Read the case more than once. Figure out and explain the most important issue in the case
- You do not need to conduct outside research for the case because all the information you need is provided.
- Read the case more than once. Figure out and explain the most important issue in the case.
- Be careful to distinguish between symptoms and problems. Students often mistake symptoms for problems and this causes them to focus on the wrong issues.
- As part of this process, one needs to determine the appropriate level of analysis. Determining the level of analysis will have implications for the analytical tool applied.
- Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the company’s current situation. In other words, make sure you consider the key external and internal factors affecting the company.
- Identify and justify the alternative solutions available to the company using the case data, logical reasoning, and creative thinking.
- Define and explain the course of action that you think the company’s managers should follow, while explaining why the other alternatives are inappropriate. (Your conclusions should fit logically with your situational analysis).
- Show how the company may implement your strategic suggestions.
- In many cases, there is a great deal of financial information provided and students often fail to consider this information in their analyses. Please note that this information has been provided for very specific reasons and should be considered. Using the financial information must (1) be done in an appropriate manner, and (2) provide some value-added to the analysis. Simply repeating information presented in the financial statements is inappropriate. Remember, this is a case ANALYSIS