Case Based Essay

Written by: Mustafa ATAK, ESL 505, 2012 This assignment is about analyzing of a case study written by Hong which has a subject of Recommendations for Global Brand Strategy for Heineken, one of the most famous company about beer. In the case study, Hong tries to mention and suggest some issues about Heinekens brand identity and the implications of television advertising. The goal of this assignment is to define problems, make evaluations and propose recommendations by analyzing Hongs essay in different perspectives and provide some recommendations how to write a better case study. In order to do this, analysis of thesis statement, style and coherence will be discussed. Analysis Of Thesis Statement A thesis statement is the indicator that shows the direction of the writers opinion about the topic under discussion. The thesis statement of an essay gives ideas about the writers feelings about the topic to the readers. It has a main function which enables readers to predict how the topic will be progressed in the rest parts of the essay. A thesis statement should be in the first paragraph and generally located at the end of the introduction part. (Anson, Chris M. and Robert A. Schwegler, The Longman Handbook for Writers, 2000). In the article which has a subject of Recommendations for Global Brand Strategy, the writer shows the thesis statement by saying that Heineken should focus on making brand identity over several countries to manage the brand value and create its messages implying core brand values such as premiumness and friendship. This seems a weak thesis statement due to the reason that it restates the subject without any additional statement. It has such a general statement that everyone agrees without any extra information. That kind of statements are poor to raise any new ideas to the readers. In writing, presenting new facts about the issues
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under discussion has a crucial role to acquire fresh views for the readers. But it is seen that the statement does not give any specific ideas about the writers opinion. From the main article we understand that the basic issues are to find ways how to clarify Heinekens brand identity and show which values through advertising. According to this, the thesis statement would be better and make readers comfortable to understand the main issues if it is like that: Heinekens strategy to expand over the world needs to clarify the brand identity in order to establish main core values through its customers. Analysis Of Style Establishing an appropriate style for a paper is a necessary issue which presents the writers attitude to the audience. In an essay, how the writer transfers his views about the topic is more important than what the writer wants to say. The main goal of a proper style is to help readers to comprehend the message conveyed in the essay. In order to prevent readers from confusion, there should be a consistency in the style. (Dessler J., Uni Learning/Essay Writing, 2009). Up to this, it is seen in the case study that the writers style and tone are confused between a formal and informal tone. He used the expressions I and you in many sentences to express his recommendations. It is an unusual way in business writing to state the ideas to transfer to the readers. For example in the second paragraph the writer said that: I suggest that you should create customized strategies that can dig into people's hearts appropriately, depending on race, culture. But it would be proper if Hong said It will be remarkable/It is important to note that to create strategies which can dig into peoples hearts, appropriately, depending on race, culture. It is a proper way to use passive sentences like It is recommended.. or It is suggested instead of the ones which are started by I recommend you or I suggest that...

Analysis Of Coherence Coherence refers to the unity of the topic which is under discussion. It helps the readers to follow the ideas presented in the essay easily. An essay with a lack of coherence, forces audiences to figure out the main ideas in a smoother way. With coherence, the ideas in the paragraphs flow smoothly from one to another which enables the readers to understand the intended message from the essay. (UsingEnglish.com, 2012) According to this, the essay which is under discussion has lack of coherence in this meaning. The ideas presented in the paragraphs can not flow smoothly to the next sentences. Some sentences has not enough meaningful connection that enables readers to understand and follow the essay easily. This disables to state the main points of the article. For example, in the first paragraph after mentioning some issues about Heinekens past, the writer suddenly makes suggestions without expressing the problems. Due to the reason that the past of Heineken is known by everyone, it is redundant to start with the companys achievements. Instead of this, in the first paragraph it is more important to state the issues that will be handled in other paragraphs. Accordingly, it would be more better if the writer mentioned the importance of clarifying brand identity and core values of Heineken in order to expand and become a worldwide company. Beside this, in the third paragraph the writer talked about some marketing strategies about beer market evolution cycle that how to expand brand identity but they are not mentioned in the first paragraph as the ways of clarifying the brand identity. So, the readers will be surprised and can not combine the issues when they face new things at last that are not stated in first. As it is seen, this assignment is about analyzing and making criticisms of the case study written by Hong. The critique analyses is mainly concentrated on analysis of thesis statement, style and coherence in business writing. The essay under discussion needs a clear

thesis statement to understand the whole views of the writer and main issues of the topic. Secondly, the essay requires an alignment about the style in order to prevent fluctuations between formal and informal tone. Last but not least, the essay should have a concise language in order to obtain coherence and present all the ideas in the paragraphs to make smooth flows from one sentence to the next sentence.