COURIER CORP. -- Textbook Example

By Erik Cagle
Senior Editor

Although the company itself is 179 years old, Courier Corp. has the vitality of a teenager.

The North Chelmsford, MA-based book printer found the fountain of youth courtesy of a comprehensive strategic planning process that began in 1990 and provided Courier with a sleek, sexy and, most of all, fiscally lucrative overhaul. The publicly held printer shed a number of markets, and the company that once published newspapers and dabbled in commercial work narrowed its focus to three book manufacturing segments—education, religious and specialty trade.