Guidelines for Case Analysis

Overall Guidelines

• Organization

Break the analysis into the following major headings:

• Introduction 1+ page
• Strategic Issue 1+ page
• External Environment 3+ pages
• Industry Analysis 4-5+ pages
• Company Situation 4-5+ pages
• Recommendations 3+ pages

In addition, use the subheadings described in this document to break up long sections.  

• Style

Use APA style which means double space throughout—do not add any additional space between paragraphs.  Be sure to indent the first word of each new paragraph.  Do not have long paragraphs containing a variety of related but different topics—break into smaller paragraphs for organization and ease of reading.  Use a topical sentence to clarify the purpose of each paragraph.  Number the pages starting with the Introduction , e.g., do not include the title page.

Check your work and correct the spelling and grammar errors.  Write clearly with correctly structured complete sentences.  The ability to present an effective case analysis depends on your critical thinking skills AND your ability to express your ideas in writing.

Start each of the major sections with an introduction that briefly characterizes and sets the stage for the section.  Also at the end of each significant section, summarize with a paragraph capturing the key strategic findings of your analysis for that section.  Do not make comments like “The case did not provide information on . . .”  You do not need to site the textbook or case.  Eliminate personal pronouns such as I, we, etc.

Staple or clip the paper in the upper left hand corner—no binders, please.

• Show Impact

Your job is not to “spill back” the facts from the case.  Assume that the person who reads your write up will have read the case carefully.  Support your statements of analysis with brief examples from the case information.  Your focus should be on the impact, effect, and strategic implications of your analysis.  Do not overlook exhibits in the case with additional data.

• Apply Tools and Vocabulary

Demonstrate that you understand and can effectively apply the tools of strategic analysis: macro environment, driving forces, key success factors, industry analysis, financial analysis, SWOT, strategic group map and the nine cell industry attractiveness, competitive strength matrix.  An effective case analysis effectively incorporates the language of strategic analysis throughout.

Major Sections

• Introduction

Provide a brief overview of the mission, business, markets, products and scope of operations the company is in.  The past/current strategic direction of the firm can be briefly summarized but the focus should be on the most recent events that will impact the decisions and future direction of the firm.  Identify strategic actions by generic and grand strategies.  

This is NOT a long historical view.  It shows how capable you are of describing the company’s business and current strategy.

Common Errors

• Focusing on history rather than the current situation.
• Not using strategic vocabulary for strategies.
• Giving too much detail about the case—assume I’ve read the case.

• Strategic Issue

In one or two paragraphs, summarize the company and strategic situation.  This should characterize the fundamental state of affairs that exists in the focus company and industry with enough background information to understand it.  See instructions under the section “Strategic Issue” at the beginning of the recommendations section.  Refer to page 9 and 85 in the text book.

Common Errors

• Failure to introduce the key conditions or “givens” in a problem statement.
• Addressing only the external or the internal situation rather than both.

Situational Profile and Prospects.  This summary paragraph(s) is the opportunity to integrate the analysis and bring it all together.  This section MUST summarize the strategic situation the company faces.  “Situation” means “state of affairs.”  It must set the stage for the Strategic Problem that follows.  Summarize and connect to the key findings of each section.  Weave these findings into a summary story leading to a clear and specific statement about the future prospects for strategic success for the company.  Make a specific statement about whether the company’s prospects are good, indefinite, or poor.

Strategic Problem/Challenge.  This must be a single, well-crafted sentence that captures the fundamental problems and concerns that came out of the analysis.  This single sentence must be formed as a question and will end with a question mark.  Write this in very specific terms addressing both the company’s short-term situation and the broader strategic situation.  Incorporate the need to provide shareholder value, sales growth, profitability and sustained competitive advantage but incorporate the specific problems with which the focus company must deal.  Everything prior to this is headed toward this one culminating formulation of the problem.  This sentence forms the basis for the recommendations.

