Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)

Analysis of Strategy (Approx. 3 - 4 pages)

• Include your company's corporate-level strategy (diversified or single-business), business-level strategy (Porter's five generic strategies, as well as basic strategic initiatives), and business model (how does the company generate revenues, lower costs, and maximize profit?).
• Make sure to also analyze the effectiveness of these chosen strategies.

SWOT Analysis (Approx. 4 - 5 pages)

• Strengths/Weaknesses (firm-level), Opportunities/Threats (industry-level)
  • List these in bullet points (10 - 20 each), list in order of importance, and then pick the key important ones to describe/analyze.
• Make to distinguish competences, core competences, and distinctive competences (and competitive advantage).
• Does this company's strengths match its opportunities?
• Does this company's weaknesses match external threats?

Grading Criteria:

Analysis of Current Strategy and Business Model

• Do you accurately analyze Boston Beer's Corporate-level Strategy and Business-level Strategy?
• Business Model: Do you provide a thorough explanation of recent strategic moves enacted by Boston Beer?
• Overall, do you assess how well Boston Beer's strategy is working and provide evidence to back up your arguments?

SWOT Analysis of Boston Beer      

Strengths/Weaknesses

• Do you accurately identify Boston Beer's primary strengths and weaknesses?
• Do you identify Boston Beer's core and distinctive competences?

Opportunities/Threats

• Do you accurately identify the key environmental opportunities and threats in the industry?

Overall SWOT Analysis

• Do you assess whether the Boston Beer's strengths match environmental opportunities/threats?
• Do you assess whether the Boston Beer's weaknesses match environmental opportunities/threats?