How to write, analyze and present the case studies

APPLYING CASE STUDY APPROACH IN MANAGEMENT STUDIES
PREPARED BY
C P RIJAL, PHD IN LEADERSHIP
DIRECTOR, MBA PROGRAM
GLOBAL COLLEGE INTERNATIONAL
KATHMANDU, NEPAL
PREPARED FOR
GLOBAL COLLEGE INTERNATIONAL (GCI)
KATHMANDU, NEPAL
IN AFFILIATION WITH SHINAWATRA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY (SIU)
PATHUM THANI, THAILAND
LAST UPDATE
AUGUST, 2015

Rijal, C. P. (2015). Applying case study approach in management studies. Kathmandu: Author. Page 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SN CONTENTS PAGE
1 PREAMBLE………………………………………………………………….2
2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CASE STUDY…………………………………..5
3 ANALYZING THE CASE STUDY…………………………………………5
4 RULE 1: STARTEGIC APPROACH OF CASE ANALYSES……………...5
5 RULE 2: THE PROBLEM-TREE APPROACH……………………………10
6 WRITING A CASE STUDY……………………………………………….12
7 ADDITIONAL INPUTS TO BE CONSIDERED………………………….14
8 SIGNIFICANCE OF FINANCIAL ANALYSES IN A CASE STUDY…...15
9 BRING CASE DISCUSSION TO THE LIFE OF
TEACHING-LEARNING…………………………………………………..21

APPLYING CASE STUDY APPROACH IN MANAGEMENT STUDIES
By Chanakya P Rijal, PhD in Leadership
1. PREAMBLE
A case study presents an account of ‘what happened’ to a business or industry or an
institution over time. Here, the term ‘what happened’ refers to a problematic incident,
event or situation. In business studies, it is applied in the study of various situations that
the people in organizations, mostly the managers, are expected to deal, or have already
dealt with problem situations. For example, the changes in the competitive environment
may lead to changes in management responses, which usually involve changing the
corporate, business, product or service-level strategy.
A case study may be understood as a description of a real life business situation involving
decision-making for problem-solving or taking benefit of evolving opportunities. It can
be based on real situation that actually has happened just as described, or some portion is
disguised for reasons of privacy. Most of the case studies are written in such a way that
the reader takes the place of the manager whose responsibility is to make decision to
solve the problem explained in the case situation. In almost all case studies, a decision
must be made, even though the decision might be leaving the situation as it is and doing
nothing.
The case method is based on a philosophy that combines knowledge acquisition with
significant student involvement. In the words of Alfred North Whitehead, the case
method rejects the doctrine that students first learn passively, and then apply the
knowledge.
The case method is based on what John Dewey has stated -- Only by wrestling with the
conditions of this problem at hand, seeking and finding his own way out, does [the
student] think... If he cannot devise his own solution (not, of course, in isolation, but in
correspondence with the teacher and other pupils) and find his own way out he will not
learn, not even if he can recite some correct answer with a hundred percent accuracy.
The case method brings reality into the classroom, if it is developed and presented
effectively with rich and interesting details. Cases keep conceptual discussions grounded
in the reality. Experience shows that simple fictional accounts of situations and
collections of actual organizational data and articles from public sources are not as
effective for learning as are fully developed cases.
A comprehensive case presents the learners with a partial clinical study of a real-life
situation faced by an organization or a practicing manager. A case presented in a
narrative form provides motivation for involvement as it deals with the depth analyses of
a specific situation. By framing alternative strategic actions and by confronting the
complexity and ambiguity of the practical world, case analysis provides extraordinary
power for learner involvement with a personal, experiential learning opportunity in a
more pragmatic manner.

1. Case analysis requires learners practice important managerial skills -- diagnosing,
making decisions, observing, listening, and persuading while preparing for a case
discussion.
2. Cases require learners relate analyses and actions to develop realistic and concrete
actions despite the complexity and partial knowledge characterizing the situation
being studied.
3. Students must confront the intractability of reality as they are supposed to
complete the whole story in absence of needed detailed information, an imbalance
between needs and available resources, and conflicts among competing
objectives.
As illustrated above, the case method can help effective management conscious people
develop their analytical and judgment skills. Case analysis also helps learn how to ask the
right questions, i.e., the questions that focus on the core strategic issues included within a
case. Learners aspiring to be effective and efficient managers can improve their ability to
identify underlying problems, rather than focusing on superficial symptoms, through
development of the skills required to probing with the use of appropriate questions. The
particular set of cases a trainer chooses to assign the learning community can expose
them to a wide variety of organizational cultures and managerial situations.
The approach vicariously broadens the learners’ experience base and provides insights
into many types of managerial situations, tasks, and responsibilities. Such indirect
experience can help them make a more informed career decision about the industry and
managerial situations they believe to be challenging and satisfying. More importantly, the
truthful experience in analyzing cases definitely enhances the skill competence and
maturity in dealing with issue-based probing and problem-solving.
Further, when the learners practice the oral and written presentations, their
communication skill will be improved as they go on using case methods of teaching
learning. Of course, these added skills depend on participants’ personal preparation and
facilitation of teaching learning. However, the primary responsibility for excellence goes
to the learners, how they equip themselves.
The quality of case discussion is generally acknowledged to require, at a minimum, a
thorough mastery of case facts and some independent analyses of them. The case method,
therefore, first requires that the learners thoroughly read and think carefully about each
case.
The case method of analyses in university classrooms is a teaching learning tool in which
the students and instructors participate through direct discussions on given cases, as
opposed to the lecture or story telling method, where the instructor speaks and students
listen and take notes, or nod their heads. In case study method, the students learn to teach
themselves, with the instructor being an active guide or facilitator rather than just a
talking head delivering content. The focus is on students’ learning through their joint, co-
operative or collaborative efforts.

