Business Case Analysis Template Short Cycle Process 1.

Quickly read the case read only the first few and last paragraphs 2. Answer the following questions: a. Who is the decision maker and what is his position and responsibilities? b. What appears to be the issue and its significance to the organization? c. Why has the issue arisen and why is the decision maker involved now? d. When does the decision maker have to decide, resolve, act, or dispose of the issue? What is the urgency to the situation? 3. Take a look at the Exhibits to see what numbers have been provided. 4. Review the case subtitles to see what areas are covered in more depth. 5. Review the case questions (if they have been provided). Look for clues to what the main issues are to be resolved. One of the primary reasons for doing the short cycle process is to give you an indication of how much work will need to be done to prepare the case study properly.

Long Cycle Process Two parts: 1. Detailed reading of the case 2. Analyzing the case When doing the reading, look for the following sections: 1. Opening paragraph introduces the situation 2. Background information industry, organization, products, history, competition, financial information, and anything else of significance 3. Specific (functional) area of interest marketing, finance, operations, human resources, or integrated 4. The specific problem or decisions to be made 5. Alternatives open to the decision maker (may or may not be stated in case) 6. Conclusion sets up the task, any constraints or limitations, and the urgency of the situation Take your time, make notes, and keep focused on your objectives

Analyzing the case should take the following steps: Defining the issue(s) o What appears to be the problem(s) here? o How do I know that this is a problem? (differentiate problems from symptoms Analyzing the case data o Why or how did these issues arise? Think: Resources People Processes o Where are the problems being caused within this framework and why? o Who is affected most by this issue(s)? o What are the constraints and opportunities? o What do the numbers tell you? (avoid jumping to conclusions) Generalizing alternatives o Be realistic! o Alternatives should be mutually exclusive o Not making a decision pending further information is not acceptable (learn how to make good decisions with imperfect information) o Doing nothing can be a viable alternative provided it is being recommended for the correct reason(s) o Avoid the meat sandwich of providing only two other clearly undesirable alternatives to make on reasonable alternative look better o Any alternative chosen will need to be implemented at some point, and if serious obstacles exist to successfully doing this, you will look bad for suggesting it Once the alternatives have been identified, a method of evaluating them and selecting the most appropriate one needs to be used to arrive at a decision. Selecting decision criteria o Always employ some criteria in making any decision o Complete this sentence, The reason I choose to act must Key decision criteria are those things that are important to the organization making the decision and will be used to evaluate the suitability of each alternative o Key decision criteria should be: Brief (in point form) e.g.: improve (or at least maintain) profitability increase sales, market share, or return on investment maintain customer satisfaction, corporate image be consistent with the corporate mission or strategy within our present (or future) resources and capabilities within acceptable risk parameters ease or speed of implementation

employee morale, safety, or turnover retain flexibility minimize environmental impact Measurable (alternative A will improve profitability more than alternative B) Be related to problem statement and alternatives (if you find you are talking about something else that is a sign of a missing alternative or key decision criteria or a poorly worded problem statement) Analyzing and evaluating alternatives o Measure alternatives against each key decision criteria o Set up a simple table with key decision criteria as columns and alternatives as rows o Each alternative must be compared to each criteria and its suitability ranked in some way Met/not met In relation to other alternatives Better than Highest List the advantages and disadvantages (pros/cons) of each alternative then discuss the short and long term implications of each (you have already predicted the most likely outcome of each alternative) Helpful to consider three different levels of outcome Best Worse Most likely Recommendation - Selecting the preferred alternative o Practice making decisions o Give justification for your decision o Check to make sure that it is one (and only one) of your alternatives and that it resolves what you have defined as the Problem

Structure of the Written Report Should have the following sections: 1. Title page 2. Executive summary 3. Problem (Issue) statement 4. Data analysis 5. Key Decision Criteria 6. Alternative analysis 7. Recommendations 8. Exhibits Notes on Written Reports

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Proof-read your work Use spell checker Use grammar checker Note: Restating facts is not included in the format of the case report nor is it considered part of analysis only mention facts that are relevant to (and support) your analysis or recommendations as you need them If you are going to include exhibits in your report, refer to them in the body of your report reference should be in the form of supporting conclusions reader should not have to guess why particular exhibits have been included, nor what they mean. a. If you do not plan to refer to them, leave them out Write in a formal manner suitable for scholarly work Common sense and logical thinking Plan for administrative contingencies in preparing your work Proof-read your work have someone else do so as well

Problem Statement Format

http://faculty.virginia.edu/schoolhouse/WP/probstattemplate.html

Problem Statement Workbook http://thinkinghow.com/wp-content/uploads/Writing_a_Problem_Statement.pdf

How to Write a Problem Statement http://www.ceptara.com/blog/how-to-write-problem-statement Problem Statement Template http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5244326/Problem-Statement-Template

How to Write a Good Problem Statement https://qimacros.com/qiwizard/how-to-write-a-problem-statement.html