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Crafting & Executing Strategy 18th Edition
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Overview
This 4-page case requires that students consider the future direction of a monastery located in Clark,
Wyoming and evaluate the vision, strategy, and business model of the monk’s fledgling coffee business.
As the case unfolds, students will learn of Father Daniel Mary’s vision to build a new Mount Carmel in
the Rocky Mountains and transform the small brotherhood of 13 monks living in a small home used as makeshift
rectory into a 500-acre monastery that would include accommodations for 30 monks, a Gothic church, a convent
for Carmelite nuns, a retreat center for lay visitors, and a hermitage. Father Daniel Mary had identified a nearby
ranch for sale that met the requirements of his vision perfectly, but its listing price of $8.9 million presented a
financial obstacle to creating a place of prayer, worship, and solitude in the Rockies. Father Daniel Mary hoped
to fund the purchase of the ranch through charitable contributions to the monastery and through the profits of its
Mystic Monk coffee business, which had earned nearly $75,000 during its first year of operation.
Suggestions for Using the Case
This case was written as a leadoff case and was carefully crafted by the case author to require students to draw
upon most all of the concepts discussed in Chapters 1 and 2 to sufficiently prepare for a class discussion of the
case. The case involves issues relating to mission, vision, objectives, strategy, business models, and decisive
strategic leadership; the need for an action plan is obvious—these are the very things one looks for in a good
leadoff case. And the nature of the case virtually guarantees the stimulating kind of class discussion one needs to
get the course off on the right foot.
We think Mystic Monk Coffee (MMC) is an excellent leadoff case for the course (other good choices are Whole
Foods Market in 2010 and The O-Fold Innovation—all of which require that students draw upon the material
covered in Chapters 1 and 2). The unusual topic of the business ventures of cloistered monks, student familiarity
with the coffee industry, and the very close connection between the case and the material in Chapters 1 and
2 make this an especially good leadoff case. You may want to consider covering Chapter 1 in your first day’s
lecture, Chapter 2 on your second day’s lecture, and then assigning Mystic Monk Coffee for class discussion
on Day 3. You may wish to use your classroom access to a computer and projector to allow students to view
the artist’s rendering of the proposed monastery before beginning your discussion of the case. The impressive
drawings can be found at http://www.newmountcarmelfoundation.org/index.html.
We suggest use of a teaching plan that focuses on Father Daniel Mary’s strategic vision for the monastery and
its coffee operations and Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy and business model. Of course, there is the opportunity
for students to make recommendations regarding the strategic issues confronting the monastery and its coffee
venture.
The assignment questions and teaching outline presented in upcoming sections of this TN reflect our thinking
about how to conduct the class discussion of the Mystic Monk Coffee case.
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CASE 1
Mystic Monk Coffee
Case 1 Teaching Note Mystic Monk Coffee
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It is really very difficult to have an insightful and constructive class discussion of the Mystic Monk Coffee case
unless students have not only read the case but also conscientiously worked their way through a set of well-
conceived study questions before they come to class. In our classes, we expect students to bring their notes to
the study questions to use/refer to in responding to the questions that we pose. Students often find having a set
of study questions is useful in helping them prepare oral team presentations and written case assignments—in
addition to whatever directive questions you supply for these assignments.
To facilitate your use of study questions and making them available to students, we have posted a file of the
Assignment Questions contained in this teaching note for the Mystic Monk Coffee case on the student section
of the publisher’s Online Learning Center for the 18th edition (www.mhhe.com/thompson). (We should also
point out that there is a set of study questions posted in the student section of the OLC for each of the 28 cases
included in the 18th edition.)
You may also find it beneficial to have your class read the Guide to Case Analysis that is posted in the student
section of the Online Learning Center for the 18th edition at www.mhhe.com/thompson. Students will find the
content of this Guide particularly helpful if this is their first experience with cases and they are unsure about the
mechanics of how to prepare a case for class discussion, oral presentation, or written analysis.
Suggested Assignment Questions for an Oral Team Presentation or Written Case
Analysis. The length of the case makes it ideal for an in-class written case or a final exam case. Our suggested
written assignment questions are as follows:
1. As a new business school graduate who has relocated to Cody, Wyoming and supports the local foundation
to benefit the Wyoming Carmelites, you have been asked to prepare a strategic review and action plan
for the Father Daniel Mary’s consideration. Your report to Father Prior should include an evaluation of