• External Environment

Provide an introduction that characterizes the essence of the external environment and industry situation at the time of the case and sets the stage for the analysis that follows.  Research “industry life cycle” and analyze where the industry or focus company is in the industry life cycle.  If the case has data on historical industry sales, calculate the sales growth rate and determine whether the industry is in the introduction, growth, maturity or decline phase of their life cycle.    If there is information such as the revenue of the top 3 competitors for the last few years, combine their sales and calculate the change in sales growth to infer where the industry is in the industry life cycle.  Discuss this analysis in any of the sections where it is appropriate.

Common Errors

• Writing about historical events rather than the current state of the industry.
• Identifying the topics you are about to discuss without discussing the state of the industry.

Key Success Factors (KSFs).  What are the factors that are key to any company being successful in the focus industry?    What activities must the organization do especially good at in order to ensure success for the company?  They represent areas that must be given attention to in order for a company to perform well.   They incorporate an understanding of how customers buy and what is important to customers in deciding to purchase the product or service.   Identify WHAT they are, WHY they are key success factors, and HOW they affect the industry.  Based on a thorough understanding of KSFs, managers can determine if they are positioned to compete successfully and where capabilities need to be strengthened.  Identify the strategic implications of each KSF.  

For example, an important KSF in the retail food industry is a strong network of retail stores in convenient location so that customers have easy access to the store.  This means locating stores in high traffic areas and making the stores available in a wide number of neighborhoods.  People prefer to shop close to home.  Many consumers work and at the end of the day, they do not like to drive long distances to shop for food.  Convenient locations will result in increased revenues and a larger market share.  Therefore, companies should conduct market research to identify growing neighborhood communities to open new stores. 

Common Errors

• Not naming each key success factor.
• No identifying the strategic implication of each factor.
• Not developing a convincing argument for why the factor is critical to success.

Porter’s 5 Forces Analysis.  Use the Porter model to evaluate the strength of the five forces that affect the strategic choices of all firms in the industry.  Discuss the balance of power in the industry.  Relatively weak forces (low threats) place power in the hands of the firms that comprise the industry, and, therefore, broaden their freedom of choice of strategic actions.  Relatively strong forces (high threats) reduce the power of the industry firms and limit their strategic choices.  An industry with strong forces tends to be less attractive than an industry with weak forces.

Specifically state your assessment of the strength of each of the 5 forces—intense, strong, moderate or weak.  Justify and show why you reached your conclusion.  For example, it is not enough to write, “Competitive rivalry is strong because the number of competitors is high, barriers to entry are low and product differentiation is low.”  A better explanation is, “The many competitors in this industry must aggressively battle for market share in this slow-growth market.  They each have considerable investments in the physical plant, which makes it difficult to leave the industry.  The products are difficult to distinguish from one another, so companies must focus on aggressive, marketing programs to win customers away from their competitors.  All these factors contribute to a strong rivalry and continued downward pressure on profit margins.”

Put the actual diagram of the model in the APPENDIX and discuss each force in the body of this section.  Include a closing paragraph on the implications of the analysis to the overall attractiveness of the industry and the potential for companies to be profitable.

Common Errors

• Not identifying the strength of a force or the conditions that lead you to your finding of a force as being strong or weak.
• Getting supplier, firm and buyer mixed up.
• Overlooking key factors you previously identified in the external/industry analysis.
• Not recognizing the strength of competitive rivalry.

Industry Profile and Attractiveness.  Summarize the characteristics of the industry.  Draw together all of the key findings from each area of the macroenvironment and industry analysis.  What conclusions can you draw about the nature of the industry?  How attractive is it to its current incumbents?  What are the future prospects for the industry?  Why?  What challenges does the industry face?  Provide a summary statement about whether it is highly attractive, moderately attractive, etc., to current players re profits, sales and competitive intensity.

• Company Situation

Provide an introduction that characterizes the essence of the company situation and sets the stage for the analysis that follows.  Identify the key company-specific issues with which the company is dealing.