Assigned cases are first prepared by the students under closer guidance of the instructor.
Such preparation forms the basis for guided class discussion. Students learn, often
unconsciously, how to evaluate a problem, how to make decisions, and how to orally
argue a point of view. Using this method, they also learn how to think in terms of the
problems faced by an administrator. In courses where the case method is used
extensively, a significant part of students’ learning evaluation may rest with classroom
discussion amid lively participation, with another substantial portion resting on written
case analyses. For these reasons, using the case method tends to be a very intensive for
both students and instructors.
Case studies are used extensively though out most of the programs at the university level,
business administration classes with no exception. In this respect, we have been receiving
an overwhelming response from our learners of Leadership, Organizational Psychology,
Strategic Management, Business Management, Human Resource Management,
Organizational Development and Change, Brand Management, Advertising and
Promotions Management, Managerial Communication, Consumer Behavior, Critical
Thinking, Management Information System, Global Business, Research and Innovation,
and other similar areas of teaching learning.
Our past experience confirms that a case embedded approach of teaching learning
practice helps setting a new height and excellence in learners’ professional career of
university level teaching or managerial positions. The rational learners must understand
for their life-term learning that this approach of teaching-learning may expose them with
a bag full of collection of cases which may be directly applicable in their business
endeavors.
Case study approach has been proved valuable for several reasons. First, a case study
provides the learners and instructors with experience of organizational problems that
they did not have the opportunity to experience firsthand. In a relatively short period of
time, the learners will have the chance to appreciate and analyze the problems faced by
many companies and to understand how managers tried to deal with them.
Second, a case study provides with opportunity to relate teaching situations with real-life,
illustrative discussions making entire process pragmatically more effective. The meaning
and implication of the information is made clear when it is applied to case studies. The
theory and concepts help reveal what is going on in the institution under observation, and
allow the learning community to evaluate the solutions that specify companies adopted to
deal with their problems.
Consequently, such a practice will help learners transform themselves as intelligent
detectives, who with a set of conceptual tools, can easily probe what happened and what
or who was responsible and then marshals the evidence that provides the solution. Top
managers enjoy the thrill of testing their problem-solving abilities in the real world. It is
important to remember, after all, that no one knows what the right answer is. All what
managers can do is to make the best guess. In fact, managers repeatedly say that they are
happy if they are right only half the time in solving strategic problems. Management is an

uncertain game, and using cases to see how theory can be put into practice is one of the
ways to improve your skills of diagnostic investigation.
Third, case studies provide the learners with opportunity to participate in class and to
gain experience in presenting their ideas to others. Instructors may sometimes call on
their learners as a group to identify what is going on in a case and through classroom
discussions, the issues and solutions to the case problem will reveal themselves. In such a
situation, as an effective learner, one will have to organize his or her views and
conclusions so that it can be presented to the class. By doing so, it helps learn how
differently others have analyzed the same situation, and also how to respond to the
arguments of the rest of participants so as to establish the shared learning conclusions at
the end. In fact, this is how the management decisions are made in the real business
world.
For the purpose of graduates’ collaborative learning, it also may be assigned to
individuals, but more commonly to the groups, to analyze the case/s before the whole
class. The presentation must cover the issues involved, the problems facing the company
or institution, and a series of recommendations for resolving the problems. The
discussions then should be placed open to the class, and mostly the instructor will have to
help his or her graduates defend their ideas. Through such discussions and presentations,
they will experience how to convey their ideas effectively to the other members.
Please remember, a great deal of managers' time is spent on these kinds of situations,
presenting their ideas and engaging in discussions with other managers, who have their
own views about what is going on. Thus, the students should be effectively and
adequately exposed to make them experience the real life situation in the classroom
before joining the real world of managing organizations. As a case-based approach of
teaching learning takes on the actual process of what goes on in a business setting, it
finely serves the learners by imparting in them adequate skill competence, maturity and
willingness to take challenging decisions for more prosperous careers.
For the working executives, it helps them reaching back to the nature. Do you know what
‘back to nature’ all is about? The individual or group will be responsible for a thirty to
forty-minute presentation of the case to the class, at the same time, taking whole
members to the real world of happening. This is what ‘’back to the nature’ all about.
Experiencing the truth through real-life discourses on problems or issues surpassing the
organizations!
While working in groups to analyze the case studies, they will also learn about the group
processes involved in working as a team. When people work in groups, it is often
difficult to schedule time and allocate responsibility for the case analysis. While working
in groups, it is quite evidential that there will be a few group members who always tend
to shirk their responsibilities; at the same time, there will be a few group members who
are so sure of their own ideas that they try to dominate the entire group analyses.
Similarly, in business, most negotiations take place in groups. So, the learners of business
management must learn to harmonize their interpersonal and group skills by working on
formally assigned case studies.

2. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CASE STUDY
In our understanding, a business case study is a powerful decision-making tool in
business management studies due to some specific reasons. First, it forces the decision
makers to follow a predetermined process or format to ensure all factors have been
considered. Next, it inherently points the user to determine the risk factors and other
major success factors. Finally, it allows multiple parties to review the case and its
assumptions.
The alternative to a business case study is decision making ‘on the fly’, ‘on the instinct’,
or ‘back of the envelop’. All of these are shortcuts of doing the work and formally
documenting the research, assumptions, and analyses.
3. ANALYZING A CASE STUDY
As just mentioned, the purpose of the case study is to let the learners apply the concepts
learnt while analyzing the issues facing a specific situation. To analyze a case study,
therefore, one must examine closely the issues which the institution is confronted with.
Most often, it may require a learner read the case several times - once to grasp the overall
picture of what is happening to the company and then several times to discover and grasp
the specific problems and issues and also the underlying reasons, and also making a sense
of consequences of delaying or not resolving them.
4. RULE 1: THE STRATEGIC APPROACH OF CASE ANALYSES
To be strategically oriented, a detailed analysis of a case study should include these
eight areas:
1. Analyze the firm’s history, development, and growth over time
2. Identify the firm’s internal strengths and weaknesses
3. Scan the nature of the external environment surrounding the institution
4. Perform the firm’s SWOT analyses
5. Review the kind of corporate level strategy pursued by the institution
6. Assess the nature of company's business level strategy
7. Know about the company's structure and control systems and how they match its
strategy
8. Produce recommendations for managerial implications and compliances
1. Analyze the company's history, development, and growth: A convenient way to
investigate how a company's past strategy and structure affects it in the present is to
chart the critical incidents in its history - that is, the events that were the most unusual
or the most essential for its development into the company it is today. Some of the
events have to be explored should include its founding history, inception stage
offering, how it made new-product and market decisions, and how it developed and
chose functional competencies to pursue. Its entry into new businesses and shifts in
its main lines of business are also important milestones to consider while assessing
the historical developments and growth.
2. Identify the company's internal strengths and weaknesses: Once the historical
profile is completed, the learners can then begin with the SWOT analyses using all
the incidents charted to develop an account of the company's strengths and

