Assignment Questions
1. Has Father Daniel Mary established a future direction for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? What is his
vision for the monastery? What is his vision for Mystic Monk Coffee? What is the mission of the Carmelite
Monks of Wyoming?
2. Does it appear that Father Daniel Mary has set defi nite objectives and performance targets for achieving his
vision?
3. What is Father Prior’s strategy for achieving his vision? What competitive advantage might Mystic Monk
Coffee’s strategy produce?
4. Is Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy a money-maker? What is MMC’s business model? What is your assessment
of Mystic Monk Coffee’s customer value proposition? its profi t formula?
5. Does the strategy qualify as a winning strategy? Why or why not?
6. What recommendations would you make to Father Daniel Mary in terms of crafting and executing strategy
for the monastery’s coffee operations? Are changed needed in its long-term direction? its objectives? its
strategy? its approach to strategy execution? Explain.
C
A
S
E
1
Mystic Monk Coffee
A Guide to Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When; And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling
(
I
)n most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation. It puts
readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization; the organization involved can be either profit seeking or not-for-profit. The essence of the student’s role in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend appropriate action steps.
Why Use Cases to Practice Strategic Management?
(
4
) (
STRATEGY:
Core
Concepts
and
Analytical
Approaches
)
(
5
) (
A
Guide
to
Case
Analysis
)
A student of business with tact Absorbed many answers he lacked. But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fit answer to fact?”
The foregoing limerick was used some years ago by Professor Charles Gragg to characterize the plight of business students who had no exposure to cases.1 The facts are that the mere act of listening to lectures and sound advice about managing does little for anyone’s management skills and that the accumulated managerial wisdom cannot effectively be passed on by lectures and assigned readings alone. If anything had been learned about the practice of management,
it is that a storehouse of ready-made textbook answers does not exist. Each managerial situation has unique aspects, requiring its own diagnosis, judgment, and tailor-made actions. Cases p ...
WHOLE FOODS CASE QUESTIONS1. What are the chief elements.docxalanfhall8953
WHOLE FOODS CASE QUESTIONS
1. What are the chief elements of the strategy that Whole Foods Market is pursuing?
2. Is Whole Foods’ strategy well matched to recent developments and conditions in the natural and organic foods segment of the food retailing industry?
3. Do you think John Mackey has a good strategic vision for Whole Foods? Why or why not? What do you like/dislike about the company’s “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet” motto? Do the motto and the principles underlying the motto really matter at this company or are they just nice words and window dressing? Explain.
4. Do WFM’s core values as presented in the case really matter? Have they contributed to the company’s success? Why or why not?
5. How well is Whole Foods Market performing from a financial perspective?
6. How well is Whole Foods Market performing from a strategic perspective? Is the strategy working? Does the company have a winning strategy?
7. What recommendations would you make to John Mackey regarding the actions that management needs to take to sustain the company’s growth and financial performance?
A Guide to
Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When;
And How and Where and Who.
— Rudyard Kipling
A Guide to Case Analysis2
In most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic
analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in
a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation.
It puts readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on
strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization;
the organization involved can be either profi t seeking or not-for-profi t. The essence of the student’s role
in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend
appropriate action steps.
Why Use Cases to Practice Strategic Management?
A student of business with tact
Absorbed many answers he lacked.
But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fi t answer to fact?”
The foregoing limerick was used some years ago by Professor Charles Gragg to characterize the plight
of business students who had no exposure to cases.1 The facts are that the mere act of listening to lectures
and sound advice about managing does little for anyone’s management skills and that the accumulated
managerial wisdom cannot effectively be passed on by lectures and assigned readings alone. If anything had
been learned about the practice of management, it is that a storehouse of ready-made textbook answers does
not exist. Each managerial situation has unique aspects, requiring its own diagnosis, judgment, and tailor-
made actions. Cases provide would-be managers with a va.
A Guide to Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When; And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling
(
I
)n most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation. It puts
readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization; the organization involved can be either profit seeking or not-for-profit. The essence of the student’s role in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend appropriate action steps.
Why Use Cases to Practice Strategic Management?
(
4
) (
STRATEGY:
Core
Concepts
and
Analytical
Approaches
)
(
5
) (
A
Guide
to
Case
Analysis
)
A student of business with tact Absorbed many answers he lacked. But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fit answer to fact?”
The foregoing limerick was used some years ago by Professor Charles Gragg to characterize the plight of business students who had no exposure to cases.1 The facts are that the mere act of listening to lectures and sound advice about managing does little for anyone’s management skills and that the accumulated managerial wisdom cannot effectively be passed on by lectures and assigned readings alone. If anything had been learned about the practice of management,
it is that a storehouse of ready-made textbook answers does not exist. Each managerial situation has unique aspects, requiring its own diagnosis, judgment, and tailor-made actions. Cases provide would-be managers with a valuable way to practice wrestling with the actual problems of actual managers in actual companies.
The case approach to strategic analysis is, first and foremost, an exercise in learning by doing. Because cases provide you with detailed information about conditions and problems of different industries and companies, your task of analyzing company after company and situation after situation has the twin benefit of boosting your analytical skills and exposing you to the ways companies and managers actually do things. Most college students have limited managerial backgrounds and only fragmented knowledge about companies and real-life strategic situations. Cases help substitute for on-the-job experience by (1) giving you broader exposure to a variety of industries, organizations, and strategic problems; (2) forcing you to assume a managerial role (as opposed to that of just an onlooker); (3) providing a test of how to apply the tools and techniques of strategic management; and
(4) asking you to come up with pragmatic managerial act.
Transforming Singapore’s Public Libraries .docxturveycharlyn
Transforming Singapore’s Public Libraries Case Questions
· Why did Singapore decide to change its libraries? How significant was the change, and how would you characterize it from a strategic perspective? What is the equivalent to this change for a typical for-profit company?
· Who was the Singapore library system’s “customer”? What was the “product”?
· How did the type of service delivered and the service levels change?
· What important elements of the library system didn’t change? Why? Was this a failure in change management or was it intentional?
· What were the key components of the change effort? Why were they important? Do they relate to one another?
· Was the order in which things happened important? Why or why not?
· Reengineering often fails. Did this reengineering succeed? If so/if not, why?
Week ________________ Name: ________________________________________
Weekly CMA Study Session
(Attendance of live or recorded session each week is mandatory - weeks 1-5)
Based on the Live Classroom study session this week, answer the following questions in depth. (20 points)
1. What information did you find to be the most beneficial information during this presentation?
1. As you participated in the session, what area(s) did you find most confusing and need to focus more on to ensure success with the CMA Exam?
3. What additional resources are you using to assist in preparing you for the CMA Exam? Provide specific resources.
Created December 2014
A Guide to Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When; And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling
(
I
)n most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation. It puts
readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization; the organization involved can be either profit seeking or not-for-profit. The essence of the student’s role in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend appropriate action steps.
Why Use Cases to Practice Strategic Management?
(
4
) (
STRATEGY:
Core
Concepts
and
Analytical
Approaches
)
(
5
) (
A
Guide
to
Case
Analysis
)
A student of business with tact Absorbed many answers he lacked. But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fit answer to fact?”
The foregoing limerick was used some years ago by Professor Charles Gragg to characterize the plight of business students wh ...
Business Policy and StrategyOliver’s Market Case Analysis .docxhumphrieskalyn
Business Policy and Strategy
Oliver’s Market Case Analysis &
Discussion Questions
In preparing Oliver's Market case analysis, here are some discussion questions to consider.
· What are the key elements of the strategy at Oliver's Market?
· What competitive pressures must Oliver's Market be prepared to deal with?
· What are the key success factors for competing in the supermarket industry in Sonoma County?
· What is your assessment of Oliver's financial performance and financial condition? Is the company in good financial shape? Why or why not?
· How does their financial performance compare to Whole Foods. Are they strong enough to compete?
· Should they consider expansion, given your analysis?
A Guide to
Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When;
And How and Where and Who.
— Rudyard Kipling
A Guide to Case Analysis2
In most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic
analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in
a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation.
It puts readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on
strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization;
the organization involved can be either profi t seeking or not-for-profi t. The essence of the student’s role
in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend
appropriate action steps.
Why Use Cases to Practice Strategic Management?
A student of business with tact
Absorbed many answers he lacked.
But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fi t answer to fact?”
The foregoing limerick was used some years ago by Professor Charles Gragg to characterize the plight
of business students who had no exposure to cases.1 The facts are that the mere act of listening to lectures
and sound advice about managing does little for anyone’s management skills and that the accumulated
managerial wisdom cannot effectively be passed on by lectures and assigned readings alone. If anything had
been learned about the practice of management, it is that a storehouse of ready-made textbook answers does
not exist. Each managerial situation has unique aspects, requiring its own diagnosis, judgment, and tailor-
made actions. Cases provide would-be managers with a valuable way to practice wrestling with the actual
problems of actual managers in actual companies.
The case approach to strategic analysis is, fi rst and foremost, an exercise in learning by doing. Because cases
provide you with detailed information about conditions and problems of different industries and companies,
your task ...
A Guide to Case AnalysisI keep six honest serving men(.docxransayo
A Guide to
Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When;
And How and Where and Who.
— Rudyard Kipling
A Guide to Case Analysis2
In most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic
analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in
a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation.
It puts readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on
strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization;
the organization involved can be either profi t seeking or not-for-profi t. The essence of the student’s role
in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend
appropriate action steps.
Why Use Cases to Practice Strategic Management?
A student of business with tact
Absorbed many answers he lacked.
But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fi t answer to fact?”
The foregoing limerick was used some years ago by Professor Charles Gragg to characterize the plight
of business students who had no exposure to cases.1 The facts are that the mere act of listening to lectures
and sound advice about managing does little for anyone’s management skills and that the accumulated
managerial wisdom cannot effectively be passed on by lectures and assigned readings alone. If anything had
been learned about the practice of management, it is that a storehouse of ready-made textbook answers does
not exist. Each managerial situation has unique aspects, requiring its own diagnosis, judgment, and tailor-
made actions. Cases provide would-be managers with a valuable way to practice wrestling with the actual
problems of actual managers in actual companies.
The case approach to strategic analysis is, fi rst and foremost, an exercise in learning by doing. Because cases
provide you with detailed information about conditions and problems of different industries and companies,
your task of analyzing company after company and situation after situation has the twin benefi t of boosting
your analytical skills and exposing you to the ways companies and mana gers actually do things. Most college
students have limited managerial backgrounds and only frag mented knowledge about companies and real-life
strategic situations. Cases help substitute for on-the-job experience by (1) giving you broader exposure to a
variety of industries, organizations, and strategic problems; (2) forcing you to assume a managerial role (as
opposed to that of just an onlooker); (3) providing a test of how to apply the tools and techniques of strategic
management; and (4) asking you to come up with pragmatic managerial action plans to deal with the issues
at hand.
Objectives of C.
Confirming Pages Guide to Case Analysis I keep six .docxdonnajames55
Confirming Pages
Guide to Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When;
And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling
tho29503_case analysis_CA1-CA12.indd CA1tho29503_case analysis_CA1-CA12.indd CA1 29/11/12 11:00 AM29/11/12 11:00 AM
Confirming Pages
CA2 STRATEGY: Core Concepts and Analytical Approaches
exposure to a variety of industries, organizations, and
strategic problems; (2) forcing you to assume a mana-
gerial role (as opposed to that of just an onlooker);
(3) providing a test of how to apply the tools and tech-
niques of strategic management; and (4) asking you to
come up with pragmatic managerial action plans to
deal with the issues at hand.
Objectives of Case Analysis
Using cases to learn about the practice of strategic
management is a powerful way for you to accomplish
five things: 2
1. Increase your understanding of what managers
should and should not do in guiding a business to
success.
2. Build your skills in sizing up company resource
strengths and weaknesses and in conducting stra-
tegic analysis in a variety of industries and com-
petitive situations.
3. Get valuable practice in identifying strategic issues
that need to be addressed, evaluating strategic alter-
natives, and formulating workable plans of action.
4. Enhance your sense of business judgment, as
opposed to uncritically accepting the authorita-
tive crutch of the professor or “back-of-the-book”
answers.
5. Gaining in-depth exposure to different industries
and companies, thereby acquiring something close
to actual business experience.
If you understand that these are the objectives of
case analysis, you are less likely to be consumed with
curiosity about “the answer to the case.” Students who
have grown comfortable with and accustomed to text-
book statements of fact and definitive lecture notes
are often frustrated when discussions about a case
do not produce concrete answers. Usually, case dis-
cussions produce good arguments for more than one
course of action. Differences of opinion nearly always
exist. Thus, should a class discussion conclude with-
out a strong, unambiguous consensus on what to do,
don’t grumble too much when you are not told what
the answer is or what the company actually did. Just
remember that in the business world answers don’t
come in conclusive black-and-white terms. There
are nearly always several feasible courses of action
and approaches, each of which may work out satis-
factorily. Moreover, in the business world, when one
elects a particular course of action, there is no peek-
ing at the back of a book to see if you have chosen the
best thing to do and no one to turn to for a provably
I n most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice stra-tegic analysis and to gain some experience.
