Big Rock Case Study

The history of Big Rock is that of confidence, determination and creativity. Since inception, Big Rock’s strategy has surrounded the idea of quality-first, producing great tasting products to drive sales revenues. Unfortunately, this product-first strategy has become less and less effective as time has gone on. The resulting poor performance of new products and declining profitability of previously successful products could be due to several factors.

The market research you provided us explains this decline through the limited loyalty of craft beer drinker as well as a flooded, highly competitive marketplace (increased availability). We feel that the other half of the story is that the current strategy at Big Rock doesn’t position its products for success. That is, creating a premium quality product isn’t enough to gain

This is a change which goes to the core of the current strategy. Making a great product that no one wants isn’t helping your shareholders make money. Instead, Big Rock should focus on their target consumer. For every new beer you create, decide which consumer segment you want to target (each beer can be different - it doesn’t have to define your brand!). After you have a core group to focus on, find out what they like. Collect market research before you start production. Maybe there is a space in your target markets beer portfolio which is left untapped, or if not, find out what your market currently likes and make something better. Create a beer to fill your customers’ needs, rather than creating a bunch of product you aren’t sure they’ll want. The current strategy relies too heavily on sales/marketing which are operating in the dark in a highly competitive space with little to no advantage. Instead, by determining where the need is first and then creating a beer to fulfill those needs Big Rock will be leveraging its true advantage - the expertise of creating delicious