weaknesses as they have emerged historically. It is equally important to examine each
of the value creation functions of the company, and identification of the functions in
which the company is currently strong and the areas it is weak. A few companies
might be weak in marketing, where others might be strong in research and
development. The efficient learners must work in collaboration to make a list of these
strengths and weaknesses. The SWOT analyses checklist gives examples of what
might go in these lists.
Figure: The SWOT Analyses Checklist
Orientation
of analyses
Positive aspects Negative/problematic aspects
Internal to
the firm
Strengths Weaknesses
External to
the firm
Opportunities Threats/Constraints
3. Analyze the external environment: The next step is to identify environmental
opportunities and threats or strategic constraints. Here, the learners should apply all
information that has been acquired from the industry and macro environment to
analyze the environment that the company is confronting.
An important model that is widely used in performing external environment analyses
at industry level is Porter's Five Forces Analyses [1. Chance of new entry, 2.
Chance of substitution, 3. Bargaining power of the customers, 4. Bargaining power of
the suppliers, and 5. Emergence of competitive rivalry among the firms] and another
equally important model is the Life Cycle Model which assesses the overall level of
maturity of the market and position of the firm’s offerings amid such maturity.
Which factors in the macro environment will appear salient depends on the specific
company case being analyzed. However, it should be attempted to use each factor in
turn (for instance, demographic factors) to see whether it is relevant for the company
in question.
Having done this analysis, the participants undergoing case study will have generated
both an analysis of the company's environment and a list of opportunities and threats
specific to the institution or the company under observation.
4. Evaluate the SWOT analyses: Having identified the company's external
opportunities and threats as well as its internal strengths and weaknesses, the learners

need to consider what their findings mean. That is, they need to balance the strengths
and weaknesses against opportunities and threats. Is the company or institution in an
overall strong competitive position? Can it continue to pursue its current business or
corporate level strategy profitably? What can this institution do to turn weaknesses
into strengths and threats into opportunities? Can it develop new functional, business,
or corporate strategies to accomplish this change? Never merely generate the SWOT
analyses and then put it aside. Because it provides a concise summary of the
company's condition, a good SWOT analysis is the key to all the analyses that follow.
5. Analyze the institutional or corporate level strategies: To analyze a company's
corporate-level strategy, first it is required to review the company's strategic thrusts
[mission, vision, goals, objectives, value system, etc.]. If they do not have one, the
reviewers must define and establish the strategic thrusts for them. Sometimes the
mission and goals are stated explicitly in the case; at other times it may require to
infer them from available information.
The information needed to collect to find out the company's corporate strategy
includes the factors like its line/s of business and the nature of its subsidiaries and
acquisitions. It is important to analyze the relationship among the company's
businesses. Do they trade or exchange resources? Are there gains to be achieved from
synergy? Alternatively, is the company just running a portfolio of investments? This
analysis should enable in defining the corporate strategy that the company is pursuing
(for example, related or unrelated diversification or a combination of both) and to
conclude whether the company operates in just one core business.
Then, using the SWOT analyses, a debate should be established in favor of the merits
of this strategy. Is it appropriate, given the environment the company is in? Could a
change in corporate strategy provide the company with new opportunities or
transform a weakness into strength? For example, should the company diversify from
its core business into new businesses?
Other issues should be considered as well. How and why has the company's strategy
changed over time? What is the claimed rationale for any changes? Often it is a good
idea to analyze the company's businesses or products to assess its situation and
identify which divisions contribute the most to or detract from its competitive
advantage. It is also useful to explore how the company has built its portfolio over
time. Did it acquire new businesses, or did it internally venture its own? All these
factors provide clues about the company and indicate ways of improving its future
performance.
6. Analyze the business level strategies: Once the company's corporate level strategy is
known and aligned in the SWOT analysis, the next step is to identify the company's
business level strategy. If the company is a single business entity, its business level
strategy is identical to its corporate level or institutional strategy. If the institution or
the company is in many businesses, each business will have its own business level
strategy.

The learners need to identify the company's generic competitive strategies --
differentiation, low-cost, preemptive move, or focus and its investment strategy,
given the company's relative competitive position and the stage of the life cycle. The
company also may market different products using different business level strategies.
For example, it may offer a low-cost product range and a line of differentiated
products. One should be sure to give a full account of the company's business level
strategy to show how it competes.
Identifying the functional strategies that a company pursues to build competitive
advantage through superior efficiency, quality, innovation, and customer
responsiveness to achieve its business level strategy is very important. The SWOT
analysis provides with information on company's functional competencies. The
learners should further investigate the company’s production, marketing and research
and development strategy to gain clear a picture and direction where the company is
heading. For example, pursuing a low-cost or a differentiation strategy successfully
requires a very different set of competencies. Has the company developed the right
ones? If it has, how can it exploit them further? Can it pursue both a low-cost and a
differentiation strategy simultaneously?
The SWOT analysis is especially important at this point if the industry analysis,
particularly Porter's model, has revealed the threats to the company from the
competitive environment. Can the company deal with these threats? How should it
change its business level strategy to counter them? To evaluate the potential of a
company's business level strategy, a thorough SWOT analyses has to be performed to
capture the essence of its problems.
Once you complete this analysis, you will have a full picture of the way the company
is operating and be in a position to evaluate the potential of its strategy. Thus, the
learners will be able to make recommendations concerning the pattern of its future
actions. However, first consideration should be on strategic implementation, or the
way the company tries to execute its strategy to achieve the stated goals.
7. Analyze structure and control systems: The aim of this analysis is to identify what
structure and control systems the company or institution is using to implement its
strategy and to evaluate whether that structure is the appropriate one for the company.
Different corporate and business strategies require different structures. For example,
does the company have the right level of vertical differentiation? Does it have
appropriate number of levels in the hierarchy or decentralized control or horizontal
differentiation? Does it use a functional structure when it should be using a product
structure? Similarly, is the company using the right integration or control systems to
manage its operations? Are managers being appropriately rewarded? Are there right
rewards in place for encouraging cooperation among divisions? These are a few
issues to be considered.
In some cases there will be little information on these issues, whereas in others there
will be a lot. Obviously, in analyzing each case one should gear the analysis toward
its most salient issues. For example, organizational conflict, power, and politics will

