HW#10

Assignment Questions

The Case
Study

WHAT IS THE CASE METHOD?
WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?

What point is the case trying to make?

Is it trying to make a point at all?

What am I supposed to do now?

The Case Classroom

A case classroom is dynamic and unpredictable

Discussion can go, reverse course, and then head in a more
productive direction.

Sometimes the discussion may seem to end in a frustration

You may/will express conflicting views about the main issue in the
case

The Case Classroom

The prof doesn’t step in and resolve the conflict by announcing the
“right” answer.

When you are in a job, your professor isn’t going to be there to tell
you the right answer.

Your boss likely isn’t going to tell you either.

You were hired you to come up with answers.

The Case Classroom
Three distinct sets of skills:

1. You need to be able to read a case and give it meaning in
relation to the key issues or questions that you have been asked
about it.

2. You have to be able to communicate your thinking effectively in a
class discussion.

3. You must be able to write a persuasive response to a question
about a case.

The Case Classroom
Three distinct sets of skills:

1. You need to be able to read a case and give it meaning in
relation to the key issues or questions that you have been asked
about it.

2. You have to be able to communicate your thinking effectively in a
class discussion.

3. You must be able to write a persuasive response to a question
about a case.

The case method begins with:

� Reading a case

� Interrogating it with questions

� Seeking information relevant to the questions

� Making inferences and calculations

� Forming an opinion or conclusion about the main issue

Sample – Case First Paragraph

In the recent history of management ideas, few have had a more
profound, or pernicious, effect than the one that says corporations
should be run in a manner that “maximizes shareholder value.”
Indeed, you could argue that much of what Americans perceive to be
wrong with the economy these days—the slow growth and rising
inequality; the recurring scandals; the wild swings from boom to
bust; the inadequate investment in R&D, worker training and public
goods—has its roots in this ideology.

WHAT A CASE IS, WHAT IT DOES,
WHAT IT DOESN’T DO

Profound – having or showing great knowledge or insight.

Pernicious – having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle
way

What is the subject of the article?

What do you expect from the rest of the article?

WHAT A CASE IS, WHAT IT DOES,
WHAT IT DOESN’T DO

A business case imitates or simulates a real situation

WHAT A CASE IS, WHAT IT DOES,
WHAT IT DOESN’T DO
A case must have four characteristics:

1. A significant business issue; ie – a pricing dilemma, debt-equity trade-
offs, major problem in a factory…

2. A case must have enough facts pertinent to the main issue to allow you
to draw evidence-backed conclusions about it. Too little information
leads to guesses

3. Sufficient information on which to base conclusions about the issues

4. No objective conclusion = No explicit or implied right answer

WHAT A CASE IS, WHAT IT DOES,
WHAT IT DOESN’T DO

• Cases describe situations about which people have differing
opinions.

• Cases don’t consist of information that is all neatly aligned with a
specific conclusion.

• Characters in the case may express strong opinions
• Consider their views alongside those of other characters

• You have to decide on a conclusion…as you do in real-life situations.

WHAT A CASE IS, WHAT IT DOES,
WHAT IT DOESN’T DO

Cases seem to have:
�Logical structure
�Opening section
�Sequence of headings; subheadings (divide the case into sections )
�Concluding section
�Exhibits

cases are typically nonlinear:

The content is not presented in the most logical way

TEXTBOOK VS. CASE
Difference between textbooks and cases

Textbooks Cases

Present principles and conclusions Present information only, no principles
or conclusions

Explain the meaning and significance of
concepts

Require readers to construct the
meaning of a case

Organize content in a logical sequence Employ “organized disorganization”

TEXTBOOK VS. CASE

�Cases provide information and express no conclusions about that
information.

�They are literally meaningless until a reader gives them meaning.

�Cases appear to be logically organized, but they aren’t.

�Information about the same topic is often scattered throughout the
case.

TEXTBOOK VS. CASE

�Cases are a puzzle with the pieces arranged in a confusing pattern.

�Fit pieces into a pattern, understand the main issue, think about the
optimal ways to address it.

�Be comfortable with less than perfect information and levels of
uncertainty.

�Filter the noise of irrelevant or relatively unimportant information.

Make impactful recommendations

Techniques for making meaning from
cases:

�Recognizing the main issue in a case that needs solving and the most
efficient way to go about investigating it.

�Reading the case actively and efficiently to provide a basis for your
analysis of the case.