WHOLE FOODS CASE QUESTIONS1. What are the chief elements.docxalanfhall8953
WHOLE FOODS CASE QUESTIONS
1. What are the chief elements of the strategy that Whole Foods Market is pursuing?
2. Is Whole Foods’ strategy well matched to recent developments and conditions in the natural and organic foods segment of the food retailing industry?
3. Do you think John Mackey has a good strategic vision for Whole Foods? Why or why not? What do you like/dislike about the company’s “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet” motto? Do the motto and the principles underlying the motto really matter at this company or are they just nice words and window dressing? Explain.
4. Do WFM’s core values as presented in the case really matter? Have they contributed to the company’s success? Why or why not?
5. How well is Whole Foods Market performing from a financial perspective?
6. How well is Whole Foods Market performing from a strategic perspective? Is the strategy working? Does the company have a winning strategy?
7. What recommendations would you make to John Mackey regarding the actions that management needs to take to sustain the company’s growth and financial performance?
A Guide to
Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When;
And How and Where and Who.
— Rudyard Kipling
A Guide to Case Analysis2
In most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic
analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in
a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation.
It puts readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on
strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization;
the organization involved can be either profi t seeking or not-for-profi t. The essence of the student’s role
in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend
appropriate action steps.
Why Use Cases to Practice Strategic Management?
A student of business with tact
Absorbed many answers he lacked.
But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fi t answer to fact?”
The foregoing limerick was used some years ago by Professor Charles Gragg to characterize the plight
of business students who had no exposure to cases.1 The facts are that the mere act of listening to lectures
and sound advice about managing does little for anyone’s management skills and that the accumulated
managerial wisdom cannot effectively be passed on by lectures and assigned readings alone. If anything had
been learned about the practice of management, it is that a storehouse of ready-made textbook answers does
not exist. Each managerial situation has unique aspects, requiring its own diagnosis, judgment, and tailor-
made actions. Cases provide would-be managers with a va.
A Guide to Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When; And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling
(
I
)n most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation. It puts
readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization; the organization involved can be either profit seeking or not-for-profit. The essence of the student’s role in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend appropriate action steps.
Why Use Cases to Practice Strategic Management?
(
4
) (
STRATEGY:
Core
Concepts
and
Analytical
Approaches
)
(
5
) (
A
Guide
to
Case
Analysis
)
A student of business with tact Absorbed many answers he lacked. But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fit answer to fact?”
The foregoing limerick was used some years ago by Professor Charles Gragg to characterize the plight of business students who had no exposure to cases.1 The facts are that the mere act of listening to lectures and sound advice about managing does little for anyone’s management skills and that the accumulated managerial wisdom cannot effectively be passed on by lectures and assigned readings alone. If anything had been learned about the practice of management,
it is that a storehouse of ready-made textbook answers does not exist. Each managerial situation has unique aspects, requiring its own diagnosis, judgment, and tailor-made actions. Cases provide would-be managers with a valuable way to practice wrestling with the actual problems of actual managers in actual companies.
The case approach to strategic analysis is, first and foremost, an exercise in learning by doing. Because cases provide you with detailed information about conditions and problems of different industries and companies, your task of analyzing company after company and situation after situation has the twin benefit of boosting your analytical skills and exposing you to the ways companies and managers actually do things. Most college students have limited managerial backgrounds and only fragmented knowledge about companies and real-life strategic situations. Cases help substitute for on-the-job experience by (1) giving you broader exposure to a variety of industries, organizations, and strategic problems; (2) forcing you to assume a managerial role (as opposed to that of just an onlooker); (3) providing a test of how to apply the tools and techniques of strategic management; and
(4) asking you to come up with pragmatic managerial act.
Transforming Singapore’s Public Libraries .docxturveycharlyn
Transforming Singapore’s Public Libraries Case Questions
· Why did Singapore decide to change its libraries? How significant was the change, and how would you characterize it from a strategic perspective? What is the equivalent to this change for a typical for-profit company?
· Who was the Singapore library system’s “customer”? What was the “product”?
· How did the type of service delivered and the service levels change?
· What important elements of the library system didn’t change? Why? Was this a failure in change management or was it intentional?
· What were the key components of the change effort? Why were they important? Do they relate to one another?
· Was the order in which things happened important? Why or why not?
· Reengineering often fails. Did this reengineering succeed? If so/if not, why?
Week ________________ Name: ________________________________________
Weekly CMA Study Session
(Attendance of live or recorded session each week is mandatory - weeks 1-5)
Based on the Live Classroom study session this week, answer the following questions in depth. (20 points)
1. What information did you find to be the most beneficial information during this presentation?
1. As you participated in the session, what area(s) did you find most confusing and need to focus more on to ensure success with the CMA Exam?
3. What additional resources are you using to assist in preparing you for the CMA Exam? Provide specific resources.
Created December 2014
A Guide to Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When; And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling
(
I
)n most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation. It puts
readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization; the organization involved can be either profit seeking or not-for-profit. The essence of the student’s role in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend appropriate action steps.
Why Use Cases to Practice Strategic Management?
(
4
) (
STRATEGY:
Core
Concepts
and
Analytical
Approaches
)
(
5
) (
A
Guide
to
Case
Analysis
)
A student of business with tact Absorbed many answers he lacked. But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fit answer to fact?”
The foregoing limerick was used some years ago by Professor Charles Gragg to characterize the plight of business students wh ...
Business Policy and StrategyOliver’s Market Case Analysis .docxhumphrieskalyn
Business Policy and Strategy
Oliver’s Market Case Analysis &
Discussion Questions
In preparing Oliver's Market case analysis, here are some discussion questions to consider.
· What are the key elements of the strategy at Oliver's Market?
· What competitive pressures must Oliver's Market be prepared to deal with?
· What are the key success factors for competing in the supermarket industry in Sonoma County?
· What is your assessment of Oliver's financial performance and financial condition? Is the company in good financial shape? Why or why not?
· How does their financial performance compare to Whole Foods. Are they strong enough to compete?
· Should they consider expansion, given your analysis?
A Guide to
Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When;
And How and Where and Who.
— Rudyard Kipling
A Guide to Case Analysis2
In most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic
analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in
a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation.
It puts readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on
strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization;
the organization involved can be either profi t seeking or not-for-profi t. The essence of the student’s role
in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend
appropriate action steps.
Why Use Cases to Practice Strategic Management?
A student of business with tact
Absorbed many answers he lacked.
But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fi t answer to fact?”
The foregoing limerick was used some years ago by Professor Charles Gragg to characterize the plight
of business students who had no exposure to cases.1 The facts are that the mere act of listening to lectures
and sound advice about managing does little for anyone’s management skills and that the accumulated
managerial wisdom cannot effectively be passed on by lectures and assigned readings alone. If anything had
been learned about the practice of management, it is that a storehouse of ready-made textbook answers does
not exist. Each managerial situation has unique aspects, requiring its own diagnosis, judgment, and tailor-
made actions. Cases provide would-be managers with a valuable way to practice wrestling with the actual
problems of actual managers in actual companies.
The case approach to strategic analysis is, fi rst and foremost, an exercise in learning by doing. Because cases
provide you with detailed information about conditions and problems of different industries and companies,
your task ...
A Guide to Case AnalysisI keep six honest serving men(.docxransayo
A Guide to
Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When;
And How and Where and Who.
— Rudyard Kipling
A Guide to Case Analysis2
In most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic
analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in
a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation.
It puts readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on
strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization;
the organization involved can be either profi t seeking or not-for-profi t. The essence of the student’s role
in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend
appropriate action steps.
Why Use Cases to Practice Strategic Management?
A student of business with tact
Absorbed many answers he lacked.
But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fi t answer to fact?”
The foregoing limerick was used some years ago by Professor Charles Gragg to characterize the plight
of business students who had no exposure to cases.1 The facts are that the mere act of listening to lectures
and sound advice about managing does little for anyone’s management skills and that the accumulated
managerial wisdom cannot effectively be passed on by lectures and assigned readings alone. If anything had
been learned about the practice of management, it is that a storehouse of ready-made textbook answers does
not exist. Each managerial situation has unique aspects, requiring its own diagnosis, judgment, and tailor-
made actions. Cases provide would-be managers with a valuable way to practice wrestling with the actual
problems of actual managers in actual companies.
The case approach to strategic analysis is, fi rst and foremost, an exercise in learning by doing. Because cases
provide you with detailed information about conditions and problems of different industries and companies,
your task of analyzing company after company and situation after situation has the twin benefi t of boosting
your analytical skills and exposing you to the ways companies and mana gers actually do things. Most college
students have limited managerial backgrounds and only frag mented knowledge about companies and real-life
strategic situations. Cases help substitute for on-the-job experience by (1) giving you broader exposure to a
variety of industries, organizations, and strategic problems; (2) forcing you to assume a managerial role (as
opposed to that of just an onlooker); (3) providing a test of how to apply the tools and techniques of strategic
management; and (4) asking you to come up with pragmatic managerial action plans to deal with the issues
at hand.
Objectives of C.
Confirming Pages Guide to Case Analysis I keep six .docxdonnajames55
Confirming Pages
Guide to Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When;
And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling
tho29503_case analysis_CA1-CA12.indd CA1tho29503_case analysis_CA1-CA12.indd CA1 29/11/12 11:00 AM29/11/12 11:00 AM
Confirming Pages
CA2 STRATEGY: Core Concepts and Analytical Approaches
exposure to a variety of industries, organizations, and
strategic problems; (2) forcing you to assume a mana-
gerial role (as opposed to that of just an onlooker);
(3) providing a test of how to apply the tools and tech-
niques of strategic management; and (4) asking you to
come up with pragmatic managerial action plans to
deal with the issues at hand.
Objectives of Case Analysis
Using cases to learn about the practice of strategic
management is a powerful way for you to accomplish
five things: 2
1. Increase your understanding of what managers
should and should not do in guiding a business to
success.
2. Build your skills in sizing up company resource
strengths and weaknesses and in conducting stra-
tegic analysis in a variety of industries and com-
petitive situations.
3. Get valuable practice in identifying strategic issues
that need to be addressed, evaluating strategic alter-
natives, and formulating workable plans of action.
4. Enhance your sense of business judgment, as
opposed to uncritically accepting the authorita-
tive crutch of the professor or “back-of-the-book”
answers.
5. Gaining in-depth exposure to different industries
and companies, thereby acquiring something close
to actual business experience.
If you understand that these are the objectives of
case analysis, you are less likely to be consumed with
curiosity about “the answer to the case.” Students who
have grown comfortable with and accustomed to text-
book statements of fact and definitive lecture notes
are often frustrated when discussions about a case
do not produce concrete answers. Usually, case dis-
cussions produce good arguments for more than one
course of action. Differences of opinion nearly always
exist. Thus, should a class discussion conclude with-
out a strong, unambiguous consensus on what to do,
don’t grumble too much when you are not told what
the answer is or what the company actually did. Just
remember that in the business world answers don’t
come in conclusive black-and-white terms. There
are nearly always several feasible courses of action
and approaches, each of which may work out satis-
factorily. Moreover, in the business world, when one
elects a particular course of action, there is no peek-
ing at the back of a book to see if you have chosen the
best thing to do and no one to turn to for a provably
I n most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice stra-tegic analysis and to gain some experience.
Part 1.· How can information technology support a company’s busi.docxherbertwilson5999
Part 1.
· How can information technology support a company’s business processes and decision making and give it a competitive advantage? Give examples to illustrate your answer.
· How does the use of the Internet, intranets, and extranets by companies today support their business processes and activities?
· How can a manager demonstrate that he or she is a responsible end user of information systems? Give several examples.
Part 2.
Disaster Recovery "How important are your data to you?" "What would happen if . . . ?" While business managers focus on solving business problems and determin- ing what their information systems should do, di- saster recovery consultants ask what would happen if things go wrong. With careful advanced planning, disaster recovery specialists help their clients prevent calamity. While this topic covers a wide variety of software issues, installation configuration issues, and security threats, examining common end-user mistakes may also prove enlightening. Common end-user mistakes include:
a. Failure to save work in progress frequently.
b. Failure to make a backup copy. c. Storing original and backup copies in the same location.
For each of the common end-user mistakes listed above, answer the following questions.
a. How might this mistake result in data loss?
b. What procedures could you follow to minimize this risk?
SOLAR FEEDER ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
· What problems do you see at SDI? What issues does management need to address? What do you see as the central problem/issue?
· Is SDI close to achieving a breakeven volume of sales?
· What is SDI’s present strategy? Is the strategy working? Are fundamental changes needed?
· What strategic plan would you suggest SDI pursue to make a success out of its Solar Feeder product? Your recommended plan should include a strategic vision for SDI, a set of strategic and financial objectives, a detailed strategy, and a set of action recommendations to implement and execute the strategy.
A Guide to
Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When;
And How and Where and Who.
— Rudyard Kipling
A Guide to Case Analysis2
In most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic
analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in
a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation.
It puts readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on
strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization;
the organization involved can be either profi t seeking or not-for-profi t. The essence of the student’s role
in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend
appropriate action steps.
Why Use Ca.
Describe how the shifts societal forces have impacted marketing ov.docxtheodorelove43763
Describe how the shifts societal forces have impacted marketing over the years.
Make your initial post and comment on of student post.