be important issues for some companies. The emphasis must be on analyzing the
reasons of occurrence of the problems or issues. Do they occur because of bad
strategy formulation or because of bad strategy implementation?
Organizational change is an issue in many cases because the institutions will be
attempting to alter their strategies or structures to solve strategic problems. Thus, as a
part of the analyses, a reviewer might suggest a plan of action that the company in
question could use to achieve its goals. It might be listed in a logical sequence the
steps the company would need to follow to alter its business level strategy from
differentiation to focus.
8. Make recommendations: The last part of the case analyses process involves making
recommendations based on overall observations and reviews. Obviously, the quality
of recommendations is a direct result of the thoroughness with which the case
analyses has been prepared. The efforts vested into the case analyses will be obvious
from the instructor’s side as a professor to make the graduates internalize the
problems and make real-life, sustainably suitable recommendations for managerial
implications.
Recommendations are directed at solving whatever strategic problem the company is
facing and at increasing its future profitability. The recommendations should be in
line with the analyses, i.e., they should follow logically from the previous discussion.
For example, the recommendation generally will center on the specific ways of
changing functional, business, and corporate strategy and organizational structure and
control to improve business performance.
The set of recommendations will be specific to each case, and thus it is difficult to
discuss these recommendations here. Such recommendations might include an
increase in spending on specific research and development projects, the divesting of
certain businesses, a change from a strategy of unrelated to related diversification, an
increase in the level of integration among divisions by using task forces and teams, or
a move to a different kind of structure to implement a new business level strategy.
Again, it has to be confirmed that the recommendations are mutually consistent and
are written in the form of an action plan. The plan might contain a timetable that
sequences the actions for changing the company's strategy and a description of how
changes at the corporate level will necessitate changes at the business level and
subsequently at the functional level.
After following all these stages, each learner has to perform thorough analyses of the case
and to be in a position to join in class discussion or present the ideas to the class, based
on a format suggested by instructor, or required by the situation.
Adequate consideration must be placed on tailoring the analyses to suit the specific issues
discussed in the case. In some cases, it may require a complete omission one or a few of
the steps discussed above because all steps may not be relevant to the situation
considered. Each learner and instructor must be sensitive to the needs of the case and not

apply the framework we have discussed in this section blindly. The framework is meant
only as a guide and not as an outline that must be used to perform the analyses more
effectively.
5. RULE 2: THE PROBLEM-TREE APPROACH
In many cases, it is required to put the learners into thinking of assessing problems or
issues and their corrective measures within given problem situations, problem-tree
approach (Rijal, 2015) of case analyses and presentation is more suitable. This approach
of case studies/analyses is more useful in the case of small size, more critical problem
situations requiring innovative thinking for providing with decision-alternatives and the
overall process requires analyzing it following a sequence of seven steps presented as
follows:
Step I: Identify the issues or problems of the case
Step II: Prioritize the issues and problems
Step III: Consider whether it is necessary to determine the ‘cause’ of the problem
Step IV: Brainstorm the options available to the decision-maker
Step V: Evaluate the options
Step VI: Select the optimum solution
Step VII: Describe how the solution should be implemented
Step 1: Identify the issues or problems of the case
Thoroughly read the written case or watch the video case to identify a few problems or
issues in the case. It is suggested to work first individually and then perform a group
brainstorming to come up with a set of pertinent problems and issues governing the case
in consideration.
Step 2: Prioritize the issues and problems
Based on the intensity and urgency of the diverse problem or issues identified, establish a
priority listing of all the recognized problems and issues. The most important problem or
issue must be placed with the first priority. At this stage, a few of the earlier identified
problems or issues may be dropped from further consideration for analyses and
presentation.
Step 3: Consider whether it is necessary to determine the ‘cause’ of the problem
For each problem prioritized, determine if it is really important to explore the cause of the
problem or issues. For example, need for gender inclusion is an issue and exploring its
cause may not be within the interest of a firm however the problems generated due to
such compliance have to be well addressed.
Step 4: Brainstorm the options available to the decision-maker
At this stage, it requires a thorough discussion and outlining all possible options to be
considered for facilitating to the decision-maker/s.

Step 5: Evaluate the options
For each option, the merits and demerits must be assessed at this stage of case analyses. It
requires a thorough portray of advantages and disadvantages of each option available for
considering them as decision-alternatives.
Step 6: Select the optimum solution
After analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of each solution, the most beneficial
and more impacting options must be selected for consideration in decision-making. While
selecting such solutions, the intensity to create cross-impact also should be examined,
i.e., a solution that has potential to nullify rest of problems should be given higher
priority while selecting among available decision alternatives.
Step 7: Describe how the solution should be implemented
Finally, the recommendations must be developed in a chained order of procedure
including what is to be done, why is it necessary to do it, who is to do it, when/where
should it be done, how to do it, and finally for what outcomes should it be done.
The above-mentioned method of case analyses may be accomplished using the worksheet
provided as follows:
Figure: Case analyses worksheet
SN Working areas Working notes for analyses
1 What are the key
issues or problems in
the case?
1. _________________________________________
2. _________________________________________
3. _________________________________________
4. _________________________________________
5. _________________________________________
2 Prioritize the issues or
problems.
Priority 1: ___________________________________
Priority 2: ___________________________________
Priority 3: ___________________________________
Priority 4: ___________________________________
Priority 5: ___________________________________
3 Is it necessary to
identify the cause of
the problem?
1. Yes No
2. Yes No
3. Yes No
4. Yes No
5. Yes No

4 Brainstorm the options
available for each
problem solution
5 Evaluate the options Options Advantages Disadvantages
6 Select the optimum
solution
7 Describe how the
solution should be
implemented
Note: This is a tentative format only, the graduates undergoing the case analyses should
prepare it in their notebooks using it as a dummy only for their structurally controlled
but extended discussion.
6. WRITING A CASE STUDY
Often, as part of course requirement in almost all subjects, the graduates and professors
have to develop a number of cases by their own rather than relying on already available,
outdated cases. Such a system better facilitates effective teaching-learning. This may be
accomplished as part of individual or team work.
The institutions like University Grants Commission (UGC), university departments, and a
number of research and innovation centers also call for such case study projects to be
accomplished as part of paid, individual as well as team research projects.

