Harvard Business School Case Study on Coors (1992)

Via csinvesting:

"Rarely in Adolph Coors Company's 113-year history has there been a year with as many success stories as 1985." Coors's annual report for 1985 went on to cite records set by the company's Brewing Division. In a year when domestic beer consumption was flat, Coors's beer volume had jumped by 13% to a new high of 14.7 million barrels. And its revenues from beer had topped $1 billion for the first time in the company's history.

The Brewing Division accounted for 84% of Coors's revenues in 1985, and over 100% of its operating income. Although Coors had diversified into several businesses, including porcelain, food products, biotechnology, oil and gas, and health systems, Chairman Bill Coors acknowledged that for the foreseeable future, the company's fortunes were tied to brewing.

The strategy of the Brewing Division had changed drastically over the 1975-1985 period. The changes continued: in a decision that the company billed as "the most significant event of 1985 and perhaps our history," Coors announced plans to build its second brewery in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.

The first section of this case describes competition in the U.S. brewing industry and its structural consequences. The next two sections describe Coors's position within the industry, and the plans that it had announced for its second brewery.