Stunden1
I am a plus size woman. I have noticed now that more stores are offering plus sizes. Being a size 2 is not the norm any more. More plus sizw women are more into fashions and they are buying more fashionable clothes. Society has become more exceptive of the larger women, becaue they are becoming comfortable with wearing the latest styles. Old Navy, Nordtroms, and a lot more other stores are carrying the plus sizes now. Even Victoria Secrets is stepping up to the plate, for plus size women. The market is changing for us for the better. A shift has arrived in the way people look at plus size women.
Student 2
Shifts in societal forces have impacted marketing in different ways over the years. The different impacts are determined by the societal forces that are prevalent in the contemporary marketplace. Such societal forces include cultural diversity, culture identity, demographic changes, people’s consumerism, as well as rising awareness about environmentally friendly products. Shifts in societal forces lead to pressure on political aspects, which in turn lead to legal regulations being changed to govern the market (Kotler & Keller, 2011). As a result of the increasing complexity in societal forces within today’s globalized marketplace, marketers experience more strict regulations that mainly impact the quantity and quality of information that they offer to the marketplace and the customers thereof (Kotler & Keller, 2011). Additionally, the increasing globalization of the marketplace has led to a diversified culture identity, which has led to a situation where consumers have a variety of cultural values and attitudes. As consumers across the globe gain more knowledge on other cultures, their tastes and preferences in the products offered become more complex. As a result, marketers have to shift their marketing strategies and ensure that their products attain the increasing diversity in consumer needs. The marketing operations adopted by firms must thus, change to adopt the shifts in societal forces
A Guide to
Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When;
And How and Where and Who.
— Rudyard Kipling
A Guide to Case Analysis2
In most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic
analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in
a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation.
It puts readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on
strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization;
the organization involved can be either profi t seeking .
Assignment Budget Planning and ControlBefore approaching this a.docxrock73
Assignment: Budget Planning and Control
Before approaching this assignment, be sure that you have watched the following video.
· Budgetary Planning featuring Babycakes *FULL VIDEO*. (2016). YouTube.
Babycakes, a specialty bakery, is the company that will be considered for all parts of your budget planning and control report. For this assignment, you will develop a three to four (3 – 4) page paper in which you address the following.
1. Briefly discuss the ways a realistic budget will benefit the owner of Babycakes versus having no budget at all. Be sure to use Babycakes as the company and any specific product details in your explanation.
2. Prepare a sales budget for the LA Babycakes store for the 4th quarter of 2016. Present the number of units, sales price, and total sales for each month; include October, November, and December, and a total for the quarter. Use one-half of the Valentine’s Day sales as the basis for a usual day in the new quarter. Use 30 days for each month. Calculate the total sales for each month for October, November, and December.
3. Create three (3) new products, one (1) for each of the three (3) holiday seasons in the 4th quarter. Estimate the sales units, sales price, and total sales for each month. Describe the assumptions used to make these estimates. Include an overview of the budget in the report, presenting the actual budget as an appendix with all data and calculations. Add these amounts to your sales budget.
4. The owner of Babycakes is interested in preparing a flexible budget rather than the static budget she currently uses. She does not understand why, when sales increase, her static budget often shows an unfavorable variance. Explain how a flexible budget will overcome this problem. Use the details of your newly prepared budget for the 4th quarter of 2016 to address her concern.
5. Imagine that Babycakes is facing a financial challenge that is causing the actual amount of money that it spends to become significantly more than its budgeted amount. Include a discussion of your own unique cause of the overspending. Explain the corrective actions needed to address these challenges.
6. Integrate relevant information from at least three (3) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Please do not use your textbook as an academic resource. Also, Wikipedia and other Websites that are unreliable do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements.
· Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
· Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.
· An abstract is not required.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this ...
How to Analyze a Case StudyIncluded in these cases are questions.docxpooleavelina
How to Analyze a Case Study
Included in these cases are questions to help you understand and analyze the case. You may, however, be assigned other case studies that do not have questions. This Hands-on Guide presents a structured framework to help you analyze such cases as well as the case studies in this text. Knowing how to analyze a case will help you attack virtually any business problem.
A case study helps students learn by immersing them in a real-world business scenario where they can act as problem-solvers and decision-makers. The case presents facts about a particular organization. Students are asked to analyze the case by focusing on the most important facts and using this information to determine the opportunities and problems facing that organization. Students are then asked to identify alternative courses of action to deal with the problems they identify.
A case study analysis must not merely summarize the case. It should identify key issues and problems, outline and assess alternative courses of action, and draw appropriate conclusions. The case study analysis can be broken down into the following steps:
1. Identify the most important facts surrounding the case.
2. Identify the key issue or issues.
3. Specify alternative courses of action.
4. Evaluate each course of action.
5. Recommend the best course of action.
Let's look at what each step involves.
1. Identify the most important facts surrounding the case.
Read the case several times to become familiar with the information it contains. Pay attention to the information in any accompanying exhibits, tables, or figures. Many case scenarios, as in real life, present a great deal of detailed information. Some of these facts are more relevant than others for problem identification. One can assume the facts and figures in the case are true, but statements, judgments, or decisions made by individuals should be questioned. Underline and then list the most important facts and figures that would help you define the central problem or issue. If key facts and numbers are not available, you can make assumptions, but these assumptions should be reasonable given the situation. The "correctness" of your conclusions may depend on the assumptions you make.
2. Identify the key issue or issues.
Use the facts provided by the case to identify the key issue or issues facing the company you are studying. Many cases present multiple issues or problems. Identify the most important and separate them from more trivial issues. State the major problem or challenge facing the company. You should be able to describe the problem or challenge in one or two sentences. You should be able to explain how this problem affects the strategy or performance of the organization.
You will need to explain why the problem occurred. Does the problem or challenge facing the company comes from a changing environment, new opportunities, a declining market share, or inefficient internal or external business processes? In the ...
Organizations today are in constant flux. Industries are consolidating, new business models are emerging, new technologies are being developed, and consumer behaviors are evolving. For executives, the ever-increasing pace of change can be especially demanding. It forces them to understand and quickly respond to big shifts in the way companies operate and how work must get done. In the words of Arie de Geus, a business theorist, “The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.”
MGT 4670 Management PracticesHOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS(By.docxannandleola
MGT 4670 Management Practices
HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS
(By Dess, Lumpkin and Eisner, Strategic Management: text and cases, 4th edition, 2008. McGraw Hill.)
How to Conduct a Case Analysis
The process of analyzing strategic management cases involves several steps. In this section, we review five steps to follow in preparing a case analysis.
Before beginning, point out that there are two prerequisites for effective case analysis. First, unless students prepare for a case discussion, there is little they can gain from the discussion and even less that they can offer.
Second, to get the most out of case analysis, students need to place themselves “inside” the case in order to think like an actual participant in the case situation. Before beginning the analysis, it may be helpful to envision assuming one of these roles:
1. Strategic Decision-MakerThe position of the senior executive responsible for resolving the situation that the case describes. It may be the CEO, the business owner, or a strategic manager in a key executive position.
2. Board of DirectorsThe Board of Directors has a responsibility to step in when a management crisis threatens the company. A board member may be in a unique position to solve problems.
3. Outside ConsultantConsultants often have an advantage because they can look at a situation objectively. But they may also be at a disadvantage since they have no power to enforce changes.
A. Become Familiar with the Material
Written cases often include a lot of material. The following technique can enhance comprehension:
1.Read through the case once quickly to get an overall sense of the material.
2.Use the initial read-through to assess possible links to strategic concepts.
3.Read through the case again, in depth. Make written notes as you read.
4.Evaluate how strategic concepts might inform key decisions or suggest alternative solutions.
5.After formulating an initial recommendation, thumb through the case again to assess the consequences of the actions you propose.
B.Identify Problems
One of the main reasons to conduct case analysis is to find solutions. Unless you know the problem, however, it is meaningless to attempt to find an answer. Some cases have more than one problem. Even so, emphasize that the problems are usually related.
When trying to determine the problem, it is easy to get hung up on symptoms. Emphasize the importance of seeing beyond the immediate symptoms to the more fundamental problems.
Another tip when preparing a case analysis is to articulate the problem. Point out that writing down a problem statement provides a reference point to turn to as the case analysis proceeds.
Sometimes, problems are not apparent until after the case has been analyzed.
C.Conduct Strategic Analyses
This textbook has presented numerous analytical tools (such as five forces analysis and value chain analysis), contingency frameworks (such as when to use related rather than unrelated diversification ...
In a two- to three-page paper (excluding the title and reference pag.docxrock73
In a two- to three-page paper (excluding the title and reference pages), explain the purpose of an income statement and how it reflects the firm’s financial status. Include important points that an analyst would use in assessing the financial condition of the company. Also, analyze Ford Motor Company’s income statement from its
2012 Annual Report
.
Your paper must be formatted according to APA style, and must include citations and references for the text and at least two scholarly sources.
.
In a substantial paragraph respond to either one of the following qu.docxrock73
In a substantial paragraph respond to either one of the following questions:
1.) Choose one source of energy, explain its origins, how does it impact our Earth, and what effect does it have on our planet?
OR
2.) Explain, with details, how geology influences the distribution of natural resources.
NO MINIMUM WORD LENGTH REQUIRED.
.
More Related Content
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Part 1.· How can information technology support a company’s busi.docxherbertwilson5999
Part 1.
· How can information technology support a company’s business processes and decision making and give it a competitive advantage? Give examples to illustrate your answer.
· How does the use of the Internet, intranets, and extranets by companies today support their business processes and activities?
· How can a manager demonstrate that he or she is a responsible end user of information systems? Give several examples.
Part 2.
Disaster Recovery "How important are your data to you?" "What would happen if . . . ?" While business managers focus on solving business problems and determin- ing what their information systems should do, di- saster recovery consultants ask what would happen if things go wrong. With careful advanced planning, disaster recovery specialists help their clients prevent calamity. While this topic covers a wide variety of software issues, installation configuration issues, and security threats, examining common end-user mistakes may also prove enlightening. Common end-user mistakes include:
a. Failure to save work in progress frequently.
b. Failure to make a backup copy. c. Storing original and backup copies in the same location.
For each of the common end-user mistakes listed above, answer the following questions.
a. How might this mistake result in data loss?
b. What procedures could you follow to minimize this risk?
SOLAR FEEDER ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
· What problems do you see at SDI? What issues does management need to address? What do you see as the central problem/issue?
· Is SDI close to achieving a breakeven volume of sales?
· What is SDI’s present strategy? Is the strategy working? Are fundamental changes needed?
· What strategic plan would you suggest SDI pursue to make a success out of its Solar Feeder product? Your recommended plan should include a strategic vision for SDI, a set of strategic and financial objectives, a detailed strategy, and a set of action recommendations to implement and execute the strategy.
A Guide to
Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When;
And How and Where and Who.
— Rudyard Kipling
A Guide to Case Analysis2
In most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic
analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in
a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation.
It puts readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on
strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization;
the organization involved can be either profi t seeking or not-for-profi t. The essence of the student’s role
in case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described in the case and then to recommend
appropriate action steps.
Why Use Ca.
Describe how the shifts societal forces have impacted marketing ov.docxtheodorelove43763
Describe how the shifts societal forces have impacted marketing over the years.
Make your initial post and comment on of student post.
Stunden1
I am a plus size woman. I have noticed now that more stores are offering plus sizes. Being a size 2 is not the norm any more. More plus sizw women are more into fashions and they are buying more fashionable clothes. Society has become more exceptive of the larger women, becaue they are becoming comfortable with wearing the latest styles. Old Navy, Nordtroms, and a lot more other stores are carrying the plus sizes now. Even Victoria Secrets is stepping up to the plate, for plus size women. The market is changing for us for the better. A shift has arrived in the way people look at plus size women.
Student 2
Shifts in societal forces have impacted marketing in different ways over the years. The different impacts are determined by the societal forces that are prevalent in the contemporary marketplace. Such societal forces include cultural diversity, culture identity, demographic changes, people’s consumerism, as well as rising awareness about environmentally friendly products. Shifts in societal forces lead to pressure on political aspects, which in turn lead to legal regulations being changed to govern the market (Kotler & Keller, 2011). As a result of the increasing complexity in societal forces within today’s globalized marketplace, marketers experience more strict regulations that mainly impact the quantity and quality of information that they offer to the marketplace and the customers thereof (Kotler & Keller, 2011). Additionally, the increasing globalization of the marketplace has led to a diversified culture identity, which has led to a situation where consumers have a variety of cultural values and attitudes. As consumers across the globe gain more knowledge on other cultures, their tastes and preferences in the products offered become more complex. As a result, marketers have to shift their marketing strategies and ensure that their products attain the increasing diversity in consumer needs. The marketing operations adopted by firms must thus, change to adopt the shifts in societal forces
A Guide to
Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When;
And How and Where and Who.
— Rudyard Kipling
A Guide to Case Analysis2
In most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to practice strategic
analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing strategy. A case sets forth, in
a factual manner, the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation.
It puts readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A case on
strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of an organization;
the organization involved can be either profi t seeking .
Assignment Budget Planning and ControlBefore approaching this a.docxrock73
Assignment: Budget Planning and Control
Before approaching this assignment, be sure that you have watched the following video.