Whatever the situation be, the task should be governed by certain guidelines to follow in
writing a case study. Before we outline these guidelines for the use, the respective writers
of case studies must make sure that they do not conflict with any directions we have set
in this respect.
It is believed that at this level of profession, the structure of written piece should be not
only more comprehensive, but also equally critical. In fact, the discussions provided in
the previous section already must have provided with a vision of a good structure for a
written case.
All reports begin with an introduction to the case. But the captions entirely belong to the
makers of them; they should work from the level and zone of their own comfort.
Part I: Introduction
In the introductory part, it should provide with a brief account of what the company does,
how it developed historically, what problems it has been experiencing, and how you are
going to approach the issues in the case write-up.
To make the work of writing the case a systematic one, it needs be done by establishing a
preview of the case. It can be done sequentially by writing, for example, "First, we
discuss the environment of Company X...Third, we discuss Company X’s business-level
strategy... Last, we provide recommendations for turning around Company X’s business."
Part II: Perform Strategic Analyses
In the second part of the case write-up, the strategic-analysis section, briefly perform the
external [customer, competitor, market, macro environment] analyses and internal
[performance and strategic options] analyses and establish the SWOT analyses on the
basis of various inputs gathered through environmental analyses.
Then analyze and discuss the nature and intensity of problems or issues that the
institution has been facing at its corporate, business or product/service level/s before
analyzing its culture, structure and control systems.
We should make sure that relevant headings and subheadings are used to structure the
analytical write-up of the case in text. For example, separate section can be developed on
an important concept or methodological tool linked with the concern of the case taken
into consideration. Meaning that, for example, there may appear a separate section on
Porter’s Five Forces Analyses as part of analyzing the market competitiveness. Similarly,
while analyzing the portfolios, it may require a distinctively separate sub-section of
Corporate Strategy Analyses. Thus, we must tailor the sections and sub-sections to the
specific issues of importance in the case. Interestingly, we may find plenty of room for
the use of a number of tools developed from behavioral science perspectives in marriage
with quantitative and qualitative models of analyses.

Part III: Produce Decision Alternatives
In the third part of the case write-up, we should present the solutions and
recommendations. While doing so, it must be made comprehensive by aligning with the
various realities discussed in previous section so that the recommendations could fit
together and move logically from one to the next. The recommendations must be specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound. It requires a thorough probing of a
number of Wh-questions – what has to be done; why is it necessary for it to be done; who
is responsible for it to be done; where should it be done; by when should it be done; how
should it be done; and for what outcome?
In many critical incidences, the case writer may not at all provide with solutions. Rather,
the case may be crafted as such that the job for recommending with solutions is left as the
responsibility of the person or group analyzing it.
7. ADDITIONAL INPUTS TO BE CONSIDERED
Following this framework will provide a good structure for most written reports, though
obviously it must be shaped to fit the individual case being considered. Some cases are
about excellent companies experiencing no problems. In such instances, it is hard to write
recommendations. Instead, the focus can be on analyzing why the company is doing so
well, using that analysis to structure the discussions. Following are some suggestions that
can help make a good analysis even better.
1. Do not repeat the summary of large pieces of factual information available from
various sources. Other people might have already read the case and may know
what is going on. Rather, such information should be used to craft the thesis of
problem statements, to defend with solid arguments, or to make salient points.
Beyond the brief introduction of the company, one must avoid being too
descriptive. Instead, you must be analytical.
2. Make sure the sections and subsections of the discussion flow logically and
smoothly from one to the next to build on what has gone before so that the
discussion of the case study moves toward a climax. This is particularly important
for group brainstorming, because there is a tendency for people in a group to split
up the work and say, "I’ll do the beginning, you take the middle, and I’ll do the
end." The result is a choppy, stilted analysis because the parts do not flow from
one to the next, and it is obvious for the audience to feel that no real group work
has been performed.
3. Avoid grammatical and spelling errors. They make the paper sloppy. All people
admire simple and short language and hardly a few of them love long sentences
with newer and more complicated words.
4. In some instances, cases dealing with well-known companies do not include up-
to-date research because it was not available at the time the case was written. To
safeguard from this problem, the people writing case must search for more
information on what has happened to the company in last the few years.

5. Among the highly pertinent sources of information required for writing cases may
include, the World Wide Web, the place to start a research for building a case. In
addition, the compact disk sources also provide an amazing amount of good
information, including summaries of recent articles written on specific companies
that can be accessed in the library; companies themselves provide information in
many cases if we write and ask for it; the magazines like Fortune, Business Week,
and Forbes may have many articles on company featured cases to supplement the
information base.
6. Sometimes the class hand-outs also facilitate graduates in writing cases and also
analyzing them.
7. The most authentic approach of developing a case study is to perform a first-hand
observation backed up by different approaches of data collection via mini-
research.
8. All academic project work, thesis/dissertation works and scholarly articles
prepared in tune with applied research can be transformed into case studies.
8. SIGNIFICANCE OF FINANCIAL ANALYSES IN A CASE STUDY
An important aspect of analyzing and writing a case study and performing its analyses is
the role and use of financial information. A careful analysis of the company's financial
conditions immensely improves a case write-up and its presentation discussions. After
all, financial data represent the concrete results of the company's strategy and structure.
Although analyzing financial statements can be quite complex, a general idea of a
company's financial position can be determined through the use of ratio analysis.
Financial performance ratios can be calculated from the balance sheet and income
statement.
These ratios can be classified into five different categories – 1. profit ratios, 2. liquidity
ratios, 3. activity ratios, 4. leverage ratios, and 5. shareholder-return ratios. These ratios
should be compared with the industry average or the company's prior years of
performance. It should be noted that deviation from the average is not necessarily bad. It
simply warrants further investigation. For example, newer companies having purchased
assets at different prices will likely have different capital structures than the older ones.
In addition to the ratio analysis, a company's cash flow position is of critical importance
and should be assessed. Cash flow shows how much actual cash a company possesses.
Profit Ratios: Profit ratios measure the efficiency with which the company uses its
resources. The more efficient the company, the greater is its profitability. It is useful to
compare a company's profitability against that of its major competitors in the respective
industry. Such a comparison tells whether the company is operating more or less efficient
than its rivals. In addition, the change in a company's profit ratios over time tells whether
its performance is improving or declining. A number of profit ratios can be used, and
each of them measures a different aspect of a company's performance. Some of the most

