priorities and risk appetite
Use these priorities to refine clear criteria for screening and prioritizing opportunities
Ensure that the final portfolio was credible, strategically aligned, and actionable – not just a list of “interesting ideas”
WHAT MADE THIS DIFFERENT?
Several aspects of the work distinguished Strategos’ approach from more conventional strategy or ideation projects:
Core competency stretch, not random adjacency hunting.
We didn’t start with a blank sheet of paper. We anchored exploration in Anadolu Efes’ existing and latent strengths, then deliberately stretched these into new markets – a method developed and refined by Strategos over many engagements.External experts for both inspiration and realism.
Bringing in external experts added not just fresh ideas, but honest input on key success factors, pitfalls, and competitive moves that are not yet visible in public sources.Hard-edged screening, not idea favoritism.
Opportunities were evaluated through clear desirability–feasibility–viability criteria and the company’s strategic filters, ensuring that what remained at the end was doable and aligned, not just exciting.