· Budgetary Planning featuring Babycakes *FULL VIDEO*. (2016). YouTube.
Babycakes, a specialty bakery, is the company that will be considered for all parts of your budget planning and control report. For this assignment, you will develop a three to four (3 – 4) page paper in which you address the following.
1. Briefly discuss the ways a realistic budget will benefit the owner of Babycakes versus having no budget at all. Be sure to use Babycakes as the company and any specific product details in your explanation.
2. Prepare a sales budget for the LA Babycakes store for the 4th quarter of 2016. Present the number of units, sales price, and total sales for each month; include October, November, and December, and a total for the quarter. Use one-half of the Valentine’s Day sales as the basis for a usual day in the new quarter. Use 30 days for each month. Calculate the total sales for each month for October, November, and December.
3. Create three (3) new products, one (1) for each of the three (3) holiday seasons in the 4th quarter. Estimate the sales units, sales price, and total sales for each month. Describe the assumptions used to make these estimates. Include an overview of the budget in the report, presenting the actual budget as an appendix with all data and calculations. Add these amounts to your sales budget.
4. The owner of Babycakes is interested in preparing a flexible budget rather than the static budget she currently uses. She does not understand why, when sales increase, her static budget often shows an unfavorable variance. Explain how a flexible budget will overcome this problem. Use the details of your newly prepared budget for the 4th quarter of 2016 to address her concern.
5. Imagine that Babycakes is facing a financial challenge that is causing the actual amount of money that it spends to become significantly more than its budgeted amount. Include a discussion of your own unique cause of the overspending. Explain the corrective actions needed to address these challenges.
6. Integrate relevant information from at least three (3) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Please do not use your textbook as an academic resource. Also, Wikipedia and other Websites that are unreliable do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements.
· Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
· Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.
· An abstract is not required.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this ...
How to Analyze a Case StudyIncluded in these cases are questions.docxpooleavelina
How to Analyze a Case Study
Included in these cases are questions to help you understand and analyze the case. You may, however, be assigned other case studies that do not have questions. This Hands-on Guide presents a structured framework to help you analyze such cases as well as the case studies in this text. Knowing how to analyze a case will help you attack virtually any business problem.
A case study helps students learn by immersing them in a real-world business scenario where they can act as problem-solvers and decision-makers. The case presents facts about a particular organization. Students are asked to analyze the case by focusing on the most important facts and using this information to determine the opportunities and problems facing that organization. Students are then asked to identify alternative courses of action to deal with the problems they identify.
A case study analysis must not merely summarize the case. It should identify key issues and problems, outline and assess alternative courses of action, and draw appropriate conclusions. The case study analysis can be broken down into the following steps:
1. Identify the most important facts surrounding the case.
2. Identify the key issue or issues.
3. Specify alternative courses of action.
4. Evaluate each course of action.
5. Recommend the best course of action.
Let's look at what each step involves.
1. Identify the most important facts surrounding the case.
Read the case several times to become familiar with the information it contains. Pay attention to the information in any accompanying exhibits, tables, or figures. Many case scenarios, as in real life, present a great deal of detailed information. Some of these facts are more relevant than others for problem identification. One can assume the facts and figures in the case are true, but statements, judgments, or decisions made by individuals should be questioned. Underline and then list the most important facts and figures that would help you define the central problem or issue. If key facts and numbers are not available, you can make assumptions, but these assumptions should be reasonable given the situation. The "correctness" of your conclusions may depend on the assumptions you make.
2. Identify the key issue or issues.
Use the facts provided by the case to identify the key issue or issues facing the company you are studying. Many cases present multiple issues or problems. Identify the most important and separate them from more trivial issues. State the major problem or challenge facing the company. You should be able to describe the problem or challenge in one or two sentences. You should be able to explain how this problem affects the strategy or performance of the organization.
You will need to explain why the problem occurred. Does the problem or challenge facing the company comes from a changing environment, new opportunities, a declining market share, or inefficient internal or external business processes? In the ...
Organizations today are in constant flux. Industries are consolidating, new business models are emerging, new technologies are being developed, and consumer behaviors are evolving. For executives, the ever-increasing pace of change can be especially demanding. It forces them to understand and quickly respond to big shifts in the way companies operate and how work must get done. In the words of Arie de Geus, a business theorist, “The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.”
MGT 4670 Management PracticesHOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS(By.docxannandleola
MGT 4670 Management Practices
HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS
(By Dess, Lumpkin and Eisner, Strategic Management: text and cases, 4th edition, 2008. McGraw Hill.)
How to Conduct a Case Analysis
The process of analyzing strategic management cases involves several steps. In this section, we review five steps to follow in preparing a case analysis.
Before beginning, point out that there are two prerequisites for effective case analysis. First, unless students prepare for a case discussion, there is little they can gain from the discussion and even less that they can offer.
Second, to get the most out of case analysis, students need to place themselves “inside” the case in order to think like an actual participant in the case situation. Before beginning the analysis, it may be helpful to envision assuming one of these roles:
1. Strategic Decision-MakerThe position of the senior executive responsible for resolving the situation that the case describes. It may be the CEO, the business owner, or a strategic manager in a key executive position.
2. Board of DirectorsThe Board of Directors has a responsibility to step in when a management crisis threatens the company. A board member may be in a unique position to solve problems.
3. Outside ConsultantConsultants often have an advantage because they can look at a situation objectively. But they may also be at a disadvantage since they have no power to enforce changes.
A. Become Familiar with the Material
Written cases often include a lot of material. The following technique can enhance comprehension:
1.Read through the case once quickly to get an overall sense of the material.
2.Use the initial read-through to assess possible links to strategic concepts.
3.Read through the case again, in depth. Make written notes as you read.
4.Evaluate how strategic concepts might inform key decisions or suggest alternative solutions.
5.After formulating an initial recommendation, thumb through the case again to assess the consequences of the actions you propose.
B.Identify Problems
One of the main reasons to conduct case analysis is to find solutions. Unless you know the problem, however, it is meaningless to attempt to find an answer. Some cases have more than one problem. Even so, emphasize that the problems are usually related.
When trying to determine the problem, it is easy to get hung up on symptoms. Emphasize the importance of seeing beyond the immediate symptoms to the more fundamental problems.
Another tip when preparing a case analysis is to articulate the problem. Point out that writing down a problem statement provides a reference point to turn to as the case analysis proceeds.
Sometimes, problems are not apparent until after the case has been analyzed.
C.Conduct Strategic Analyses
This textbook has presented numerous analytical tools (such as five forces analysis and value chain analysis), contingency frameworks (such as when to use related rather than unrelated diversification ...
In a two- to three-page paper (excluding the title and reference pag.docxrock73
In a two- to three-page paper (excluding the title and reference pages), explain the purpose of an income statement and how it reflects the firm’s financial status. Include important points that an analyst would use in assessing the financial condition of the company. Also, analyze Ford Motor Company’s income statement from its
2012 Annual Report
.
Your paper must be formatted according to APA style, and must include citations and references for the text and at least two scholarly sources.
.
In a substantial paragraph respond to either one of the following qu.docxrock73
In a substantial paragraph respond to either one of the following questions:
1.) Choose one source of energy, explain its origins, how does it impact our Earth, and what effect does it have on our planet?
OR
2.) Explain, with details, how geology influences the distribution of natural resources.
NO MINIMUM WORD LENGTH REQUIRED.
.
In a study by Dr. Sandra Levitsky, she considers why the economic,.docxrock73
In a study by Dr. Sandra Levitsky, she considers why the economic, physical, and emotional challenges of providing chronic care for a family member have not produced more salient political demands for aggressive policy intervention (Hudson, 2014).
Discuss her findings as well as your own theory on why there has not been a stronger demand from the public for policy intervention to assist caregivers.
Support your statements with evidence from the Required Studies and your research. Cite and reference your sources in APA style.
References
Hudson, R. (Ed). (2014).
The new politics of old age policy
(3rd ed.). Baltimore, John Hopkins.
.
In a response of at least two paragraphs, provide an explanation o.docxrock73
In a response of at least two paragraphs, provide an explanation of the steps you took to rewrite the Romantic poem you selected. Your explanation should point out at least three typically modernist qualities in your work with regard to elements such as
language, style, literary elements, and themes. Here, as an example, is a brief explanation of the modernist rewrite of the first stanza of Wordsworth
’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”:
.
in a minimum of 1000 words, describe why baseball is Americas past .docxrock73
in a minimum of 1000 words, describe why baseball is America's past time. As part of your paper you can share some of your memories of baseball. How did baseball mirror society(good and bad?) as a reflection of American society. Be sure to cite all of your sources and you must show direct evidence of integrating your textbook once per chapter as part of your final exam. Your paper should at include at least one resource from the library.
.
In a minimum 200 word response, describe some ways how the public .docxrock73
In a minimum 200 word response, describe some ways how the public has responded to the October 2001 USA Patriot Act. Has the public’s response been positive or negative? What are some pros and cons of the USA Patriot Act with the American public? Explain your answer.
Dempsey, J. S., & Forst, L. S. (2011, Pg. 213-214).
Police
. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar.
.
In a weekly coordination meeting, several senior investigators from .docxrock73
In a weekly coordination meeting, several senior investigators from the state crime lab request that AB Investigative Services (ABIS) prepare a standard operations procedure document concerning the general processing of computer evidence. Recent forensic investigator actions during the processing of computer evidence have failed to show understanding of how computer data are created, modified, and stored. In addition, the investigators have not understood the underlying technical issues tied to evidence processing and associated security issues. Provide four general evidence processing guidelines to ensure investigators understand the steps of processing evidence and the results when standard operating procedures are not followed.
Please submit your assignment.
.
In a memo, describe 1) the form and style of art as well as 2) the e.docxrock73
In a memo, describe 1) the form and style of art as well as 2) the engineering phenomenon – a substantial paragraph for each. You will need to research both the art and engineering, so each section of the memo should include citations from credible sources.
i need to wrote two paragraph also incloude two citation for each one
.
In a minimum 200 word response explain the problems that law enforce.docxrock73
In a minimum 200 word response explain the problems that law enforcement officials have faced regarding the issues of federal, state, and local jurisdictions attempting to intervene in tribal policing. How has this issue contributed to confusion and discontent with law enforcement? Dempsey, J. S., & Forst, L. S. (2011, Pg. 22-25). Police. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar.
.
In a minimum 200 word response explain some of the reasons why, in.docxrock73
In a minimum 200 word response explain some of the reasons why, in the context of span of control, it is more beneficial to
limit the number of officers reporting to one supervisor.
What factors can affect how many employees are supervised at one time?
Dempsey, J. S., & Forst, L. S. (2011, Pg.
Pg. 35-40
).
Police
. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar.
.
In a maximum of 750 words, you are required to1. Summarize the ar.docxrock73
In a maximum of 750 words, you are required to:
1. Summarize the article (include all necessary background information);
2. Identify, discuss and analyze the main issue covered in the article, making links to all secondary
issues, theories and concepts;
3. Critique the actions taken by management and the union, (i.e., what did each do particularly
well or poorly); and
4. Discuss how the event in the article affects the lives of people other than those in management
or the union
.
in a two- to- three page paper (not including the title and referenc.docxrock73
in a two- to- three page paper (not including the title and reference pages), explain how Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) would cause an increase in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Your paper must be formatted according to APA Style and include at least two scholarly sources to support your assertions.
.
In a two- to three-page paper (not including the title and reference.docxrock73
In a two- to three-page paper (not including the title and reference pages), explain the purpose of a balance sheet and how it reflects the firm’s financial status. Analyze Ford Motor Company’s balance sheet from its
2012 Annual Report
.
Your paper must be formatted according to APA style and it must include citations and references for the text and at least two scholarly
.
In a group, take a look at the two student essays included in this f.docxrock73
In a group, take a look at the two student essays included in this folder. For each of these essays: (1) outline the organization of the components, (2) label the components, (3) name the audience and purpose, (4) decide if you found the organization of the components to be effective, and if the components themselves were well written or poorly written. You'll type your notes into a Microsoft Word document, include the names of all group members, and then upload the document individually to your own iLearn dropbox.
.
BASEBALLRuns Scored (X)Wins (Y)7086987590654797048078795730716678661963867976457455667707918559674381731946418965471735797357361556
Develop a position paper on best practices for teaching English Learners. This paper should contain the student’s personal beliefs about and the best models to practice. Statements must be supported with research data. There must be at least THREE references. The textbook may serve as ONE reference (Education English Learners for a Transformed World) The paper must be typed using APA style, double spaced, and with a title page and a reference page. The paper should be no less than three pages in length.
The positon paper: why two way is the best method in Bilingual Education
1) Please explain the components of the Prism Model and why these components are important in creating a welcoming school that promotes success for English Learners.
2) There have been many programs and ideas in the US Public schools for how best to serve English Learners and close the gap between those who enter school speaking English and those who have to learn English along the way.
