Case Study Analysis on Mystic Monks Coffee

This essay presents a case study analysis on Mystic Monks Coffee, discussing its history, development, growth, internal strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the external environment, and a SWOT analysis. It also provides recommendations for the business strategy of Mystic Monks Coffee.

Title Page

Table of Contents
Introduction……………………………………….1 - 2
I. Introductory Note
II. History, Development and Growth
Analysis……………………………………….…..2 - 8
I. Internal Strengths and Weaknesses
II. Opportunities and Threats in the External
Environment
III. SWOT Analysis
IV. Business Strategy
Recommendations………………………………...8 -9
Conclusion………………………………………….9
References…………………………………...…..10 - 12

Introduction
I. Introductory Note
The purpose of this essay is to present a case study analysis on the assigned case of
Mystic Monks Coffee. Case study analysis is the detailed description and analysis of
the case which has been presented in order to identify the problems to be solved, the
strategies to be used, and the recommendations to be followed to achieve the desired
goals (Schweitzer, 2019). The essay has been divided into different parts for the
understanding of the reader. The history, development and growth of Mystic Monks
Coffee has been presented in the introduction section. This section is followed by the
analysis which includes a section that identifies the internal strengths and weaknesses
of Mystic Monks Coffee. Also, the external environment of the coffee monastery has
been scanned using Michael Porter’s model of competition. Further, a SWOT
analysis has been done and these findings are applied to develop a business strategy.
In the last section, various recommendations have been given to solve the problems at
hand followed by the conclusion.
II. History, Development and Growth
The Carmelites are members of the Catholic Church who travelled to the Holy Land
for pilgrimage and to be near God. These men established the church of Mount
Carmel because of its beauty and being in a secluded place. The Carmelite order of
monks in Clark, Wyoming was made up of 13 monks living in a makeshift monastery
under the able guidance of their prior Father Daniel Mary and carrying out the
business of selling ground coffee under the name Mystic Monk Coffee through their
website. Father Daniel Mary, a visionary by nature, wanted to transform the small
order of monks into a 500 – acre monastery that would include accommodation for 30
monks, a Gothic Church, a retreat center for visitors, a church for nuns of the Mount
Carmel among other facilities. For this purpose, a nearby ranch has been identified
which meets these needs of Father Daniel Mary. Various sources have been identified
which could contribute towards the compensation to be paid for this land to be
purchased including funds from coffee sales as well as donations from patrons of the
monastery. The purpose of this case study analysis is to identify the strengths,
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weaknesses, business strategies, business processes and give sound recommendations
which could turn this dream of Father Daniel Mary into a reality.
Analysis
The case study has been read thoroughly and its in-depth analysis has been done in this section.
This section of the report contains a discussion on the internal strengths and weaknesses of
Mystic Monks Coffee and an identification of the opportunities and threats in the external
environment. Further, a synthesis of all these strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats has
been done in a SWOT analysis. This is followed by developing a business strategy for Mystic
Monks Coffee.
I. Internal Strengths and Weaknesses
The strengths and weaknesses are factors internal to the business and businesses have
much greater control over these than any external factors (Li, n.d.). The strengths and
weaknesses of Mystic Monks Coffee are discussed below:
1. Strengths
 Mystic Monks Coffee is produced using high quality Arabica Beans as
well as organic coffee beans. The usage of these beans lead to a premium
quality of ground coffee being produced. This leads to the faith of the
customers being restored in the business because they are being offered
high quality coffee (Hazelton, 2017).
 Mystic Monks Coffee produces a wide variety of coffee flavors, in both
caffeinated and decaffeinated categories, ranging from dark roasted, to
medium and light roasted. The various flavors are Mystical chants of
Caramel, Cowboy Blend, Mystic Monk Blend and Royal rum Pecan.
 The organization has high human resources capabilities. High human
resource capacity leads to innovation (Lu, et al. 2015). The monks are
highly dedicated, follow fixed work and rest patterns and are experts in
their respective fields. This leads to high level of productivity for Mystic
Monks Coffee.
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 The monastery gets high patronage from its supporters and customers.
The customers have an emotional connect with the brand because of their
belief in the religion and therefore, make regular donations in the name of
Mystic Monks Coffee.
 The organization has an ability to adapt to change. Due to the monks
being highly organized, it makes it easier for them to adapt to change. This
ability to adapt to change helps to turn coffee into profits.
2. Weaknesses
 The lack of physical outlets for sale of Mystic Monks Coffee is the
biggest source of weakness for the organization. Any and all sales of
coffee are made through its official website only. This leads to lack of
awareness of the brand among those who might not be followers of the
Mount Carmel Church and thus, lack of sales as compared to its counter-
parts.
 Due to lack of sale outlets, the coffee organization does not make as much
money as its competition and therefore, always in a financial crunch.
There are financial obstacles always arising for the company and thus, it
is facing difficulty in purchase of the ranch for expansion purposes.