commonly used profit ratios are gross profit margin, net profit margin, return on total
assets, and return on stockholders' equity.
1. Gross profit margin: The gross profit margin simply gives the percentage of sales
available to cover general and administrative expenses and other operating costs.
It is defined as follows:
Gross Profit Margin=
Sales Revenue - Cost of Goods Sold
Sales Revenue
2. Net profit margin: Net profit margin is the percentage of profit earned on sales.
This ratio is important because businesses need to make a profit to survive in the
long run. It is defined as follows:
Net Profit Margin=
Net Income
Sales Revenue
3. Return on total assets: This ratio measures the profit earned by employing the
assets. It is defined as:
Return on
Total Assets
=
Net Income Available to
Common Stockholders
Total Assets
4. Net income is the profit after preferred dividends (those set by contract) have been
paid. Total assets include both current and noncurrent assets.
5. Return on stockholders' equity. This ratio measures the percentage of profit
earned on common stockholders' investment in the company. In theory, a
company attempting to maximize the wealth of it stockholders should be trying to
maximize this ratio. It is defined as follows:
Return on
Stockholders' Equity
=
Net Income Available to
Common Stockholders
Stockholders' Equity
Liquidity Ratios: A company's liquidity is a measure of its ability to meet short-term
obligations. An asset is deemed liquid if it can be readily converted into cash. Liquid
assets are current assets such as cash, marketable securities, accounts receivable, and so
on. The two commonly used liquidity ratios are current ratio and quick ratio.
1. Current ratio: The current ratio measures the extent to which the claims of short-
term creditors are covered by assets that can be quickly converted into cash. Most
companies should have a ratio of at least 1, because failure to meet these
commitments can lead to bankruptcy. The ratio is defined as follows:
Current Ratio =
Current Assets
Current Liabilities

2. Quick ratio: The quick ratio measures a company's ability to pay off the claims of
short-term creditors without relying on the sale of its inventories. This is a
valuable measure since in practice the sale of inventories is often difficult. It is
defined as follows:
Quick Ratio =
Current Assets -Inventory
Current Liabilities
Activity Ratios: Activity ratios indicate how effectively a company is managing its
assets. Inventory turnover and days sales outstanding (DSO) are particularly useful:
1. Inventory turnover: This measures the number of times inventory is turned over.
It is useful in determining whether a firm is carrying excess stock in inventory. It
has been portrayed as follows:
Inventory Turnover =
Cost of Goods Sold
Inventory
Cost of goods sold is a better measure of turnover than sales, since it is the cost of
the inventory items. Inventory is taken at the balance sheet date. Some companies
choose to compute an average inventory, beginning inventory, plus ending
inventory, but for simplicity use the inventory at the balance sheet date.
2. Day’s sales outstanding (DSO), or average collection period: This ratio is the
average time a company has to wait to receive its cash after making a sale. It
measures how effective the company's credit, billing, and collection procedures
are. It is defined as follows:
DSO =
Accounts Receivable
Total Sales/360
Accounts receivable is divided by average daily sales. The use of 360 is standard
number of days for most financial analysis.
Leverage Ratios: A company is said to be highly leveraged if it uses more debt than
equity, including stock and retained earnings. The balance between debt and equity is
called the capital structure. The optimal capital structure is determined by the individual
company. Debt has a lower cost because creditors take less risk; they know they will get
their interest and principal. However, debt can be risky to the firm because if enough
profit is not made to cover the interest and principal payments, bankruptcy can occur.
Three commonly used leverage ratios are debt-to-assets ratio, debt-to-equity ratio, and
times-covered ratio.
1. Debt-to-assets ratio: The debt-to-asset ratio is the most direct measure of the
extent to which borrowed funds have been used to finance a company's
investments. It is defined as follows:
Debt-to-Assets Ratio =
Total Debt
Total Assets

Total debt is the sum of a company's current liabilities and its long-term debt, and
total assets are the sum of fixed assets and current assets.
2. Debt-to-equity ratio: The debt-to-equity ratio indicates the balance between debt
and equity in a company's capital structure. This is perhaps the most widely used
measure of a company's leverage. It is defined as follows:
Debt-to-Equity Ratio =
Total Debt
Total Equity
3. Times-covered ratio: The times-covered ratio measures the extent to which a
company's gross profit covers its annual interest payments. If the times-covered
ratio declines to less than 1, then the company is unable to meet its interest costs
and is technically insolvent. The ratio is defined as follows:
Times-Covered Ratio =
Profit Before Interest and Tax
Total Interest Charges
Shareholder-Return Ratios: Shareholder-return ratios measure the return earned by
shareholders from holding stock in the company. Given the goal of maximizing
stockholders' wealth, providing shareholders with an adequate rate of return is a primary
objective of most companies. As with profit ratios, it can be helpful to compare a
company's shareholder returns against those of similar companies.
This provides a yardstick for determining how well the company is satisfying the
demands of this particularly important group of organizational constituents. Four
commonly used ratios are total shareholder returns, price-earnings ratio, market to book
value, and dividend yield.
1. Total shareholder returns: Total shareholder returns measure the returns earned
by time t + 1 on an investment in a company's stock made at time t. (Time t is the
time at which the initial investment is made.) Total shareholder returns include
both dividend payments and appreciation in the value of the stock (adjusted for
stock splits) and are defined as follows:
Total Shareholder Returns=
Stock Price (t + 1) -
Stock Price (t) + Sum of Annual Dividends per Share
Stock Price (t)
Thus, if a shareholder invests $2 at time t, and at time t + 1 the share is worth $3,
while the sum of annual dividends for the period t to t + 1 has amounted to $0.2,
total shareholder returns are equal to (3 - 2 + 0.2)/2 = 0.6, which is a 60 percent
return on an initial investment of $2 made at time t.
2. Price-earnings ratio: The price-earnings ratio measures the amount investors are
willing to pay per dollar of profit. It is defined as follows:

Price-Earnings Ratio =
Market Price per Share
Earnings per Share
3. Market to book value: Another useful ratio is market to book value. It helps
measure a company's expected future growth prospects. It is defined as follows:
Market to Book Value =
Earnings per Share
4. Dividends yield: The dividend yield measures the return to shareholders received
in the form of dividends. It is defined as follows:
Dividend Yield =
Dividend per Share
Market price per share can be calculated for the first of the year, in which case the
dividend yield refers to the return on an investment made at the beginning of the
year. Alternatively, the average share price over the year may be used. A
company must decide how much of its profits to pay to stockholders and how
much to reinvest in the company. Companies with strong growth prospects should
have a lower dividend payout ratio than mature companies. The rationale is that
shareholders can invest the money elsewhere if the company is not growing. The
optimal ratio depends on the individual firm, but the key decider is whether the
company can produce better returns than the investor can earn elsewhere.
Cash Flows: Cash flow position is simply cash received minus cash distributed. The net
cash flow can be taken from a company's statement of cash flows. Cash flow is important
for what it tells about a company's financing needs. A strong positive cash flow enables a
company to fund future investments without having to borrow money from bankers or
investors. This is desirable because the company avoids the need to pay out interest or
dividends. A weak or negative cash flow means that a company has to turn to external
sources to fund future investments. Generally, companies in strong-growth industries
often find themselves in a poor cash flow position (because their investment needs are
substantial), whereas successful companies based in mature industries generally find
themselves in a strong cash flow position.
A company's internally generated cash flow is calculated by adding back its depreciation
provision to profits after interest, taxes, and dividend payments. If this figure is
insufficient to cover proposed new-investment expenditures, the company has little
choice but to borrow funds to make up the shortfall or to curtail investments. If this figure
exceeds proposed new investments, the company can use the excess to build up its
liquidity (that is, through investments in financial assets) or to repay existing loans ahead
of schedule.
9. THE LEARNING POINTS
When writing and evaluating a case, it is important to be systematic and logical. One
must write and/or analyze a case in a logical fashion, beginning with the identification of

operating and financial strengths and weaknesses and environmental opportunities and
threats.
While doing so, adequate emphasis should be placed on assessing the value of a
company's current strategies only when the person on this job is fully conversant with the
SWOT analysis of the company.
We should ask ourselves whether the company's current strategies make sense, given its
SWOT analysis. If they do not, we should be able to portray alternative changes to be
made. We also should be concerned on what recommendations are made. If the
recommendations are not pragmatic, our effort does not make any sense.
Above all, we should try to link all strategic recommendations with the SWOT analysis.
We should state explicitly how the strategies identified would bring about advantages to
the company, provided its existing strengths are fully exploited taking benefits of the
prevailing environmental opportunities. It is equally important to provide strategic
insights on how to counter the internal weaknesses and environmental threats.
10. BRING CASE DISCUSSION TO THE LIFE OF TEACHING-LEARNING
The work of completing a case can be divided up into three components – preparation
before the class discussion, class discussion proceedings of the case, and anything
required after the class discussion has taken place. For maximum effectiveness, it is
essential that we duly respect all three components. Here are the subcomponents:
Before the class discussion:
1. Read the reading assignments (if any)
2. Use the Short Cycle Process to familiarize yourself with the case.
3. Use the Long Cycle Process to analyze the case
4. Usually there will be group meetings to discuss your ideas.
5. Write up the case (if required)
During the class discussion:
6. Someone will start the discussion, usually at the prompting of the
Instructor.
7. Listen carefully and take notes. Pay close attention to assumptions. Insist
that they are clearly stated.
8. Take part in the discussion. Your contribution is important, and is likely a
part of graduate evaluation for the course.
After the class discussion:
9. Review as soon as possible after the class. Note what the key concept was
and how the case fits into the course.
It helps to have a system when sitting down to prepare a case study as the amount of
information and issues to be resolved can initially seem quite overwhelming. The
following is a good way to start.

A. The Short Cycle Process
1. Quickly read the case. If it is a long case, at this stage one may want to read only the
first few and last paragraphs. For this, one should then be able to answer the
following questions:
a. Who is/are the decision maker/s in this case, and what is his/her/their
position and responsibilities?
b. What appears to be the issue of concern, problem, challenge, or
opportunity and its significance for the organization?
c. Why has the issue arisen and why is the decision maker involved now?
d. When does the decision maker have to decide, resolve, act or dispose of
the issue? What is the urgency to the situation?
2. Take a look at the exhibits to see what numbers have been provided.
3. Review the case sub-titles to see what areas are covered in more depth.
4. Review the case questions if they have been provided. This may give the
analyzer some clues on knowing the main issues that are to be resolved.
B. The Long Cycle Process
At this point, the task consists of two parts:
1. A detailed reading of the case, and then
2. Analyzing the case.
Most, but not all case studies will follow this format which comprises of a number of
coherent actions. The purpose here is to thoroughly understand the situation and the
decisions that will need to be made. We should take our time, make notes, and keep
focused on the intended study objectives. At the same time, we should be sure that the
overall task comprises of at least all these actions -- defining the issues or problems,
analyzing the situation, analyzing the case data or information, generating alternatives,
establishing cost-benefit analysis, selecting effective decision criteria, analyzing and
evaluating alternatives, choosing among the most relevant alternatives for critical
problem solving, developing a plan of action for the implementation of the plan.
Step 1: Be familiar
a. In general, determine who, what, how, where and when (the critical facts in a
case).
b. In detail, identify the places, persons, activities, and contexts of the situation.
As the first step of an effective case analysis process, it is recommended to become
familiar with the facts featured in the case and the focal firm's situation. Initially, one
must become familiar with the focal firm's general situation (who, what, how, where, and
when). Thorough familiarization demands appreciation of the nuances as well as the key
issues in the case.