Following is a list of Bilingual Education Models that have been tried. According to the text book and the research of Virginia Collier and Wayne Thomas, please rate the following programs from 1-6 with 1 being the most effective program for student success and 6 being the least effective program for learning English:
__________Maintenance Bilingual Ed., Self-Contained
__________Transitional Bilingual Ed.
__________One-way Dual Language
__________Pull-out Bilingual Ed.
__________Two-way Dual Language
__________Enrichment Bilingual Education (30 min. per day)
The following programs are designed for ELs who do not live in an area where bilingual ed. is available or do not qualify for bilingual education due to the language they speak. Please rate the following ESL programs on a scale of 1-4 with 1 being the most successful way to teach English and 4 being the least effective program:
__________ESL Pull-out
__________Sheltered Instruction in the regular classroom
__________Total emersion with no language support
__________English enrichment, 30 minutes per day, by classroom teacher
3) Please explain the difference between a 50/50 model and a 90/10 model of Dual Language Education.
4) Why does 2-way Dual Language Education usually have better results than 1-way Dual Language Education?
5) In order to have an effective Dual Language program, there are two important things teachers should not do. What are they?
6) What does it mean to see other cultures not as a deficit but as a difference? Why is this idea important to your classroom?
7) We are required to have many formal assessments in our educational curriculum. However, informal assessment can be much more informative to the teacher of language learners. Please explain why Informal Assessments might be a better way for the teacher to know the true level of the student.
...
Based on Santa Clara University Ethics DialogueEthics .docxrock73
Based on Santa Clara University Ethics Dialogue
Ethics case studies
This is an extra credit assignment that I am offering for the first time this term. In this booklet, you will find 38 separate case studies. You are free to respond to any or all of these cases.
You may earn up to 5 extra credit points per question, based on the complexity of the case and the logic of your response. You may not earn more than 100 points (10 percent of your final grade).
You may find it helpful to read the paper “Four Tough Ethical Dilemmas” prior to responding.
While these are your opinions, citations are not expected; however, if you make use of the work of others, include APA style citations for complete credit.
Either cut and paste the cases you select to a separate file or use this file for your submission. If you use this file to submit a response, please delete those cases to which you are not responding.
Dr. Frick
Case 1: Family Loyalty vs. Meritocracy
A man was appointed president of the newly-acquired Philippine subsidiary of a large American company. He was reviewing the organization with the company's head of human resources. One thing the president noted was that the same names reoccurred frequently in several departments. "It is our tradition," commented the HR head. "Families take care of their own. If one family member gets a good job in a Philippine company, other members of the family apply to join that company and the first member there can help the whole family become successful by helping them get hired and by coaching them to be successful. The company benefits. Our costs of recruiting are lower, we know more about the people we hire, and the commitment to family success results in fewer performance and discipline problems because family members want to please their older relatives."
The president wondered how these practices would be regarded in a large American firm, and whether or not he should take action to change them.
1. Nepotism is not illegal, but is it ethical?
2. If the business is family-owned, does that make a difference?
3. How does national culture affect this discussion?
Case 2: Is the Two-Tier System Ethically Problematic
Employees at a cereal makers plant were “locked-out” from their jobs producing cereal for over 3 months. Company management and the union representing the employees reached a stalemate in negotiations resulting in the lockout. The union claims that the primary issue is the company’s demand of dramatically increasing the number of temporary workers, who would earn $6 less per hour and receive fewer benefits. Critics claim this effectively creates a two-tier system at the plant. Under the current agreement, the company may use temporary workers for up to 30% of the workforce, but the union claims the company is now pushing for 100%. The workers, who have had their health insurance suspended, fear that their jobs will either be replaced entirely by temporary workers, or they will be f ...
Barbara Corcoran Learns Her Heart’s True Desires In her.docxrock73
Barbara Corcoran Learns Her Heart’s True Desires
In her hilarious and lighthearted book, Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 Into a
Billion Dollar Business, Barbara Corcoran demonstrates the importance of knowing what
you really want out of life (Corcoran & Littlefield, 2011). As her title suggests, Barbara
founded her real estate company, The Corcoran Group, with only $1,000 and some big
dreams. Shortly after founding the company, Barbara took out a piece of paper and wrote
down some big goals for herself and the company. In 1978, she had only 14 sales agents
working for her, who earned a total of $250,000 in commissions. She set a goal of
doubling the number of agents and the commissions every year. So she put down 28 sales
people for 1979, 56 for 1980, and so on, all the way up to 1,792 salespeople in 1985 with
total commissions of $32,000,000. Barbara was amazed when she saw the fantastic sums
projected for 1985, and of course many people, when they see such amazing sums, would
dismiss the calculations as fantasy But as Barbara put it, she went to work the next day
hustling hard for her $32 million.
Real estate agents are paid largely by commission, which is about as close as you
can get to a pure form of contingent reward for performance. However, Barbara didn’t
rely solely on the commissions to motivate her workers. She threw theme parties and held
numerous social events to build a committed workforce. Good sales agents could always
move to another firm, but not every firm had Barbara’s positive attitude and fun-filled
atmosphere. In the early years of the firm, when money was tight, Barbara and her
relatives did the cooking for the outings and parties, and she found clever ways to
entertain people with skating parties and other lively activities. As the firm became larger
and more profitable, she even hired professional entertainers for the company’s midweek
picnics, which included elephant shows, daring rides on hot air balloons, horses, or
Harley Davidsons, etc. Barbara stated “I built my company on pure fun, and believe that
fun is the most underutilized motivational tool in business today. All of my best ideas
came when I was playing outside the office with the people I worked with” (Corcoran &
Littlefield, 2011, p. 283). What did she get in return for the fun atmosphere? She had the
“most profitable real estate company per person in the United States” (p. 284). By the
time she sold her agency in 2001, she had 1,000 agents working for her, and she had the
largest real estate agency in New York – clearly her motivational strategies attracted a
large number of productive employees.
Barbara Corcoran had sold her firm for $66 million. She thought that would make
her happy, but instead, it made her sad. Although she pretended to be happy with her new
wealth and freedom, she was “secretly miserable” (Corcoran & Littlefield, 2011, p. 232).
She had lost her purpose ...
Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India
1947 Partition
Deepa Mehta’s earth (1998)
Characters
Aamir Khan - Dil Navaz, the Ice Candy Man
Nandita Das - Shanta, the Ayah
Rahul Khanna - Hassan, the Masseur
Maia Sethna - Lenny Sethna
Shabana Azmi - older Lenny, narrator
Kitu Gidwani - Bunty Sethna
Arif Zakaria - Rustom Sethna
Kulbhushan Kharbanda - Imam Din
Kumar Rajendra - Refugee Police
Pavan Malhotra - Butcher
IN Deepa Mehta’s words
I wanted desperately to make CRACKING INDIA into a film, a particular film, EARTH, which would be the second in my trilogy of the elements of Fire, Earth and Water.
Tracing Bapsi was no easy task but persevere we did and soon I was talking to Bapsi on the phone, hoping that the film rights to her book were still available. Two months later, thanks to David Hamilton's unwavering belief in the project, we owned the rights, had development funds, and I was sitting at my kitchen table, writing the screenplay of EARTH.
David and Anne Masson and I had worked together on FIRE and we re-assembled the team to begin the detailed planning of the production.
During this phase Bapsi became a friend and was exceedingly generous with information and old photographs. She would talk with me for hours about what it was like growing up in Lahore during those times. Lenny, after all, was based on Bapsi. In fact, Lenny was Bapsi.
The irony of our situation hasn't escaped Bapsi or myself. Bapsi is from Pakistan and now a US citizen. I'm from India and now living in Canada. If neither of us had moved from our respective homelands, the film just wouldn't have been possible. Pakistan and India, since the Partition of 1947, are sworn enemies. Not only have they fought three major wars against each other, but also, as I write this, both countries talk blithely about their nuclear capabilities and continue their militant aggression against each other across the still- disputed Kashmir border.
Fallen Women in the novel and film
Abducted women like Ayah and Hamdia, Lenny’s new nanny are viewed with suspicion from Lenny.
Page 226
“It isn’t a jail, Lenny baby…it’s a camp for fallen women.”
“What are fallen women?”
“Hai! The questions you ask! Your mother won’t like such talk…Now keep quiet”
“Are you a fallen woman?”
Fallen women – Abducted and raped women
In the aftermath of the 1947 declaration of Indian independence, the roughly drawn new state boundaries triggered what may have been the biggest migration in human history.
Historical consensus supports a figure of 12 million people displaced, although the BBC suggests figures as high as 14.5 million people. An undeclared civil war erupted as communities of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs fought one another to establish their own identities in their redefined homelands. And, in the process, the Indian government estimates, 83,000 women were abused and abducted. Others put the number even higher.
“Rather than being raped and abandoned,” Yasmin Khan writes in The Great Partition: The ...
Barriers of therapeutic relationshipThe therapeutic relations.docxrock73
Barriers of therapeutic relationship:
The therapeutic relationship between patient and nurse is often filled with barriers that can generate obstacles for the relationship and, in the end, the health system as a whole (Sfoggia et al.,2014). There are many factors that hinder building a therapeutic relationship: language, professional jargon, communication impairment, and cultural diversity (ibid).
Language:
Language can be an obstacle to nurse-patient communication because a patient may not be able to speak the same language and therefore communication is not possible (Levin,2006). The best way to overcome this barrier is providing a translator who can explain a professional facilitator's message easily to the patient(ibid). For instance, if the nurse only speaks English but the patient is only able to speak Arabic, a translation to the patient of what the professional facilitator is saying leads to less chance of misunderstanding (ibid). Translation also allows a patient to feel comfortable through being able to speak in their own language (ibid).
Medical jargon:
Jargon is a technical language that is comprehended by people in a specific industry or area of work (Leblanc et al.,2014). Health professionals often use jargon to communicate with each other(ibid). For example, T.B. disease stands for tubercle bacillus and HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus (Mccrary & Christensen,1993). Jargon often makes sense to health professionals but a patient who does not understand these acronyms will not understand such communication, leading to a barrier in therapeutic relationship between patient and health professional (Leblanc et al.,2014).
Communication impairment:
Patients with communication impairment such as blindness, deafness and speech impairment often feel isolated, frustrated and self-conscious (O’Halloran et al.,2009). Some patients are born with such disabilities or have developed them as a result of disease (ibid). Therefore, nurses should provide enough time in order to describe any issue to such patients so that they do not feel uncomfortable or censured by health professionals, who must remain impartial (ibid).
Cultural diversity:
Patients often have various differences (Leblanc et al.,2014).Some of these differences are due to a patient's illness, social status, economic class, education and personality(ibid). However, according to Kirkham (1998), the deepest differences might be cultural diversity. Beheri (2009) points out that many nurses believe if they just treat patients with respect, they will avoid most cultural issues. Nevertheless, avoiding misunderstanding can be achieved through some knowledge of cultural customs, which might help and enable nurses to provide better health care to patients (ibid).
Facilitators of therapeutic relationship:
UNCRPD (2006) states that the most fundamental human right in hospital is communication. Patients are required to be provided with an effective communication method by nurs ...
Barada 2Mohamad BaradaProfessor Andrew DurdinReligions of .docxrock73
Barada 2
Mohamad Barada
Professor Andrew Durdin
Religions of the World Hum 201-02
March 23rd, 2018
References:
1. Rachel. Rachel’s Musings: Buddhism is a Religion. Retrieved from https://www.rabe.org/thoughts-on-buddhism/buddhism-is-a-religion/
2. Winfield, Pamela. The Conversation: Why so many Americans think Buddhism is just a philosophy. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/why-so-many-americans-think-buddhism-is-just-a-philosophy-89488
Critical Analysis of the religious nature of Buddhism
The religious community often debates on whether Buddhism is categorized as a religion or as philosophical teaching. The answer to the question varies depending on an individual’s point of view. There are three main types of Buddhism practices across the world with each of them having smaller branches with slights variances in their teachings and beliefs. The different styles of Buddhist mainly encompass Theravada Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism, and Mahayana Buddhism. The various forms often have deities that are worshipped while others do not. Some often have scriptures while others do not usually believe in any physical form of the Buddhist teachings. The first article is authored by Rachel, a blogger, presenting the argument that Buddhism is a religion (Rachel, 1). On the other hand, the second article authored by Pamela Winfield recognizes Buddhism as a philosophy. Analyzing and comparing the two pieces having divergent views on the religious nature of Buddhism is crucial for understanding whether it is a religion or philosophy.
Summary of the articles
Rachel in her article considers Buddhism as a religion. The author acknowledges the fact that Mahayana Buddhism which is often found in greater part of Asia that includes Japan, Korea, and China often teaches on attaining enlightenment (Rachel, 1). The Mahayana often accept that every individual wishes to ensure the effective attainment of enlightenment and thus end the cycle of rebirth which others recognize as “Karma.” The article proceeds to state that Buddha is the greatest of the deities but is not worshipped. Instead, Buddha often inspires all those who practice doing as he once did. The author states that Buddhism often requires that the individuals that choose the wrong path attempt to re-accomplish these tasks in their next life alongside other punishments imposed on them by karma. The characteristics of this type of Buddhism thus often play a significant role in showing the religious nature of Buddhism. The author concludes by stating that Buddhism often contains all the different elements of a religion. Moreover, the article associates Buddhism with fallacies that characterize other religions and just as dangerous as other religions as well. A quote proves the claim on the dangerous nature of Buddhism that the author uses to summarize the teachings of Buddhism.
On the other hand, Winfield tends to focus on enlightening the readers on some of the aspects of Buddhism that ensures its a ...
