Analyzing Cases

(the following material was derived, in part, from The Case Study Handbook
by William Ellet)
!ase, at its simplest level, is a real"world situation in whi!h you, the
marketing professional, are e#pe!ted to use your !riti!al thinking skills to
figure out what to do$ s in most real"world situations, you have neither
enough information or time to really address the problem, and you also have
a million other things going on at the same time$ So rather than thrashing
about aimlessly, this mini"guide is intended to give you a skeleton of an
approa!h that may be useful in analy%ing these !ases$
The first step in any !ase analysis is to actively read the case$ That
means going through it !arefully and making notes in the margins,
highlighting, or whatever other methods you typi!ally use to understand
what is really going on in the !ase$ Treat the !ase like a mystery novel & try
to unravel the !omple# web of information (and sometimes disinformation)
that is presented$ Typi!ally the !ases will be tied to the !hapter of the te#t
we are !urrently reading, but that is not always the !ase$ 'f appropriate,
think about the prin!iples we are dis!ussing for that !hapter and see if they
apply to that parti!ular !ase or not$ The instru!tor (me) is not always good
about fitting the !ases and the !hapters together, and these are general
purpose !ases not ne!essarily oriented to a (rodu!t )anagement !ourse, so
there may not be the perfe!t overlap that would happen in a perfe!t world,
or somewhere like Harvard$
ll !ases are self"!ontained & all the information you need about the
industry, the !ompany, or the pro*e!t are in the !ase itself & there is no need
to go to any outside sour!es or do e#tensive web sear!hes to get more
information$ 'n fa!t, going outside the !ase information will generally *ust
!ost you valuable time and aggravate the instru!tor (me) who has to go find
and validate this additional information$ +or!e yourself to set a time limit for
this first step & say a !ouple of hours & so that you aren,t *ust iterating
repeatedly$ -e!ome the main !hara!ter in the !ase, and try to see the
situation through that person,s eyes$
The se!ond step is to identify the situation or !ir!umstan!es surrounding
the !ase$ .sually the !ase will start out with a short overview of the
industry or the !ir!umstan!es, and finish with a brief !on!lusion as well$ Try
to put those in your own words and see if you understand what is going on$
/enerally this will be the first paragraph of your !ase analysis$
The third step is to identify the main problems or de!isions to be made$
)any !ases have dis!ussion 0uestions or e#pli!it problem statements in
them & that tends to help identify the !ase fo!us$ (ut the problem
statements in your own words & what is going on in the !ase1 Who is the
sub*e!t of the !ase1 What kinds of de!isions need to be taken1 Who or
what is being evaluated1 2o you have enough grasp of the problem
statements to pro!eed1 /enerally, this will be one or two paragraphs of
your analysis$
The fourth step is to construct an analysis framework or model that
!ontains the analysis of the de!isions you are going to e#amine$ 'n the stats
world, step three is setting up the hypotheses and step four is building the
models$ 'n the !ase analysis world, step four is where your !riti!al thinking
about what !an be done (alternatives) and !ourse of a!tion
(re!ommendation) are !ondu!ted$ Support your de!isions$ There is nothing
more frustrating for an instru!tor (me) than to have a !ase study in whi!h
the student (you) !arefully lays out the problem statement, !arefully
analy%es the data, and then makes a bold assertion that it is obvious as to
why a !ertain de!ision needs to be taken$ 3ead the instru!tor (me) through
your thought pro!ess$ 'f multiple options are available, des!ribe why the
one you have sele!ted is the best option, or better than the other options$ 'f
your alternatives involve numbers, run the numbers and prove your !ase$
fifth and often overlooked step is to dis!uss alternative courses of
action$ 4ften, !ases will lead the student (you) to making a !hoi!e between
two alternatives, su!h as building a plant in China or in 'ndia$ -ut the !lever
student (you) may have thought of alternatives not presented in the !ase,
su!h as building a plant in (eru and then shipping the partially built produ!ts
to China for final build$ These alternatives would all flow from the materials
in the !ase, not from spe!ulative day"dreaming$ 'n this se!tion, you are
really looking ba!k at your de!ision in step four and !he!king for strengths
and weaknesses of your de!ision$
What I am expecting in your !ase write"ups5 read the instru!tions in the
syllabus$ 'f there are 0uestions at the end of the !ase, use those to guide
your analysis$ 'f there are not, ' will provide you with 0uestions one week
before the !ase is due$ tta!h any pertinent analysis, data, or graphi!s at
the end of the !ase, not in the middle of the write"up$ 't should be no more
than two pages in length, double"spa!ed, typed, and no !over sheet or
binding & *ust a simple staple will do$
So your !ase has four basi! se!tions$ These are Situation, roblem,
Analysis, and !ecommendation$ .se headers for these se!tions, and
help guide the reader (me) along through your thought pro!esses$
full !ase analysis and write"up should take you anywhere from two to si#
hours of time$ 'f less, you probably missed something important6 if more,
you are probably over"thinking or trapped in analysis7paralysis$ .se your
marketing professional *udgment in the !ases, and also write them from a
marketing professional perspe!tive$ Trite !omments, opinions, and humor
will probably !ount against you, be!ause you are being trusted to make a
serious de!ision for your !ompany, not give seat"of"the"pants or off"the"!uff
simplisti! evaluations$
2on,t waste valuable spa!e repeating what the !ase says & 0uotes and
paragraphs repeated from the !ase are not helpful to either you or me$
+o!us on the key elements of the !ase and !onvin!e me that you have
thought through the de!ision !arefully and that you are 0uite prepared to
stake your !areer on the out!ome of the de!ision$ fter all, that is what
happens in the real world$
2uring !lass, ' will !all on students (you) to dis!uss various elements of the
!ase and soli!it your opinions$ -e prepared$ Case analysis is your own work
& you !an talk over the !ases with your !lassmates, but you need to analy%e
and write up the !ase on your own, *ust like you would in the real world$ '
view these !ases as pra!ti!e for your first or se!ond marketing *ob, so take
advantage of this sheltered environment to put your marketing knowledge to
work$ .nlike the real world, ' won,t fire you for making a bad de!ision, *ust
try to help you understand how the de!ision might have been improved$
/ood lu!k8