 The company does not have an organized marketing strategy. It does
not develop any proper plans for promotion and sales of the coffee. No
plans translates to no profit (Chan, 2019). Rather, only those are the
customers who are the believers of the Catholic faith and give patronage to
the monastery.
 The company does not have any proper plan mapped out for its
growth strategy in the future. Growth strategy involves developing long
term success plan (Biederman, 2015). Sales are made without any selling
targets in mind. Mystic Monks Coffee works on the principal of whatever
comes will be accepted.
 The presence obsolete coffee manufacturing and roasting machines is
another weakness for Mystic Monks Coffee. To be able to meet its
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financial needs to purchase the ranch for expansion, the existing roasters
will have to be replaced. This puts further financial burden on the
company.
II. Opportunities and Threats in the External Environment
Any case study analysis is incomplete without an analysis of the opportunities and
threats faced by the business from its external environment. These are the factors
which are outside the control of the business (Parsons, 2018). The opportunities of
and threats to Mystic Monks Coffee are given:
1. Opportunities
 The first opportunity that the external environment of Mystic Monks
Coffee gives is the opportunity to expand its core business. Expansion of
a business can be understood by studying the business life cycle (Carty,
2019). The first stage is expansion which includes the peak time in which
the business can delve into related fields. Mystic Monks Coffee can
expand its production centers by employing new technology and investing
in better quality coffee roasters.
 The company can widen its markets and enter into the international
scenario of coffee production and roasting. The main idea behind this is to
turn new potential customers into existing customers (Sadler, 2014). These
new customers can belong to different countries and different segments.
Mystic Monks can expand its business into the international sector by
allowing international shipping of coffee.
 Vertical Integration is another opportunity that the company has from the
analysis of its external environment. Vertical integration can be of two
types – forward and backward (Amadeo, 2018). Mystic Monks can either
integrate backwards by investing in coffee producing farms and directly
getting their coffee from these farms rather than third party sellers. Or it
can integrate forward and create stores for using the ground coffee and
selling ready-to-go coffee to customers.
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 Mystic Monks Coffee can hire expert services for its operations. In
place of monks carrying out the roasting of coffee, external specialists
should be hired to perform these tasks.
 The organization has the opportunity of applying the brand name of the
Mount Carmel to various other ventures in the market whether related
or unrelated to coffee production. This will help to earn additional income
and contributing towards purchase of the ranch for expansion of the
monastery.
2. Threats
 The increase in international competition is the biggest threat to coffee
production business of Mystic Monks. Many customers tend to gradually
shift from the local businesses to international sellers which carry higher
prestige and usually a more prominent brand name.
 Threats from industry are equally important to understand as the threats
from the international competitors are. The Five Force Competition Model
of Michael Porter gives an insight into the five forces that help to
determine the intensity of the industry competition (Jurevicius, 2013).
This model includes the analysis of - industry rivalry (the competition
between Mystic Monks and various other coffee sellers which belong to
similar institutions); threat of entry (entry of new coffee producers which
will rival the production of Mystic monks); threat of substitutes (the
different variety of ready-to-drink coffee entering the market is a
substitute product of the ground coffee of Mystic Monks); the bargaining
power of buyers (the patrons can always bargain with Mystic Monks
especially in the name of the common faith and the belief in God); and the
bargaining power of suppliers (the suppliers of coffee might have
increasing demands, the brunt of which will be faced by Mystic Monks).
 The rise in costs of grounding coffee is another threat to the financial
scope of Mystic Monks. This rise in costs increases the selling price of
coffee, followed by which there is a chance of customers shifting away
and the dream of owning a ranch will slip further away.
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 The ground coffee produced by a monastery has way less of a market
potential as compared to coffee produced by huge market players. This
market potential should be determined and compared with multinational
corporations selling coffee by analyzing the market size, market growth,
competition and the consumer size (Bhasin, 2018).
III. SWOT Analysis
It is the framework for synthesizing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats of a company in order to analyze the internal as well external factors which
collectively impact the working of an organization (Rouse, 2019). The strengths and
weaknesses of Mystic Monks Coffee are identified from the internal environment of
the organization and have been discussed above. The opportunities and threats faced
by it, on the other hand, have been identified from the environment which is external
from the organization. The purpose of this section is to balance the opportunities
available with the strengths of the organization and the threats with the weaknesses so
as to try to minimize the effect of these (Keener, 2017).
1. Evaluation of strengths of and opportunities available to Mystic Monks
 The major distinguishing strength of mystic monks is that produces coffee
using high quality and organic Arabica beans. It also produces a wide
variety of coffee flavors. This strength correlates to the opportunity of
promotion. The organization can market its products based on the
quality of coffee beans it uses and the product variety it offers for sale.
 Mystic Monks gets high sales from the loyal followers of the Mount
Carmel faith. It can turn this strength into an opportunity for market
expansion. This belief in the church can help to enter both domestic as
well as international markets previously unexplored.
