Cooley Distillery: The Independent Spirit of Ireland Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

This is the "David and Goliath" story of Cooley Distillery, the planet 's only independent, Irish-owned distiller of Irish whiskey. Against long odds, it survived twenty-five years of savage competition in the oligopolistic Irish whiskey class of the global spirits sector. Along the way, it began to turn a modest profit and attained a stellar reputation for quality and innovation in its product offerings. Yet it remained merely a market player.

Cooley, a non-listed public company with 290 investors, had never paid a dividend, nor looked in a status to do so for a long time to come. As 2011 approached, establisher and chairman John Teeling, whose family members controlled 36% of the outstanding stock in the entity, was assessing a number of strategic options, which inculcated selling out to a larger multinational player, taking the company private in a management buy-out, partnering in joint venture with some other firm, or continuting to go alone. Each alternative had particular challenges. Students must put themselves in the shoes of Teeling and decide on the best strategy

PUBLICATION DATE: January 01, 2014 PRODUCT #: NA0270-HCB-ENG

This is just an excerpt. This case is about STRATEGY & EXECUTION