See an example of a well written case analysis
(of Appex) Very good in all areas, except implementation
 which is OK.
 

You are responsible for submitting one written case as an individual. The case can be any one of these six, but cannot be the same case your group is presenting: Lincoln Electric (February 17), Jerry Sanders (March 2), Xerox (March 16), Aventis (March 31), Business Networks (April 13), and Ogilve & Mather (April 14).  The paper is due at the beginning of the session where the case is to be discussed. Because you will see other groups' analysis in the case discussion, there can be absolutely no late papers.

The body of the case can be no longer than 1500 words (this is approximately six double-spaced pages). On your cover page you should list the total number of words in the body of the paper. In addition, you may include figures and appendices only if they are necessary to support to the body of your case analysis. Don’t circumvent the 1500-word limit by placing material that should be in the text in an appendix. If you do this, the inappropriate appendix material will be ignored.

There are three critical parts of the written case analysis. They are described below, and their grade weight (out of the 25) is indicated.

Executive Summary (3/25)

The executive summary is meant to be an attention-grabbing summary of your case. It is directed at the key decision-maker in the case (all of your analysis should be written for the key decision-maker). It should be no longer than one page. Stick to the most important points. The key things to communicate are 1) what is the problem (performance gap), and 2) what do you recommend. The executive summary should be so compelling as to convince the decision-maker to read the rest of your analysis. Do not repeat case facts, or waste any of the executive summary on details that would be trivial to the key decision-maker (e.g. if you begin "Lincoln Electric is a successful manufacturer based in Cleveland...." you are beat from the start).

Analysis (12/25)

The analysis section is the most important part of your paper in terms of grade weight, and it will ordinarily constitute about half of your paper. The analysis should apply concepts from the course to understand why the problem you identify exists (what are its root causes and implications), what are the alternative solutions for the problem, what are the relevant criteria for choosing among the alternatives, and which alternative is recommended. Here are more tips:

1) The analysis should use the concepts we develop in class, but they need not be presented in the same language we use in class. Remember that you are writing to the decision-maker in the organisation that is the subject of the case, and he or she may not have taken our class! So, in most cases you will use the analytical techniques from class "off-line", and then translate the results of that work into the body of your paper. As Charlotte Beers, CEO of Ogilve & Mather says in the case we discuss in session 10, "The B-school approach had to be translated." For example, you might perform a network analysis that indicated that the decision-maker has few structural holes, and therefore few unique sources of information and influence. In the text, you would explain this in plain language, rather than just presenting network statistics.

2) State explicitly any assumptions you make in the analysis.

3) Back up your analysis with quantitative support where appropriate.

4) Make sure your analysis addresses the problem you identified. If not, your problem or the analysis is wrong.

5) Use business language and format. Be direct and precise. Keep in mind the audience of the paper, and always ask yourself if the sentence you just wrote will provide value to that audience.

6) Make sure you get to the root causes of the problem. Keep asking if there is something underlying the cause you have arrived at. Ultimately, it is the root cause that you have to solve.

Solutions and Action Plan (10/25)

Very briefly restate your recommendation, and then provide an action plan for how the recommendation should be implemented. A critical question is "who will resist this new plan?" Be as specific as possible. What should be said to whom? When should things be done? Where will the money come from? How will we know if the plan is working?

This is the opportunity to explain how your recommendation can become reality. It is absolutely critical because without a successful implementation, a good recommendation is worthless. In the analysis section you answer "what should be done", but here you must explain "how to do it." You will have to consider issues of organisational change.