個案資料

After almost a year of rebranding and renovations, the Bitter Sisters Brewery opened to rave reviews on February 14, 2020, in Calgary, Alberta. Just 29 days later, the COVID-19 pandemic would force the brewery’s doors shut for over three months. Two further closures would come in 2020, and times remained uncertain as of December of that year. The owners had to pivot—and quickly—to ensure the viability of their business in volatile times.

The case is intended for use in undergraduate-level courses on operations or strategy; it could also be used for a case competition with cross-functional business teams. Confronting the serious question of how to pivot a business model to survive the pandemic, the case offers students the opportunity to review the Bitter Sisters’ options of adding additional revenue streams to their existing business model and to analyze the brewery’s costs and benefits with leveraging their core capabilities and diversifying their sales and distribution opportunities. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:<ul><li>Generate options to move existing product offerings in new packaging and distribution channels while remaining true to core capabilities.</li><li>Recognize the impact of fixed expense commitments on cash flow during restricted revenue-generating periods.</li><li>Balance the needs for all businesses to operate for today, plan for tomorrow, and maintain a contingency plan.</li></ul>

• small and medium enterprise
• operations
• strategy
• distribution
• marketing