�Following a path of analysis to arrive at an evidence-backed
conclusion about the main issue.

THE SKILLS YOU NEED
TO READ AND ANALYZE A CASE

Most cases illustrate one of three core scenarios:

• The need to make a critical decision and potentially persuade
other characters in the case to accept it

• The need to perform an in-depth evaluation that lays out the pros
and cons or strengths and weaknesses of the subject of the case

• The need to perform a comprehensive problem diagnosis that
identifies the root causes of a problem described in the case

DECISIONS

Decision scenarios are generally easy to recognize because the
decision is stated, often in the first section.

One of the best ways to identify the core scenario of a case is to ask
yourself what the main character has to do— what his/her most
important task is.

How to Recognize a Decision Scenario

Decision scenarios are generally easy to recognize because the
decision is stated, often in the first section.

What does the main character have to do?

What is the main characters most important task?

What is the major uncertainty in the case?

EVALUATIONS

� Portrays a situation in which a deeper understanding of a Person,
Division, Company, Country, Strategy, Policy

� Understanding is necessary before any critical decisions or actions
can be taken.

� How do you evaluate something?

How to Recognize an Evaluation Scenario

Evaluation can be harder to identify than Decision

Look for the words like:
�Evaluation / Evaluate

�Reevaluation / Reevaluate

�Assess / Reassess / Appraise

Evaluation always identifies a specific subject
�Ex. the performance of a person or a strategy

[S]timulated by their success in introducing a new distribution
channel for flowers, Owades and her two key associates, Fran
Wilson and Ann Lee, were reassessing the fi rm’s long- term growth
strategy. Was Calyx & Corolla more a mail-order operation or should
it compete directly against more traditional outlets, such as retail
florists, and wire services, such as Florists Telegraph Delivery (FTD)?
How fast did it have to grow to protect its initial success? What
would be the financial implications of various growth strategies?
How should its personal objectives and those of its investors and
employees influence the character and pace of growth?

[S]timulated by their success in introducing a new distribution
channel for flowers, Owades and her two key associates, Fran
Wilson and Ann Lee, were reassessing the firm’s long-term growth
strategy. Was Calyx & Corolla more a mail-order operation or should
it compete directly against more traditional outlets, such as retail
florists, and wire services, such as Florists Telegraph Delivery (FTD)?
How fast did it have to grow to protect its initial success? What
would be the financial implications of various growth strategies?
How should its personal objectives and those of its investors and
employees influence the character and pace of growth?

The president called the repudiation “a turning point” in the history
of Argentina and declared, “We will not pay our debt with the
hunger and thirst of the Argentine people.” International authorities
on sovereign debt, among them the rock star Bono, supported the
actions of the president. (See Exhibit 1.) The Institute of International
, a global association of financial institutions, however, wrote
that “lack of progress implementing structural reforms and
Argentina’s aggressive conduct in the process of the debt exchange
are certain to put the long- term economic prospects of the country
at great risk.”

What Scenario is this?

Evaluation

What is the unstated question?

Which side is right?

What is the major uncertainty of the case?

Your task is to evaluate the debt decision to see whether the
president was right to make it.

PROBLEM DIAGNOSES

�Your symptoms are a “problem”; the doctor solves by making a
diagnosis of what is causing your symptoms and prescribes
treatment consistent with the diagnosis.

�Problem diagnosis simply means that a significant problem needs a
causal explanation.

�A problem can be an outcome, reaction, result or event.

PROBLEM DIAGNOSES

�An example of an outcome or result would be a company’s failed
attempt to seed social responsibility initiatives in all of its divisions.

�The failure is a problem because the initiative is a high priority for
the company, and no one knows why it didn’t work.

�The purpose of the diagnosis is to find out why it didn’t work.

PROBLEM DIAGNOSES

�A problem can be positive or negative.

�An unexpected surge in sales is a positive, but a business that
doesn’t understand the reasons for the surge may not be able to
sustain it.

�Problems are also negative, for example, the company’s failed social
responsibility initiative.

How to Recognize a Problem-Diagnosis
Scenario

�A problem-diagnosis case will often open with an overview of the
problem and introduce the main character who has to figure out
what the causes are.

�Try using questions these from Decision and Evaluation:
�What does the main character have to do?

�What is the major uncertainty of the case?

Problem-Diagnosis

What does the main character have to do?

What is the major uncertainty of the case?