Assignment Questions 1. Has Father Daniel Mary established a future direction for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? Yes. What is his vision for the monastery? A new Mount Carmel in the Rocky Mountains. What is his vision for Mystic Monk Coffee? To produce packaged coffee sold to Catholic consumers at the Mystic Monk Coffee website. What is the mission of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? A 500-acre monastery with accommodations for 30 monks, a retreat center for lay visitors, a Gothic church, a convent for Carmelite nuns, and a hermitage presented a formidable challenge. produce a Mystick Monk website. 2. Does it appear that Father Daniel Mary has set definite objectives and performance targets for achieving his vision? Yes. Father Daniel Mary saw a vision and outline how he was going to achieve his vision. 3. What is Father Prior’s strategy for achieving his vision? He would use a $250,000 toward the purchase and $75,000 earn during the first year for coffee sales. Then the profit from the website sales will pay off the property in the future. What competitive advantage might Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy produce? With a touch of a finger you can get it deliver to your home. Catholic religion people will purchase the coffee because of the between the two. 4. Is Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy a money-maker? Yes. He have it make out to the point of paying off the property. What is MMC’s business model? What is your assessment of Mystic Monk Coffee’s customer value proposition? its profit formula? 5. Does the strategy qualify as a winning strategy? Why or why not? No. Because 6. What recommendations would you make to Father Daniel Mary in terms of crafting and executing strategy for the monastery’s coffee operations? Are changed needed in its long-term direction? its objectives? its strategy? its approach to strategy execution? Explain.
CASE 1
Mystic Monk Coffee
MYSTIC MONK COFFEE
David L. Turnipseed & John E. Gamble University of South Alabama
Case Objective
The case is an ideal introduction to the tasks of crafting and executing strategy. The case is brief and the day-to-day life of the cloistered Carmelite monks should capture the interest of students. Instructors are able to use the case to introduce and illustrate the concepts of strategic visions, strategic and financial objectives, crafting strategy, strategy execution, business models, and the evolving nature of strategy. At the conclusion of the case, students should be able to offer recommendations to improve the monks’ approach to crafting and executing strategy.
Case Synopsis
As Father Daniel Mary, the Prior of the Carmelite Order of monks in Clark, Wyoming walked to chapel to preside over Mass, he noticed the sun glistening across the 4-inch snowfall from the previous evening. Snow in June was not unheard of in Wyoming, but the late 2009 snowfall and the bright glow of the rising sun made him consider the opposing forces accompanying change and how he might best prepare his monastery to achieve his vision of creating a new Mount Carmel in the Rocky Mountains. His vision of transforming the small brotherhood of 13 monks crammed into a small home used as makeshift rectory into 500-acre monastery with accommodations for 30 monks, a retreat center for lay visitors, a Gothic church, a convent for Carmelite nuns, and a hermitage presented a formidable challenge. However, as a former high- school football player, boxer, and bull-rider, Father Prior Daniel Mary was unaccustomed to shrinking from a challenge. Father Prior had identified a nearby ranch for sale that met the requirements of his vision perfectly, but its current listing price of $8.9 million presented a financial obstacle to creating a place of prayer, worship, and solitude in the Rockies. The Carmelites had received a $250,000 donation that could be used toward the purchase and the monastery had earned nearly $75,000 during the first year of its coffee roasting operations, but more money would be needed. The coffee roaster used to produce packaged coffee sold to Catholic consumers at the Mystic Monk Coffee website could produce up to five times more coffee than what was sold in 2008. Also, local Cody, Wyoming business owners had begun a foundation for those wishing to donate to the monk’s cause. Father Prior Daniel Mary did not have a great deal of experience in business matters but considered to what extent the monastery could rely on its Mystic Monk Coffee operations to fund the purchase of the ranch. If Mystic Monk Coffee was capable of making the vision a reality, what were the next steps in turning the coffee into land?
Mystic Monk Coffee Case.
1.Has Father Daniel Mary established a future direction for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? What is his vision for the monastery? What is his vision for Mystic Monk Coffee? What is the mission of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming?
Father Daniel Mary established the future direction for Carmelite Monks. He determined clear sense of the future, directions and inspiration for the goal setting.
The biggest vision of Father Daniel Mary included expanding the monastery by acquiring the Irma Lake ranch for its current listed price of $8.9 million. This would enable to build a retreat center, a Gothic church, a convert for Carmelite nuns, hermitage and transform the small brotherhood of 13 monks to 30.
Father Daniel Mary believed that Mystic Monk Coffee could fund the purchase of the new land. The vision of the Mystic Monk Coffee was to make the vision a reality, by “turning the coffee into the land”.
The mission of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming was to be able to earn money to buy the Irma Lake ranch and to expand from 13 monks to 30, gothic church, retreat canter and convent.
2.Does it appear that Father Daniel Mary has set definite objectives and performance targets for achieving his vision?
Production of Mystic Monk coffee didn’t generate the kind of cash flows to pay for the Irma Lake ranch. Father Daniel Mary has set definite objectives and performance targets for achieving his vision. Objective 1: Increase the production of coffee. Coffee sales were a means of support from outside world to finance the purchase of the land. Demand for Mystic Monk Coffee exceeded the capacity of a roaster and the monastery had planned to invest in a larger roaster.
Performance target: Buying a new roaster that would allow the production of a coffee to increase from 540 pounds per day to 780 (6 hours of work X 130 pounds per hour = 780).
Objective 2: Better distribution of a product. Mystic Monk Coffee was primarily sold online with an exception of a few phone sales.
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Performance target: Wholesales to local coffee shops and churches.
3.What is Father Prior’s strategy for achieving his vision? What competitive advantage might Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy produce?
Father’s strategy for achieving his vision was to promote Mystic Monk Coffee among Catholic population. One of the strategies they had was word of the mouth and this strategy went from their loyal customers in Catholic parishes across the US. Mystic Monk is a coffee that has a unique meaning for Catholics who want to support monastery mission. By buying Mystic Monk coffee Catholic population could support a cause at the same time. It’s a great advantage Mystic Monk brand has and other brands don’t.
4.Is Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy a money-maker? What is MMC’s business model? What is your assessment of Mystic Monk Coffee’s customer value proposition? its profit formula? its resources that enable it to create and deliver value to customers?
Mystic Monk Coffee business is a money-maker. There is no risk of loss. There are 150 million consumers that drink coffee in the US, so the business has a potential to generate profit. It has a net profit of 11 percent of revenues, which could be even higher since the business has a quality product and ability to expend.
Business model is the way the company generate profit. MMC’s business model is to increase the production of coffee by buying a new roaster and including wholesale sales to churches and local coffee shops.
Mystic Monk Coffee is a product with a successful consumer value proposition. It is produced by using high- quality fair trade, organic Arabica beans and offers a variety of flavors. The MMC web site offered free shipping for the purchases of 3 bags of coffee or more.
Profit formula is an ability of the company to create value for itself. The MMC had all the ability to increase its value by increasing the production of coffee.
MMC has all the resources (equipment, people, and product) to deliver the value proposition to the customers. As it was mentioned earlier, MMC used high quality Arabica beans to produce the coffee that has a unique meaning for Catholic population. If a new roaster is purchased and the work time of the monks is increased by a 2 couple of hours a week, it would help to increase the production.
5.Does the strategy qualify as a winning strategy? Why or why not?
The strategy is qualified as a winning strategy. The business has a quality product and a potential to expand their capacity to produce and distribute more coffee. They are able to increase the production if a new larger roaster is purchased. Mystic Monk Coffee retail prices are between the range compare to other brands, which allows the brand to compete on the market. Once they start to produce more their profit will increases.