For gaining familiarity with a situation, it requires a thorough study at several situational
levels, including interactions between and among individuals within groups, business
units, the corporate offices, the local communities, and the academic society at large.
Hopefully, recognizing relationships within and among these levels of discourses
facilitates a more thorough understanding of the specific situation. It is also important
that we should evaluate the information on a continuum of certainty. Information that is
verifiable by several sources and judged along similar dimensions can be classified as a
fact. Information representing someone's perceptual judgment of a particular situation is
referred to as an inference. Information gleaned from a situation that is not verifiable is
classified as speculation. Finally, information that is independent of verifiable sources
and arises through individual or group discussion is an assumption. Obviously, case
analysts and organizational decision makers prefer having access to facts over inferences,
speculations, and assumptions.
Personal feelings, judgments, and opinions evolve when people are working on case. It is
important to be aware of our own feelings about the case and to evaluate the accuracy of
perceived "facts" to ensure that the objectivity of our work is maximized.
Step 2: Recognize the symptoms
a. List all indicators (including stated "problems") that something is not as expected
or as desired
b. Ensure that symptoms are not assumed to be the problem (symptoms should lead
to identification of the problem).
Recognition of symptoms is the second step of an effective case analysis process. A
symptom is an indication that something may not exactly be the same thing as someone
thinks it should be. Sometimes, we may be tempted to correct the symptoms instead of
searching for true problems.
True problems are the conditions or situations requiring solution before an organizational,
unit-wise, or individual performance can improve. Identifying and listing symptoms early
in the case analysis process tends to reduce the temptation to label symptoms as
problems.
The focus of analyses should be on the actual causes of a problem, rather than on its
symptoms. Therefore, it is important to remember that symptoms are indicators of
problems; subsequent work facilitates discovery of critical causes of problems that a case
recommendation must address.
Step 3: Identify the goals
a. Identify critical statements by major parties (people, groups, the work unit, etc.).
b. List all goals of the major parties that exist or can be reasonably inferred.
The third step of effective case analysis calls for identifying the goals of the major
organizations, units, and/or individuals in a case. As appropriate, we should also identify
each firm's strategic intent and strategic mission. Typically, these direction-setting
statements (vision, mission, goals, objectives, strategies, etc.) are derived from comments

of the central characters in the organization, business unit, or top management team
described in the case and/or from public documents, for example, annual report.
Completing this step successfully sometimes can be difficult. However, the outcomes
attained from this step may be essential to an effective case analysis because identifying
goals, intent, and mission better helps clarify the major problems featured in a case and to
evaluate alternative solutions to those problems. Direction-setting statements are not
always stated publicly or prepared in written format. When this occurs, we must infer
goals from other available factual data and information.
Step 4: Conduct the analysis
a. Decide which ideas, models, and theories seem useful.
b. Apply these conceptual tools to the situation.
c. As new information is revealed, cycle back to sub-steps ‘a’ and ‘b’.
The fourth step of effective case analysis is concerned with acquiring a systematic
understanding of the situation. Occasionally cases are analyzed in a less-than-thorough
manner. Such analyses may be a product of a busy schedule or the difficulty and
complexity of the issues described in a particular case. Sometimes the analyzers may face
pressure on their limited amount of time and may believe that they can understand the
situation described in a case with-out systematic analysis of all facts. However,
experience shows that familiarity with a case's facts is a necessary, but insufficient, step
to the development of effective solutions - solutions that can enhance a firm's strategic
competitiveness. In fact, a less-than-thorough analysis typically results in an emphasis on
symptoms, rather than problems and their causes. To analyze a case effectively, we
should be skeptical of quick or easy approaches and answers.
A systematic analysis helps us understand a situation and determine what works and what
does not. Key linkages and underlying causal networks based on the history of the firm
become apparent. In this way, we can separate causal networks from symptoms.
The quality of a case analysis depends on applying appropriate tools. So, it is important
that we should use the ideas, models, and theories that seem to be useful for evaluating
and solving individual and unique situations. As we consider facts and symptoms, a
useful theory may become apparent. Of course, having familiarity with conceptual
models may be important in the effective analysis of a situation. Successful students and
successful organizational strategists add to their intellectual tool kits on a continual basis.
Step 5: Make diagnosis
a. Identify predicaments (goal inconsistencies).
b. Identify problems (discrepancies between goals and performance).
c. Prioritize predicaments/problems regarding timing, importance, etc.
The fifth step of effective case analysis-diagnosis is the process of identifying and
clarifying the roots of the problems by comparing goals to facts. In this step, it is useful
to search for predicaments. Predicaments are situations in which goals do not fit with
known facts. When we evaluate the actual performance of an organization, business unit,

or individual, you may identify over or under-achievement (relative to established goals).
Of course, single-problem situations are rare. Accordingly, we should recognize that the
case situations we study probably will be complex in nature.
Effective diagnosis requires us determine the problems affecting longer-term
performance and those requiring immediate handling. Understanding these issues will aid
our efforts to prioritize problems and predicaments, given available resources and
existing constraints.
Step 6: Do the action planning
a. Specify and prioritize the criteria used to choose action alternatives.
b. Discover or invent feasible action alternatives
c. Examine the probable consequences of action alternatives.
d. Select a course of action.
e. Design the implementation plan of action.
f. Create a plan for assessing the action results.
The final step of an effective case analysis process is called action planning. Action
planning is the process of identifying appropriate alternative actions. Important in the
action planning step is selection of the criteria we use to evaluate the identified
alternatives. We may derive these criteria from the analyses; typically, they are related to
key strategic situations facing the focal organization. Furthermore, it is important that we
prioritize these criteria to ensure a rational and effective evaluation of alternative courses
of action.
Typically, managers feel content when selecting courses of actions; that is, they find
acceptable courses of action that meet most of the chosen evaluation criteria. A rule of
thumb that has proved valuable to strategic decision makers is to select an alternative that
keeps aside another possible alternative available if the one selected fails.
Once we have selected the best alternative, we must specify the implementation plan.
Developing a plan of action for implementation serves as a reality check on the feasibility
of your alternative. We should give thoughtful considerations to all issues associated with
the implementation of the selected alternative.

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