Honest Reviews of Tim Han LMA Course Program.pptxtimhan337
Personal development courses are widely available today, with each one promising life-changing outcomes. Tim Han’s Life Mastery Achievers (LMA) Course has drawn a lot of interest. In addition to offering my frank assessment of Success Insider’s LMA Course, this piece examines the course’s effects via a variety of Tim Han LMA course reviews and Success Insider comments.
Read| The latest issue of The Challenger is here! We are thrilled to announce that our school paper has qualified for the NATIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE (NSPC) 2024. Thank you for your unwavering support and trust. Dive into the stories that made us stand out!
Palestine last event orientationfvgnh .pptxRaedMohamed3
An EFL lesson about the current events in Palestine. It is intended to be for intermediate students who wish to increase their listening skills through a short lesson in power point.
The Roman Empire A Historical Colossus.pdfkaushalkr1407
The Roman Empire, a vast and enduring power, stands as one of history's most remarkable civilizations, leaving an indelible imprint on the world. It emerged from the Roman Republic, transitioning into an imperial powerhouse under the leadership of Augustus Caesar in 27 BCE. This transformation marked the beginning of an era defined by unprecedented territorial expansion, architectural marvels, and profound cultural influence.
The empire's roots lie in the city of Rome, founded, according to legend, by Romulus in 753 BCE. Over centuries, Rome evolved from a small settlement to a formidable republic, characterized by a complex political system with elected officials and checks on power. However, internal strife, class conflicts, and military ambitions paved the way for the end of the Republic. Julius Caesar’s dictatorship and subsequent assassination in 44 BCE created a power vacuum, leading to a civil war. Octavian, later Augustus, emerged victorious, heralding the Roman Empire’s birth.
Under Augustus, the empire experienced the Pax Romana, a 200-year period of relative peace and stability. Augustus reformed the military, established efficient administrative systems, and initiated grand construction projects. The empire's borders expanded, encompassing territories from Britain to Egypt and from Spain to the Euphrates. Roman legions, renowned for their discipline and engineering prowess, secured and maintained these vast territories, building roads, fortifications, and cities that facilitated control and integration.
The Roman Empire’s society was hierarchical, with a rigid class system. At the top were the patricians, wealthy elites who held significant political power. Below them were the plebeians, free citizens with limited political influence, and the vast numbers of slaves who formed the backbone of the economy. The family unit was central, governed by the paterfamilias, the male head who held absolute authority.
Culturally, the Romans were eclectic, absorbing and adapting elements from the civilizations they encountered, particularly the Greeks. Roman art, literature, and philosophy reflected this synthesis, creating a rich cultural tapestry. Latin, the Roman language, became the lingua franca of the Western world, influencing numerous modern languages.
Roman architecture and engineering achievements were monumental. They perfected the arch, vault, and dome, constructing enduring structures like the Colosseum, Pantheon, and aqueducts. These engineering marvels not only showcased Roman ingenuity but also served practical purposes, from public entertainment to water supply.
Francesca Gottschalk - How can education support child empowerment.pptxEduSkills OECD
Francesca Gottschalk from the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation presents at the Ask an Expert Webinar: How can education support child empowerment?
Unit 8 - Information and Communication Technology (Paper I).pdfThiyagu K
This slides describes the basic concepts of ICT, basics of Email, Emerging Technology and Digital Initiatives in Education. This presentations aligns with the UGC Paper I syllabus.
Model Attribute Check Company Auto PropertyCeline George
In Odoo, the multi-company feature allows you to manage multiple companies within a single Odoo database instance. Each company can have its own configurations while still sharing common resources such as products, customers, and suppliers.
Welcome to TechSoup New Member Orientation and Q&A (May 2024).pdfTechSoup
In this webinar you will learn how your organization can access TechSoup's wide variety of product discount and donation programs. From hardware to software, we'll give you a tour of the tools available to help your nonprofit with productivity, collaboration, financial management, donor tracking, security, and more.
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
Acetabularia acetabulum is a single-celled green alga that in its vegetative state is morphologically differentiated into a basal rhizoid and an axially elongated stalk, which bears whorls of branching hairs. The single diploid nucleus resides in the rhizoid.
Assignment Questions1. Has Father Daniel Mary established .docx
1. Assignment Questions
1. Has Father Daniel Mary established a future direction for the
Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? What is his
vision for the monastery? What is his vision for Mystic Monk
Coffee? What is the mission of the Carmelite
Monks of Wyoming?
2. Does it appear that Father Daniel Mary has set defi nite
objectives and performance targets for achieving his
vision?
3. What is Father Prior’s strategy for achieving his vision?
What competitive advantage might Mystic Monk
Coffee’s strategy produce?
4. Is Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy a money-maker? What is
MMC’s business model? What is your assessment
of Mystic Monk Coffee’s customer value proposition? its profi t
formula?
5. Does the strategy qualify as a winning strategy? Why or why
not?
6. What recommendations would you make to Father Daniel
Mary in terms of crafting and executing strategy
for the monastery’s coffee operations? Are changed needed in
its long-term direction? its objectives? its
strategy? its approach to strategy execution? Explain.
C
2. A
S
E
1
Mystic Monk Coffee
A Guide to Case Analysis
I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When; And How and Where
and Who.
Rudyard Kipling
(
I
)n most courses in strategic management, students use cases
about actual companies to practice strategic analysis and to gain
some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing
3. strategy. A case sets forth, in a factual manner, the events and
organizational circumstances surrounding a particular
managerial situation. It puts
readers at the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all
the relevant circumstances. A case on strategic management can
concern a whole industry, a single organization, or some part of
an organization; the organization involved can be either profit
seeking or not-for-profit. The essence of the student’s role in
case analysis is to diagnose and size up the situation described
in the case and then to recommend appropriate action steps.
Why Use Cases to Practice Strategic Management?
(
4
) (
STRATEGY:
Core
Concepts
and
Analytical
Approaches
)
(
5
) (
A
Guide
4. to
Case
Analysis
)
A student of business with tact Absorbed many answers he
lacked. But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fit answer to fact?”
The foregoing limerick was used some years ago by Professor
Charles Gragg to characterize the plight of business students
who had no exposure to cases.1 The facts are that the mere act
of listening to lectures and sound advice about managing does
little for anyone’s management skills and that the accumulated
managerial wisdom cannot effectively be passed on by lectures
and assigned readings alone. If anything had been learned about
the practice of management,
it is that a storehouse of ready-made textbook answers does not
exist. Each managerial situation has unique aspects, requiring
its own diagnosis, judgment, and tailor-made actions. Cases
provide would-be managers with a valuable way to practice
wrestling with the actual problems of actual managers in actual
companies.
The case approach to strategic analysis is, first and foremost, an
exercise in learning by doing. Because cases provide you with
detailed information about conditions and problems of different
industries and companies, your task of analyzing company after
company and situation after situation has the twin benefit of
boosting your analytical skills and exposing you to the ways
companies and managers actually do things. Most college
5. students have limited managerial backgrounds and only
fragmented knowledge about companies and real-life strategic
situations. Cases help substitute for on-the-job experience by
(1) giving you broader exposure to a variety of industries,
organizations, and strategic problems; (2) forcing you to assume
a managerial role (as opposed to that of just an onlooker); (3)
providing a test of how to apply the tools and techniques of
strategic management; and
(4) asking you to come up with pragmatic managerial action
plans to deal with the issues at hand.
Objectives of Case Analysis
Using cases to learn about the practice of strategic management
is a powerful way for you to accomplish five things:2
1. Increase your understanding of what managers should and
should not do in guiding a business to success.
2. Build your skills in sizing up company resource strengths
and weaknesses and in conducting strategic analysis in a variety
of industries and competitive situations.
3. Get valuable practice in identifying strategic issues that need
to be addressed, evaluating strategic alternatives, and
formulating workable plans of action.
4. Enhance your sense of business judgment, as opposed to
uncritically accepting the authoritative crutch of the professor
or “back-of-the-book” answers.
5. Gaining in-depth exposure to different industries and
companies, thereby acquiring something close to actual business
experience.
If you understand that these are the objectives of case analysis,
you are less likely to be consumed with curiosity about “the
6. answer to the case.” Students who have grown comfortable with
and accustomed to textbook statements of fact and definitive
lecture notes are often frustrated when discussions about a case
do not produce concrete answers. Usually, case discussions
produce good arguments for more than one course of action.
Differences of opinion nearly always exist. Thus, should a class
discussion conclude without a strong, unambiguous consensus
on what do to, don’t grumble too much when you are not told
what the answer is or what the company actually did. Just
remember that in the business world answers don’t come in
conclusive black-and-white terms. There are nearly always
several feasible courses of action and approaches, each of which
may work out satisfactorily. Moreover, in the business world,
when one elects a particular course of action, there is no
peeking at the back of a book to see if you have chosen the best
thing to do and no one to turn to for a provably correct answer.
The best test of whether management action is “right’ or
“wrong” is results. If the results of an action turn out to be
“good,” the decision to take it may be presumed “right.” If not,
then the action chosen was “wrong” in the sense that it didn’t
work out
Hence, the important thing for you to understand about
analyzing cases is that the managerial exercise of identifying,
diagnosing, and recommending is aimed at building your skills
of business judgment. Discovering what the company actually
did is no more than frosting on the cake—the actions that
company managers actually took may or may not be “right” or
best (unless there is accompanying evidence that the results of
their actions were highly positive.
The point is this: The purpose of giving you a case assignment
is not to cause you to run to the library or surf the Internet to
discover what the company actually did but, rather, to enhance
your skills in sizing up situations and developing your
managerial judgment about what needs to be done and how to
7. do it. The aim of case analysis is for you to become actively
engaged in diagnosing the business issues and managerial
problems posed in the case, to propose workable solutions, and
to explain and defend your assessments—this is how cases
provide you with meaningful practice at being a manager.
Preparing a Case for Class Discussion
If this is your first experience with the case method, you may
have to reorient your study habits. Unlike lecture courses where
you can get by without preparing intensively for each class and
where you have latitude to work assigned readings and reviews
of lecture notes into your schedule, a case assignment requires
conscientious preparation before class. You will not get much
out of hearing the class discuss a case you haven’t read, and you
certainly won’t be able to contribute anything yourself to the
discussion. What you have got to do to get ready for class
discussion of a case is to study the case, reflect carefully on the
situation presented, and develop some reasoned thoughts. Your
goal in preparing the case should be to end up with what you
think is a sound, well-supported analysis of the situation and a
sound, defensible set of recommendations about which
managerial actions need to be taken.
To prepare a case for class discussion, we suggest the following
approach:
1. Skim the case rather quickly to get an overview of the
situation it presents. This quick overview should give you the
general flavor of the situation and indicate the kinds of issues
and problems that you will need to wrestle with. If your
instructor has provided you with study questions for the case,
now is the time to read them carefully.
2. Read the case thoroughly to digest the facts and
circumstances. On this reading, try to gain full command of the
situation presented in the case. Begin to develop some tentative
8. answers to the study questions your instructor has provided. If
your instructor has elected not to give you assignment
questions, then start forming your own picture of the overall
situation being described.
3. Carefully review all the information presented in the
exhibits. Often, there is an important story in the numbers
contained in the exhibits. Expect the information in the case
exhibits to be crucial enough to materially affect your diagnosis
of the situation.
4. Decide what the strategic issues are. Until you have
identified the strategic issues and problems in the case, you
don’t know what to analyze, which tools and analytical
techniques are called for, or otherwise how to proceed. At times
the strategic issues are clear—either being stated in the case or
else obvious from reading the case. At other times you will have
to dig them out from all the information given; if so, the study
questions will guide you.
5. Start your analysis of the issues with some number
crunching. A big majority of strategy cases call for some kind
of number crunching—calculating assorted financial ratios to
check out the company’s financial condition and recent
performance, calculating growth rates of sales or profits or unit
volume, checking out profit margins and the makeup of the cost
structure, and understanding whatever revenue-cost-profit
relationships are present. See Table 1 for a summary of key
financial ratios, how they are calculated, and what they show.
6. Apply the concepts and techniques of strategic analysis you
have been studying. Strategic analysis is not just a collection of
opinions; rather, it entails applying the concepts and analytical
tools described in Chapters 1 through 13 to cut beneath the
surface and produce sharp insight and understanding. Every
9. case assigned is strategy related and presents you with an
opportunity to usefully apply what you have learned. Your
instructor is looking for you to demonstrate that you know how
and when to use the material presented in the text chapters.
7. Check out conflicting opinions and make some judgments
about the validity of all the data and information provided.
Many times cases report views and contradictory opinions (after
all, people don’t always agree on things, and different people
see the same things in different ways). Forcing you to evaluate
the data and information presented in the case helps you
develop your powers of inference and judgment. Asking you to
resolve conflicting information “comes with the territory”
because a great many managerial situations entail opposing
points of view, conflicting trends, and sketchy information.
8. Support your diagnosis and opinions with reasons and
evidence. The most important things to prepare for are your
answers to the question “Why?” For instance, if after studying
the case you are of the opinion that the company’s managers are
doing a poor job, then it is your answer to “Why?” that
establishes just how good your analysis of the situation is. If
your instructor has provided you with specific study questions
for the case, by all means prepare answers that include all the
reasons and number-crunching evidence you can muster to
support your diagnosis. If you are using study questions
provided by the instructor, generate at least two pages of notes!
