(Yicai Global) Oct. 26 -- Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co. [SHE:000729], one of the largest brewing companies in China, plans to recruit a general manager, and is accepting applications from around the world for the first time.

The firms said it plans to openly recruit a professional manager for the post in line with its market-based selection and employment mechanism and job requirements. Yanjing Brewery uses a professional manager system that is an important part of state-owned enterprise reform measures. The group is hoping for a breakthrough in recruiting and aims to compete internationally, domestic media reported.

"Beer has a global market," He Yong, deputy secretary-general of the China Alcoholic Drinks Association and secretary-general of its brewery unit, told National Business Daily. "Competition in this industry comes from both home and abroad. It is a fully market-oriented industry. A company could fail without reforms. Recruiting managers with international management experience or overseas professional background is an option."

Yanjing Brewery has the fourth largest share of the market in China's brewery industry, but its distance from the top three has grown in recent years.

The top four had 70.6 percent of the market last year. China Resources Snow Breweries Co. had the largest share of 24 percent. Tsingtao Brewery Co. [SHA:600600; HK:0168] placed second with 18.6 percent, Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA [NYSE:BUD] ranked third with 15.9 percent, Yanjing Brewery cornered 11.59 percent of the market, and Carlsberg was in fifth with 5 percent, Qianzhan Industry Research Institute data show.

Tsingtao Brewery and China Resources Snow Breweries are foreign-funded and have flexible recruitment policies. As a state-owned enterprise, Yanjing Brewery's managers are generally selected from within the firm. The company's future general manager will be obliged to lead the firm ahead and to narrow the gap with China's top three breweries.