Case Study: Mystic Monk Coffee

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?

It is obvious that Daniel Mary has a clear vision of the future for the direction of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming. His vision is to resurrect the Mount Carmel in U.S. Rocky Mountains. At the moment there are only 13 monks who live as a community. Daniel Mary wants to extend it to 500 monks. The Monastery that would facilitate these 500 monks would have a living place to offer to 30 monks at a time, a Gothic Church, Hermitage and some other places.

Fathers Daniel’s vision also contains purchasing land to expand the Carmelite. This will allow a larger space to accommodate the increased number of Monks.

The mission of Carmelite monks is to is to live on a side from the society and have a wonderful and peaceful life in which they can introspect and focus on themselves to improve the quality of their life from within (Chick, 2012).

2. Does it appear that Father Daniel Mary has set definite objectives and performance targets for achieving his vision?

Yes, Father Daniel Mary has set objective to achieve his vision. But these objectives are not definite. Instead they are broader. There are many constraint in the monastic order. Father Daniel wants to minimize these constraints. He also wants to reach out to the true potential of the Monastery. For this reason, he want to explore the opportunities that the Monastery has.

3. What is Father Prior’s strategy for achieving his vision? What competitive advantage might Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy produce?

To achieve his vision, he need a good flow of finances. For this reason, he is planning to use high quality of coffee beans. He also wants to use different varieties of blends of coffee. His strategic plan also contains the supply of his product to a larger consumer base. For example, he plans to do a whole sale business of the coffee beans. He also wants to start a supply of the product to different churches.

Mystic Monk Coffee has a unique advantage over other coffee providers. Monks are usually related to peace and harmony. So the coffee also kind of symbolizes that. People who want to have some peaceful time and set aside from the problems of the world would be attracted to this coffee a lot more easily. And imagine who doesn’t want peace and harmony. So this coffee does not look like any other coffee. It sounds unique.

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?

Yes, it is a money maker as the profit is what is aimed by the coffee and its owners. By employing different marketing and business strategies, Mystic coffee can undoubtedly increase their profit from 11% to much higher.

In my opinion, mystic monk coffee has a good customer value proposition

The MMC model is to increase coffee production. A new coffee roaster can be purchased to increase coffee production. Also the improvement of the supply and distribution to churches and other coffee shops could be a part of the MMC business model. Its profit formula is focused on engaging consumers through different means. One of these mediums is the internet where they offer merchandise like gift cards and T-shirts. Purchaser who buy more than three bags are offered free shipping which would have a positive impact on the quantity of sale.

5. Does the strategy qualify as a winning strategy? Why or why not?

In my opinion, the strategy does qualify as a winning strategy as the main ingredients of the strategy are in line with increasing sales and profitability as a result of customer satisfaction. For example they are focusing on high quality of the product to the consumer market. They are also utilizing the highest quality premium items to prepare their coffee. They are also focusing on producing their own merchandise which will ensure a high quality and less spending on inflow of supplies. The fact that they belong to the larges religious group on earth is a unbeatable competitive edge.

6. What recommendations would you make to Father Daniel Mary in terms of crafting and executing strategy for the monastery’s coffee operations? Are changes needed in its long-term direction? Its objectives? Its strategy? Its approach to strategy execution? Explain.

I would recommend the production and sale of bakery items besides coffee. They can also offer non-edible items like items related to catholic religion that the customers would like to buy.

The monks need to not lose the focus on their religious duties as it will make them sound materialistic. Therefore, they should get outside skilled people to work for them. This would definitely add to the expenses of the coffee shop, but it would also bring in more skilled labor who could contribute in a positive and productive way. Father Daniel can look to identify more specific goals as part of his vision. Also he could use the recently acquired donations to help in the coffee shop.