9. Develop an appropriate action plan and set of
recommendations. Diagnosis divorced from corrective action is
sterile. The test of a manager is always to convert sound
analysis into sound actions—actions that will produce the
desired results. Hence, the final and most telling step in
preparing a case is to develop an action agenda for management
that lays out a set of specific recommendations on what to do.
Bear in mind that proposing realistic, workable solutions is far
10. preferable to casually tossing out off-the-top-of-your-head
suggestions. Be prepared to argue why your recommendations
are more attractive than other courses of action that are open.
Table 1 Key Financial Ratios: How to Calculate Them and
What They Mean
Ratio
How Calculated
What It Shows
Profitability ratios
1. Gross profit margin
Sales revenues – Cost of goods sold Sales revenues
Shows the percentage of revenues available to cover operating
expenses and yield a profit. Higher is better and the trend
should be upward.
2. Operating profit margin (or return on sales)
Sales revenues – Operating expenses Sales
or Operating income Sales revenues
Shows the profitability of current operations without regard to
interest charges and income taxes. Higher is better and the trend
should be upward.
3. Net profit margin (or net return on sales)
Profits after taxes Sales revenues
Shows after tax profits per dollar of sales. Higher is better and
the trend should be upward.
4. Return on total assets
Profits after taxes + interest Total assets
A measure of the return on total assets earned by both lenders
and stockholders. Interest is added to after
tax profits to form the numerator since total assets are financed
by the lenders of borrowed funds as well as by stockholders.
Higher is better, and the trend should be upward.
5. Net return on total assets
Profits after taxes Total assets
11. A measure of the return earned by stockholders on the firm’s
total assets. Higher is better, and the trend should be upward.
6. Return on invested capital (ROIC)
Profits after taxes Long term debt + Total stockholders’
equity
Shows the return that both stockholders and the providers of
long-term loans are earning on the capital that has been invested
in the company. A higher ROIC reflects greater bottom-line
effectiveness in the use of long-term capital, and the trend in
ROIC should be upward.
7. Return on stockholders’ equity (ROE)
Profits after taxes Total stockholders’ equity
Shows the return stockholders are earning on their investment in
the enterprise. A return in the 12% to 15% range is “average,”
and the trend should be upward.
8. Earnings per share (EPS)
Profits after taxes Number of shares of common stock
outstanding
Shows the earnings for each share of common stock
outstanding. The trend in EPS should be upward, and the bigger
the annual percentage gains, the better.
Liquidity Ratios
1. Current ratio
Current assets Current liabilities
Shows a firm’s ability to pay current liabilities using assets that
can be converted to cash in the near term. Ratio should
definitely be higher than 1.0; ratios of 2 or higher are better
still.
2. Working capital
Current assets – Current liabilities
Bigger amounts are better because the company has more
internal funds available to (1) pay its current liabilities on a
timely basis and (2) finance inventory expansion, additional
accounts receivable, and a larger base of operations without
resorting to borrowing or raising more equity capital.
Leverage Ratios
12. 1. Total debt-to-assets ratio
Total debt Total assets
Measures the extent to which borrowed funds (both short-term
loans and long-term debt) have been used to finance the firm’s
operations. A low fraction or ratio is better—a high fraction
indicates overuse of debt and greater risk of bankruptcy.
continued
6 STRATEGY: Core Concepts and Analytical Approaches
Table 1 continued
Ratio
How Calculated
What It Shows
Leverage Ratios continued
2. Long-term debt-to-capital ratio
Long-term debt Long-term debt +
total stockholders’ equity
An important measure of creditworthiness and balance sheet
strength. It indicates the percentage of capital investment in the
enterprise that has been financed by both long-term lenders and
stockholders. A ratio below
0.25 is usually preferable since monies invested by stockholders
account for 75% or more of the company’s total capital. The
lower the ratio, the greater the capacity to borrow additional
funds. A debt-to capital ratio above
0.50 and certainly above 0.75 indicates a heavy and perhaps
excessive reliance on long-term borrowing, lower
creditworthiness, and weak balance sheet strength.
3. Debt-to-equity ratio
Total debt
Total stockholders’ equity
Shows the balance between debt (funds borrowed both short-
term and long-term) and the amount that stockholders have
invested in the enterprise. A low ratio indicates greater
capacity to borrow additional funds if needed.
13. 4. Times-interest-earned (or coverage) ratio
Operating income Interest expenses
Measures the ability to pay annual interest charges. Lenders
usually insist on a minimum ratio of 2.0, but ratios above 3.0
signal better creditworthiness.
Activity Ratios
1. Days of inventory
Inventory
Cost of goods sold ÷ 365
Measures inventory management efficiency. Fewer days of
inventory are usually better.
2. Inventory turnover
Cost of goods sold Inventory
Measures the number of inventory turns per year. Higher is
better.
3. Average collection period
Accounts receivable Total sales revenues ÷ 365
or Accounts receivable Average daily sales
Indicates the average length of time the firm must wait after
making a sale to receive cash payment. A shorter collection
time is better.
Other Important Measures of Financial Performance
1. Dividend yield on common stock
Annual dividends per share Current market price per share
A measure of the return that shareholders receive in the form of
dividends. A “typical” dividend yield is 2-3%.
The dividend yield for fast-growth companies is often below 1%
(maybe even 0); the dividend yield for slow- growth companies
can run 4-5%.
2. Price-earnings ratio
Current market price per share Earnings per share
P-e ratios above 20 indicate strong investor confidence in a
firm’s outlook and earnings growth; firms whose future earnings
are at risk or likely to grow slowly typically have ratios below
12.
3. Dividend payout ratio
14. Annual dividends per share Earnings per share
Indicates the percentage of after-tax profits paid out as
dividends.
4. Internal cash flow
After tax profits + Depreciation
A quick and rough estimate of the cash a company’s business is
generating after payment of operating expenses, interest, and
taxes. Such amounts can be used for dividend payments or
funding capital expenditures.
5. Free cash flow
After tax profits + Depreciation – Capital Expenditures –
Dividends
A quick and rough estimate of the cash a company’s business is
generating after payment of operating expenses, interest, taxes,
dividends, and desirable reinvestments in the business. The
larger a company’s free cash flow, the greater is its ability to
internally fund new strategic initiatives, repay debt, make new
acquisitions, repurchase shares of stock, or increase dividend
payments.
As long as you are conscientious in preparing your analysis and
recommendations, and have ample reasons, evidence, and
arguments to support your views, you shouldn’t fret unduly
about whether what you’ve prepared is “the right answer” to the
case. In case analysis there is rarely just one right approach or
set of recommendations. Managing companies and crafting and
executing strategies are not such exact sciences that there exists
a single provably correct analysis and action plan for each
strategic situation. Of course, some analyses and action plans
are better than others; but, in truth, there’s nearly always more
than one good way to analyze a situation and more than one
good plan of action.
Participating in Class Discussion of a Case
15. Classroom discussions of cases are sharply different from
attending a lecture class. In a case class students do most of the
talking. The instructor’s role is to solicit student participation,
keep the discussion on track, ask “Why?” often, offer
alternative views, play the devil’s advocate (if no students jump
in to offer opposing views), and otherwise lead the discussion.
The students in the class carry the burden for analyzing the
situation and for being prepared to present and defend their
diagnoses and recommendations. Expect a classroom
environment, therefore, that calls for your size-up of the
situation, your analysis, what actions you would take, and why
you would take them. Do not be dismayed if, as the class
discussion unfolds, some insightful things are said by your
fellow classmates that you did not think of. It is normal for
views and analyses to differ and for the comments of others in
the class to expand your own thinking about the case. As the old
adage goes, “Two heads are better than one.” So it is to be
expected that the class as a whole will do a more penetrating
and searching job of case analysis than will any one person
working alone. This is the power of group effort, and its virtues
are that it will help you see more analytical applications, let you
test your analyses and judgments against those of your peers,
and force you to wrestle with differences of opinion and
approaches.
To orient you to the classroom environment on the days a case
discussion is scheduled, we compiled the following list of
things to expect
1. Expect the instructor to assume the role of extensive
questioner and listener.
2. Expect students to do most of the talking. The case method
enlists a maximum of individual participation in class
discussion. It is not enough to be present as a silent observer; if
every student took this approach, there would be no discussion.
16. (Thus, expect a portion of your grade to be based on your
participation in case discussions.)
3. Be prepared for the instructor to probe for reasons and
supporting analysis.
4. Expect and tolerate challenges to the views expressed. All
students have to be willing to submit their conclusions for
scrutiny and rebuttal. Each student needs to learn to state his or
her views without fear of disapproval and to overcome the
hesitation of speaking out. Learning respect for the views and
approaches of others is an integral part of case analysis
exercises. But there are times when it is OK to swim against the
tide of majority opinion. In the practice of management, there is
always room for originality and unorthodox approaches. So
while discussion of a case is a group process, there is no
compulsion for you or anyone else to cave in and conform to
group opinions and group consensus.
5. Don’t be surprised if you change your mind about some
things as the discussion unfolds. Be alert to how these changes
affect your analysis and recommendations (in the event you get
called on).
6. Expect to learn a lot in class as the discussion of a case
progresses; furthermore, you will find that the cases build on
one another—what you learn in one case helps prepare you for
the next case discussion.
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There are several things you can do on your own to be good and
look good as a participant in class discussions:
Although you should do your own independent work and
independent thinking, don’t hesitate before (and after) class to
discuss the case with other students. In real life, managers often
discuss the company’s problems and situation with other people
to refine their own thinking.
n In participating in the discussion, make a conscious effort
to contribute, rather than just talk. There is a big difference
between saying something that builds the discussion and
offering a long-winded, off-the-cuff remark that leaves the class
wondering what the point was.
18. n Avoid the use of “I think,” “I believe,” and “I feel”;
instead, say, “My analysis shows —” and “The
company should do
.because
.” Always give supporting reasons and evidence for
your views; then your instructor won’t have to ask you “Why?”
every time you make a comment.
n In making your points, assume that everyone has read the
case and knows what it says; avoid reciting and rehashing
information in the case—instead, use the data and information
to explain your assessment of the situation and to support your
position.
n Bring the printouts of the work you’ve done on Case-
TuTor or the notes you’ve prepared (usually two or three pages’
worth) to class and rely on them extensively when you speak.
There’s no way you can remember everything off the top of
your head—especially the results of your number crunching. To
reel off the numbers or to present all five reasons why, instead
of one, you will need good notes. When you have prepared
thoughtful answers to the study questions and use them as the
basis for your comments, everybody in the room will know you
are well prepared, and your contribution to the case discussion
will stand out.
Preparing a Written Case Analysis
Preparing a written case analysis is much like preparing a case
for class discussion, except that your analysis must be more
complete and put in report form. Unfortunately, though, there is
no ironclad procedure for doing a written case analysis. All we
19. can offer are some general guidelines and words of wisdom—
this is because company situations and management problems
are so diverse that no one mechanical way to approach a written
case assignment always works.
Your instructor may assign you a specific topic around which to
prepare your written report. Or, alternatively, you may be asked
to do a comprehensive written case analysis, where the
expectation is that you will (1) identify all the pertinent issues
that management needs to address, (2) perform whatever
analysis and evaluation is appropriate, and (3) propose an action
plan and set of recommendations addressing the issues you have
identified. In going through the exercise of identify, evaluate,
and recommend, keep the following pointers in mind.3
Identification It is essential early on in your paper that you
provide a sharply focused diagnosis of strategic issues and key
problems and that you demonstrate a good grasp of the
company’s present situation. Make sure you can identify the
firm’s strategy (use the concepts and tools in Chapters 1–5 as
diagnostic aids) and that you can pinpoint whatever strategy
implementation issues may exist (again, consult the material in
Chapters 9–11 for diagnostic help). Consult the key points
provided at the end of each chapter for further diagnostic
suggestions. Consider beginning your paper with an overview of
the company’s situation, its strategy, and the significant
problems and issues that confront management. State
problems/issues as clearly and precisely as you can. Unless it is
necessary to do so for emphasis, avoid recounting facts and
history about the company (assume your professor has read the
case and is familiar with the organization).
Analysis and Evaluation This is usually the hardest part of the
report. Analysis is hard work! Check out the firm’s financial
ratios, its profit margins and rates of return, and its capital
20. structure, and decide how strong the firm is financially. Table 1
contains a summary of various financial ratios and how they are
calculated. Use it to assist in your financial diagnosis.
Similarly, look at marketing, production, managerial
competence, and other factors underlying the organization’s
strategic successes and failures. Decide whether the firm has
valuable resource strengths and competencies and, if so,
whether it is capitalizing on them.
Check to see if the firm’s strategy is producing satisfactory
results and determine the reasons why or why not. Probe the
nature and strength of the competitive forces confronting the
company. Decide whether and why the firm’s competitive
position is getting stronger or weaker. Use the tools and
concepts you have learned about to perform whatever analysis
and evaluation is appropriate.
In writing your analysis and evaluation, bear in mind four
things:
1. You are obliged to offer analysis and evidence to back up
your conclusions. Do not rely on unsupported opinions, over-
generalizations, and platitudes as a substitute for tight, logical
argument backed up with facts and figures.
