Who Are the Customers and What Is This Company Providing Them?

(1) Who are the customers and what is this company providing them?

(2) What is this company doing uniquely well that causes its customers to choose it over a competitor? How is this core competency supported by the company's operations? Is the environment changing in a way that would make the current design of the operations no longer effective?

(3) What is the nature of the physical process? What are the inputs, how are they transformed, and what are the final products? Construct a process flow diagram of the process.

(4) What information is available? Look at the exhibits to see what is there but don't study the data in detail. (You will want to come back to them when you perform your analysis.)

After this first pass, wait a while to let your thoughts gel, and then formulate and analyze an action plan. This is where you will want to use some of the data to develop and support your analysis.

It can help to assume a role (e.g. a consultant to the company or one of the manager protagonists) and ask what you would think and do if you were really in this person's shoes. Often the discussion questions for the case imply an appropriate role.

In many cases, analysis can be reduced to a four-step framework: (1) What are the problems? (2) What are the causes of these problems? (3) What are the possible solutions? (4) Which solution or combination of solutions is the best course of action?

If a fact in the case is unclear or unknown, proceed as you would in a real situation. Make the best assumption you can for your analysis and indicate how you would resolve the question if you had access to the company.

Case Paper Writing Guide

(Chandy, School of Management, University of Binghamton - State University of New York)

Communicating your findings effectively requires more than merely telling your audience the steps you went through in your analysis. An effective management report clearly and concisely communicates the information a manager requires to carry out his or her primary function--decision making. Write these assignments as if the CEO (or General Manager, or SBU head) of the company had asked you to provide her with totally candid input on the situation(s) and what she should do about it (them). She has asked you specific questions, and expects crisp answers and/or recommendations in response to each question. She is a former English major who likes memos written in plain, clear English (not in business-school-speak), and hates spelling mistakes.

The format of such reports will, o