Financial Analysis.  Be sure to distinctly address each of the four areas of financial analysis—profitability, liquidity, leverage and activity—identify each in the topical sentence for that paragraph.  Calculate the past sales growth rate for the company if there is historical data.  The financial analysis must be thorough and accurate.  Look at trends and compare the company’s performance to industry targets, if available.  Evaluate the primary financial indicators, provide supporting data and interpret them to show how they affect the company regarding its present and future strategic performance.  

Put the calculations of the ratios in a table in the APPENDIX.

Close this analysis by writing a paragraph that draws conclusion about the company’s overall financial situation, prospects and the impact of its financial condition on its potential strategic plans.  The fundamental question you are trying to answer is, “What is the overall financial status of the company now, and what does its current financial status mean for its future strategic success or ability to grow sales?”

Common Errors

• Incorrect computation of the ratio.
• Incomplete computations of the ratios (trends, etc.).
• Focusing on the definition rather than the strategic impact that the ratio implies.

SWOT Analysis.  Discuss each of the four legs of the SWOT fully—strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in this section.  Be clear that events are not the same as attributes.  SWOT is about attributes, not events.  An attribute describes the characteristics of the company.  For example, you might say, “The company isn’t profitable.”  True, but what is its weakness attribute?  What characteristics of the company drives its lack of profitability?  A better way to express it is, “The company has not managed costs in its value chain.  This is supported by the sustained increase in cost of goods sold accompanied by flat sales reflecting a weakness that must be overcome to improve profitability.”

Summarize the SWOT analysis in a one-page table and place in the APPENDIX.  Discuss the table in the body of the paper.

SWOT is the “integrator” of the analysis.  SWOT draws from the findings resulting from the Macroenvironment, Industry Analysis, and Financial Analysis.  No new information is provided.  Use the terminology in the previous sections.  For example, “An opportunity identified in the discussion of the competitive analysis . . .”  Another example, “The dumping of foreign products into this industry, identified earlier as a driving force, is a significant threat to incumbents.”

Common Errors

• Not linking the findings to the previous analysis through the use of common terminology.
• Omitting important findings discussed previously.
• Focusing on historical events rather than inherent strengths and weaknesses.
• Not recognizing obvious strengths and weaknesses in the business functions:  financial analysis, marketing (product, price, place and promotion), human resource management, operations, etc.

V.  Recommendations

Strategic Issue.  This is the same question that was presented in the beginning of the report.  Restate the question.

Strategy Recommendations.  Identify the GENERIC and GRAND strategy recommendations.  These will tie closely to the SWOT analysis.  The recommendations should play into the company’s strengths and opportunities.  They should minimize the company weaknesses and overcome its threats.  Discuss each strategic initiative in detail including the actions required in the functional areas to support the strategic recommendations: marketing, operations, human resource management, finance, etc.

Objectives.  Specify the performance objectives that should be monitored and result from the strategic recommendations and earlier analysis.  What key performance indicators should be reported and what are the appropriate targets?  For example, what are the sales and profitability goals?  What goals should be established for nonfinancial indicators?

Strategic Justification.  Justify why your recommendations are the best option and why other options are not.  This is a comparative analysis.  Develop this fully, tying it back to the various factors in your strategic analysis.  Evaluate the pros and cons of the recommended direction.  Demonstrate that you understand the implications of your recommendations.  

A justification analysis weights the strength of the pros and cons fro a given alternative in comparison to the other alternatives.  It presents a rationale for why the pros of the recommended alternatives are better than the pros of the other alternatives.  It also addressed why the cons of the recommended alternatives are less significant the those of the rejected alternatives.

Common Errors

• Developing recommendations that don’t tie clearly to the previous analysis.
• Not describing distinguishing characteristics of the strategies.
• Not using the strategy vocabulary for generic and grand strategies.
• Not aligning strategy recommendations with objectives.
• Writing in generalities rather than company and situation specific.