2. If your analysis involves some important quantitative
calculations, use tables and charts to present the calculations
clearly and efficiently. Don’t just tack the exhibits on at the end
of your report and let the reader figure out what they mean and
why they were included. Instead, in the body of your report cite
some of the key numbers, highlight the conclusions to be drawn
from the exhibits, and refer the reader to your charts and
exhibits for more details.
3. Demonstrate that you have command of the strategic concepts
and analytical tools to which you have been exposed. Use them
21. in your report.
4. Your interpretation of the evidence should be reasonable and
objective. Be wary of preparing a one-sided argument that omits
all aspects not favorable to your conclusions. Likewise, try not
to exaggerate or overdramatize. Endeavor to inject balance into
your analysis and to avoid emotional rhetoric. Strike phrases
such as “I think,” “I feel,” and “I believe” when you edit your
first draft and write in “My analysis shows,” instead.
Recommendations The final section of the written case analysis
should consist of a set of definite recommendations and a plan
of action. Your set of recommendations should address all of
the problems/issues you identified and analyzed. If the
recommendations come as a surprise or do not follow logically
from the analysis, the effect is to weaken greatly your
suggestions of what to do. Obviously, your recommendations
for actions should offer a reasonable prospect of success. High-
risk, bet-the-company recommendations should be made with
caution. State how your recommendations will solve the
problems you identified. Be sure the company is financially
able to carry out what you recommend; also check to see if your
recommendations are workable in terms of acceptance by the
persons involved, the organization’s competence to implement
them, and prevailing market and environmental constraints. Try
not to hedge or weasel on the actions you believe should be
taken.
By all means state your recommendations in sufficient detail to
be meaningful—get down to some definite nitty-gritty specifics.
Avoid such unhelpful statements as “the organization should do
more planning” or “the company should be more aggressive in
marketing its product.” For instance, if you determine that “the
firm should improve its market position,” then you need to set
forth exactly how you think this should be done. Offer a
definite agenda for action, stipulating a timetable and sequence
22. for initiating actions, indicating priorities, and suggesting who
should be responsible for doing what.
In proposing an action plan, remember there is a great deal of
difference between, on the one hand, being responsible for a
decision that may be costly if it proves in error and, on the
other hand, casually suggesting courses of action that might be
taken when you do not have to bear the responsibility for any of
the consequences.
A good rule to follow in making your recommendations is:
Avoid recommending anything you would not yourself be
willing to do if you were in management’s shoes. The
importance of learning to develop good managerial judgment is
indicated by the fact that, even though the same information and
operating data may be available to every manager or executive
in an organization, the quality of the judgments about what the
information means and which actions need to be taken does vary
from person to person.4
It goes without saying that your report should be well organized
and well written. Great ideas amount to little unless others can
be convinced of their merit—this takes tight logic, the
presentation of convincing evidence, and persuasively written
arguments.
Preparing an Oral Presentation
During the course of your business career it is very likely that
you will be called upon to prepare and give a number of oral
presentations. For this reason, it is common in courses of this
nature to assign cases for oral presentation to the whole class.
Such assignments give you an opportunity to hone your
presentation skills.
The preparation of an oral presentation has much in common
23. with that of a written case analysis. Both require identification
of the strategic issues and problems confronting the company,
analysis of industry conditions and the company’s situation, and
the development of a thorough, well-thought out action plan.
The substance of your analysis and quality of your
recommendations in an oral presentation should be no different
than in a written report. As with a written assignment, you’ll
need to demonstrate command of the relevant strategic concepts
and tools of analysis and your recommendations should contain
sufficient detail to provide clear direction for management. The
main difference between an oral presentation and a written case
is in the delivery format. Oral presentations rely principally on
verbalizing your diagnosis, analysis, and recommendations and
visually enhancing and supporting your oral discussion with
colorful, snappy slides (usually created on Microsoft’s
PowerPoint software).
Typically, oral presentations involve group assignments. Your
instructor will provide the details of the assignment—how work
should be delegated among the group members and how the
presentation should be conducted. Some instructors prefer that
presentations begin with issue identification, followed by
analysis of the industry and company situation analysis, and
conclude with a recommended action plan to improve company
performance. Other instructors prefer that the presenters assume
that the class has a good understanding of the external industry
environment and the company’s competitive position and expect
the presentation to be strongly focused on the group’s
recommended action plan and supporting analysis and
arguments. The latter approach requires cutting straight to the
heart of the case and supporting each recommendation with
detailed analysis and persuasive reasoning. Still other
instructors may give you the latitude to structure your
presentation however you and your group members see fit.
Regardless of the style preferred by your instructor, you should
24. take great care in preparing for the presentation. A good set of
slides with good content and good visual appeal is essential to a
first-rate presentation. Take some care to choose a nice slide
design, font size and style, and color scheme. We suggest
including slides covering each of the following areas:
n An opening slide covering the “title” of the presentation
and names of the presenters.
n A slide showing an outline of the presentation (perhaps
with presenters’ names by each topic).
n One or more slides showing the key problems and strategic
issues that management needs to address.
n A series of slides covering your analysis of the company’s
situation.
n A series of slides containing your recommendations and
the supporting arguments and reasoning for each
recommendation—one slide for each recommendation and the
associated reasoning has a lot of merit.
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You and your team members should carefully plan and rehearse
your slide show to maximize impact and minimize distractions.
The slide show should include all of the pizzazz necessary to
garner the attention of the audience, but not so much that it
distracts from the content of what group members are saying to
the class. You should remember that the role of slides is to help
you communicate your points to the audience. Too many
graphics, images, colors, and transitions may divert the
audience’s attention from what is being said or disrupt the flow
of the presentation. Keep in mind that visually dazzling slides
rarely hide a shallow or superficial or otherwise flawed case
analysis from a perceptive audience. Most instructors will tell
you that first-rate slides will definitely enhance a well-delivered
presentation but that impressive visual aids, if accompanied by
weak analysis and poor oral delivery, still adds up to a
substandard presentation.
Researching Companies and Industries via the Internet and
Online Data Services
Very likely, there will be occasions when you need to get
26. additional information about some of the assigned cases,
perhaps because your instructor has asked you to do further
research on the industry or company or because you are simply
curious about what has happened to the company since the case
was written. These days it is relatively easy to run down recent
industry developments and to find out whether a company’s
strategic and financial situation has improved, deteriorated, or
changed little since the conclusion of the case. The amount of
information about companies and industries available on the
Internet and through online data services is formidable and
expanding rapidly.
It is a fairly simple matter to go to company Web sites, click on
the investor information offerings and press release files, and
get quickly to useful information. Most company Web sites
allow you to view or print the company’s quarterly and annual
reports, its 10K and 10Q filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, and various company press releases of
interest. Frequently, a company’s Web site will also provide
information about its mission and vision statements, values
statements, codes of ethics, and strategy information, as well as
charts of the company’s stock price. The company’s recent press
releases typically contain reliable information about what of
interest has been going on—new product introductions, recent
alliances and partnership agreements, recent acquisitions,
summaries of the latest financial results, tidbits about the
company’s strategy, guidance about future revenues and
earnings, and other late-breaking company developments. Some
company Web pages also include links to the home pages of
industry trade associations where you can find information
about industry size, growth, recent industry news, statistical
trends, and future outlook. Thus, an early step in researching a
company on the Internet is always to go to its Web site and see
what’s available.
27. Online Data Services
Lexis-Nexis, Bloomberg Financial News Services, and other on-
line subscription services available in many university libraries
provide access to a wide array of business reference material.
For example, the web-based Lexis-NexisAcademic Universe
contains business news articles from general news sources,
business publications, and industry trade publications.
Broadcast transcripts from financial news programs are also
available through Lexis-Nexis, as are full-text 10-Ks, 10-Qs,
annual reports, and company profiles for more than 11,000 U.S.
and international companies. Your business librarian should be
able to direct you to the resources available through your
library that will aid you in your research.
Public and Subscription Websites with Good Information
Plainly, you can use a search engine such as Google or Yahoo!
or MSN to find the latest news on a company or articles written
by reporters that have appeared in the business media. These
can be very valuable in running down information about recent
company developments. However, keep in mind that the
information retrieved by a search engine is “unfiltered” and may
include sources that are not reliable or that contain inaccurate
or misleading information. Be wary of information provided by
authors who are unaffiliated with reputable
organizations or publications and articles that were published in
off-beat sources or on Web sites with an agenda. Be especially
careful in relying on the accuracy of information you find
posted on various bulletin boards. Articles covering a company
or issue should be copyrighted or published by a reputable
source. If you are turning in a paper containing information
gathered from the Internet, you should cite your sources
28. (providing the Internet address and date visited); it is also wise
to print Web pages for your research file (some Web pages are
updated frequently).
The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes,
Barron’s, and Fortune are all good sources of articles on
companies. The online edition of The Wall Street Journal
contains the same information that is available daily in its print
version of the paper, but the WSJ Web site also maintains a
searchable database of all The Wall Street Journal articles
published during the past few years. Fortune and Bloomberg
Businessweek also make the content of the most current issue
available online to subscribers as well as provide archives
sections that allow you to search for articles related to a
particular keyword that were published during the past few
years.
The following publications and Web sites are particularly good
sources of company and industry information:
Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR
http://www.sec.gov/edgar/ database (contains company 10-
Ks, 10-Qs, etc.) searchedgar/companysearch
Google Finance http://finance.google.com
CNN Money http://money.cnn.com
Hoover’s Online http://hoovers.com
The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition www.wsj.com
Bloomberg Businessweek www.businessweek.com and
www.bloomberg.com
Fortune www.fortune.com
MSN Money Centralhttp://moneycentral.msn.com
Yahoo! Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/
Some of these Internet sources require subscriptions in order to
access their entire databases.
29. You should always explore the investor relations section of
every public company’s Web site; in today’s world, these Web
sites typically have a wealth of information concerning a
company’s mission, core values, performance targets, strategy,
recent financial performance, and latest developments (as
described in company press releases).
Learning Comes Quickly With a modest investment of time, you
will learn how to use Internet sources and search engines to run
down information on companies and industries quickly and
efficiently. And it is a skill that will serve you well into the
future. Once you become familiar with the data available at the
different Web sites mentioned above and with using a search
engine, you will know where to go to look for the particular
information that you want. Search engines nearly always turn up
too many information sources that match your request rather
than two few; the trick is to learn to zero in on those most
relevant to what you are looking for. Like most things, once you
get a little experience under your belt on how to do company
and industry research on the Internet, you will find that you can
readily find the information you need.
The Ten Commandments of Case Analysis
As a way of summarizing our suggestions about how to
approach the task of case analysis, we have compiled what we
like to call “The Ten Commandments of Case Analysis.” They
are shown in Table 2. If you observe all or even most of these
commandments faithfully as you prepare a case either for class
discussion or for a written report, your chances of doing a good
job on the assigned cases will be much improved. Hang in there,
give it your best shot, and have some fun exploring what the
real world of strategic management is all about.
Table 2 The Ten Commandments of Case Analysis
30. To be observed in written reports and oral presentations, and
while participating in class discussions.
1. Go through the case twice, once for a quick overview and
once to gain full command of the facts; then take care to
explore the information in every one of the case exhibits.
2. Make a complete list of the problems and issues that the
company’s management needs to address.
3. Be thorough in your analysis of the company’s situation
(make a minimum of 1 to 2 pages of notes detailing your
diagnosis).
4. Look for opportunities to apply the concepts and analytical
tools in the text chapters—all of the cases in the book have very
definite ties to the material in one or more of the text
chapters!!!!
5. Do enough number crunching to discover the story told by the
data presented in the case. (To help you comply with this
commandment, consult Table 1 in this section to guide your
probing of a company’s financial condition and financial
performance.)
6. Support any and all off-the-cuff opinions with well-reasoned
arguments and numerical evidence; don’t stop until you can
purge “I think” and “I feel” from your assessment and, instead,
are able to rely completely on “My analysis shows.”
7. Prioritize your recommendations and make sure they can be
carried out in an acceptable time frame with the available
resources.
8. Support each recommendation with persuasive argument and
reasons as to why it makes sense and should result in improved
company performance.
9. Review your recommended action plan to see if it addresses
all of the problems and issues you identified—any set of
recommendations that does not address all of the issues and
problems you identified is incomplete and insufficient.
10. Avoid recommending any course of action that could have
31. disastrous consequences if it doesn’t work out as planned;
therefore, be as alert to the downside risks of your
recommendations as you are to their upside potential and
appeal.
EndnotEs
1 Charles I. Gragg, “Because Wisdom Can’t Be Told,” in The
Case Method at the Harvard Business School, ed. M. P. McNair
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1954), p. 11.
2 Ibid., pp. 12–14; and D. R. Schoen and Philip A. Sprague,
“What Is the Case Method?” in The Case Method at the Harvard
Business School, ed. M. P. McNair, pp. 78–79.
3 For some additional ideas and viewpoints, you may wish to
consult Thomas J. Raymond, “Written Analysis of Cases,” in
The Case Method at the Harvard Business School, ed. M. P.
McNair, pp. 139–63. Raymond’s article includes an actual case,
a sample analysis of the case, and a sample of a student’s
written report on the case.
4 Gragg, “Because Wisdom Can’t Be Told,” p. 10.