 The monks working in the monastery are highly dedicated and this
strength can be turned into an opportunity by training them and turning
them into specialists. Hiring of specialists for coffee production from
outside can then be avoided.
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2. Evaluation of weaknesses of and threats faced by Mystic Monks
 The threat of competition exists due to weaknesses on the part of the
Mystic Monks organization. Due to lack of physical outlets of sale, the
competition takes over the potential customers. This concept has been
explained using the Five Force Competition Model of Michael Porter,
which analyses all the threats of the company which have turned into a
weakness.
 The rise in costs is the biggest threat to the company. This has led to the
financials of the company becoming its weakness in terms of lack of
funds available for expansion and growth.
 The lack of marketing, growth and sales plans of the company is a big
weakness and has become a threat of lack of planning. The expansion
plans of Mystic Monks Coffee are under a scanner due to the fact that
there was initially no such planning for expansion.
IV. Business Strategy
The business strategy is the high level plan formulated by the organization for the
purpose of achieving the desired goals and objectives (Flander, 2019). The business
strategy of Mystic Monks Coffee has been developed keeping in mind the SWOT
analysis done and the mission, vision and the goals of the organization.
 The mission of any organization is the description of the fundamental purpose
for the existence of the company (Ward, 2018). The mission of Mystic Monks
is ‘To produce and sell ground coffee and the creation and expansion of the
Mount Carmel monastery in Wyoming.’
 The vision is the future picture of a company (Ward, 2018). The vision of
Mystic Monks is ‘the development and of the Mount Carmel monastery in
Wyoming which helps expand the practiced faith and to expand the business
operations of the monastery.’
 The present goals of the organization should be to generate funds which are
sufficient to cover the cost of purchase of the ranch and its expansion. The
subsequent goal should be the expansion of the coffee business keeping in
mind a formal growth and marketing plan.
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 The business strategy at the corporate level and the functional level keeping
in mind the above points is developed as under:
1. Cost Leadership strategy: Mystic Monks should develop an attitude of
becoming a cost leader in the market so as to reduce the threat of
competition. This can be done by reducing the cost of production by
employing a new technology and reducing any extra overhead expenses.
2. Differentiation strategy: Mystic Monks should produce and sell coffee
which is unique in terms of its production as well as sales. The
differentiation strategy involves making products different from
competitors. This helps to reduce the risk of losing customers and helps to
gain market share.
3. Focus strategy: Mystic Monks should focus its operations towards more
than just the Catholic followers of the faith who buy the products through
the official website. Rather, a strategic focus plan should be developed
keeping in mind an international market. Plans should also be developed
focusing on physical outlets for sale.
Recommendations
After having discussed the various aspects of the analysis of the business operations of Mystic
Monks Coffee, the recommendations for effective implementation of the business strategies for
the purpose of achieving the objectives of development and expansion of the Carmelite order of
monks in Wyoming have been discussed below:
 Firstly, the order should focus on development of a sound marketing and growth plan.
A marketing plan helps determine the rate of success that the business will achieve if the
goals of the plan are achieved (Cremades, 2018). These plans should be developed by
taking expert help and keeping in mind the twin goals of high – profit earning and
expansion of the operations by purchase and development of a 500 – acre ranch.
 The next recommendation is to identify and understand the threat of competition to
the business from its rivals. A competitive threat has not yet occurred for the business
but is always has the potential to occur (Spacey, 2018). This can be done by gaining an
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insight into the Five Force Model of Competition given by Michael Porter. It helps to
explain the forces which need to be understood for the purpose of identifying and
guarding against the policies of the rival firms.
 Mystic Monks has a dedicated following in the followers of the Mount Carmel Church. It
should take advantage of this by entering into other businesses by using their existing
brand name. This strategy is known as Brand Extension (Bhasin, 2019). There are
various related as well as distinctive businesses into which Mystic Monks can partake in
in order to increase their profits for making the financial arrangements for purchase of the
Irma Lake Ranch.
 Training of the monks who produce and sell the ground coffee at Mystic Monks is a
must for the purpose of development of a sound business structure. If the monks are
experts in their fields of work, then it will become much easier for them to implement the
business strategies which have been developed for this purpose.
 Development of physical outlets for sale of coffee is a must for Mystic Monks. This
will help it in expanding the business and turn the potential customers into existing
customers. This is because those who were otherwise not buying online or were not even
aware of the brand will now buy it.
Conclusion
The above given case study analysis has been developed for the purpose of giving an insight in
to the Carmelite order of monks of Wyoming and to analyze the coffee producing business
practiced by these monks. The prior of the order Father Mary wants to develop a monastery in
Wyoming by purchasing a 500 – acre ranch. For this purpose, he has developed this analysis and
create a plan of action for minimizing the effect of the weaknesses and threats and maximize the
potential that the monastery has. The challenges faced have been explained in depth in this
analysis. The opportunities available to the Mystic Monks Coffee have also been discussed in
detail in order to understand and maximize the sales potential which will lead to realizing the
vision of purchase of the Irma Lake Ranch.
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