CASE STUDY ANALYSIS

FAREEDY’S METHOD
 DEDICATION

To the students of Lahore School

of Economics

I HAVE MADE AN ASSUMPTION WHILE WRITING THIS METHOD THAT A STUDENT HAS NO IDEA
ABOUT HOW TO READ A CASE AND WHAT HE/SHE IS LOOKING FOR WHILE ANALYZING THE
CASE.
 GOALS
THE MAIN PURPOSE IS TO DEVELOP STUDENT’S
CRITICAL THINKING/ANALYTICAL SKILLS AND
FURTHER TO ENHANCE:

1. TECHNICAL SKILLS
2. CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS ISSUES
3. PROBLEM SOLVING TECHNIQUES
4. DECISION MAKING SKILLS
5. COMMUNICATION, INTERPERSONAL, AND
PRESENTATIONS SKILLS
 OBJECTIVES
1. Identification and Diagnosis of
ISSUES/Problems.

2. Identify and justify CORE issue(s) or

problem(s)

3. Make recommendations for possible

resolution of problems.
 ASSUMPTION
THE FUNDAMENTAL ASSUMPTION
OF THE CASE STUDY METHOD IS
THE STUDENTS KNOW THE
PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES AND
HAVE READ THE RELEVANT
TEXTBOOKS AND OTHER
MATERIAL ON THEIR OWN.
 INDIVIDUAL WORK
• ALL STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO FIRST
WORK INDIVIDUALLY ON EACH CASE WITH
THE METHODOLOGY WHICH HAS BEEN
DESCRIBED IN THE FOLLOWING SLIDES. THEY
SHOULD TAKE THEIR ROUGH NOTES AND
THESE NOTES MUST BE SUBMITTED ALONG
WITH THE FINAL GROUP WAC.
 STARTING OUT
1. Read the case FIRST time – Just read it.

2. Read the case SECOND time with more

concentration with the help of
Relevant Text Book Chapters,
Recommended Books, and Journals
and Articles.
 WORKING ON A CASE STUDY
INDIVIDUALLY
1. Have the Three Highlighters/Visors with you

i. Orange
ii. Yellow
iii. Green

2. Read the case THIRD time BUT very slowly

and carefully. You will use the Highlighters
on your case.
 USE OF HIGHLIGHTERS
YELLOW: to highlight Statistical/Quantitative
Data i.e. FACTS

GREEN: for important Qualitative

Information.

ORANGE: To highlight and identify the

Problems/Issues

USE the three Highlighters very Cautiously and

Sparingly.
THE DEVIL IS IN THE
DETAILS AND THE
DETAILS ARE IN THE
EXHIBITS.
 EXHIBITS
• EXHIBITS ARE VERY IMPORTANT FOR ANALYSIS.

• MANY TIMES IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO START FROM

THE LAST EXHIBIT OF YOUR CASE AND WORK YOUR
WAY BACKWARDS.

• DO ALL THE CALCULATIONS AND WRITE ANALYSIS

OF YOUR EXHIBITS ON THE EXHIBIT ITSELF.

• YOU WILL USE THIS ANALYSIS TO SUPPORT YOUR

ARGUMENT OF THE CASE.
 EXHIBITS (Cont’d)
• STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT CASES ARE COMPLEX
AND HAVE A LOT OF EXHIBITS.

• SOME CASES HAVE SEVERAL EXHIBITS WHICH

HAVE A LOT OF FINANCIAL DATA SUCH AS
FINANCE COURSES

• SOME CASES SUCH AS HRM, MARKETING AND

SALES STRATEGY HAVE OTHER TYPES OF CHARTS
AND FORMS (such as appraisals and data on
sales and market share) IN EXHIBITS .
 EXHIBITS (Cont’d)
• YOU MUST USE THE INFORMATION GIVEN IN
EXHIBITS TO ANALYZE YOUR CASE.

• A BALANCE SHEET, INCOME STATEMENT AND

CASH FLOW STATEMENT ARE USUALLY
IMPORTANT AND YOU MUST WORK ON THE
NUMBERS.

• USE EXHIBITS INTELLIGENTLY

(ANALYSIS PARALYSIS)
 AFTER YOU HAVE USED YOUR HIGHLIGHTERS AND
STUDIED THE EXHIBITS.
NOW you a ready to tackle the case.
ON ONE SCRAP PAPER: List and Number all the FACTS
(Yellow).

ON SECOND PAPER: List and Number all the

QUALITATIVE INFORMATION (Green).

ON THIRD PAPER: List and Number all the ISSUES and

PROBLEMS (Orange)

The above are your WORKING DOCUMENTS.

 INDIVIDUAL WAC SUBMISSION
• ALL STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO WORK ON THEIR
CASE INDIVIDUALLY AND MAKE THEIR INDIVIDUAL
NOTES AS DESCRIBED IN THE PREVIOUS SLIDES.

• INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS SHOULD REVIEW AND

DOCUMENT THEIR ANALYSIS BEFORE THE GROUP
DISCUSSION CAN TAKE PLACE.

• REMEMBER ALL YOUR INDIVIDUAL HAND WRITTEN

NOTES MUST BE SUBMITTED IN A FOLDER WHEN
MAKING A FINAL SUBMISSION OF YOUR WAC AND
MAKING A PP PRESENTATION.
 GROUP MEETING

NOW ALL GROUP MEMBERS

SHOULD SIT SOME PLACE
(TRC – 5 & 6, LIBRARIES,
CAFÉ ETC) AND DISCUSS
AND WORK TOGETHER AS
FOLLOWS.
 MINUTES OF GROUP MEETING
• YOU SHOULD DOCUMENT THE GROUP MEETING
PROCEEDINGS.
•
• THAT MEANS ONE STUDENT SHOULD BE ASSIGNED TO
TAKE NOTES AS THE DISCUSSION PROCEEDS AND THE
DIALOGUE TAKING PLACE BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT
MEMBERS OF THE GROUP.

• HAND WRITTEN MINUTES OF THE MEETING MUST BE

SUBMITTED ALONG WITH THE FINAL WAC.
 THE GROUP MEMBERS SIT DOWN TOGETHER
AND NOW BRAINSTORM/THINK/PONDER
OVER AND DO THE FOLLOWING:

Start to RELIST YOUR FACTS AND QUALITATIVE

statements in order of importance (Write short
notes – Why you did what you did?)

THIS WILL REQUIRE CONCENTRATION and Time

because you are making “Decisions” about what is
most important and least important.
 LOOK AT ISSUES/ PROBLEMS
(ORANGE COLOUR)
A. Do Brainstorming again. THIS time you are
trying to RE-LIST all the ISSUES/PROBLEMS
in the order of importance. (Write short
notes on reasoning/argument for your
decision)
B. Then identify the “CORE PROBLEM” by
process of elimination of other
issues/problems. (Write short notes on your
reasoning)
 THE LIST OF FACTS AND QUALITATIVE
STATEMENTS SHOULD JUSTIFY THE
PROBLEMS/ISSUES IDENTIFIED BY YOU IN THE
CASE.

A. WRITE YOUR CORE ISSUE/PROBLEM IN BOLD

LETTERS.

B. AND JUSTIFY Why you think this is the CORE

problem. You have written Short Notes in your
scrap/rough work. Use these notes and the
facts and qualitative statements for this
justification. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT
PART OF YOUR ANALYSIS.
RECOMMENDATIONS/SOLUTIONS
A. ONCE YOU HAVE justified the “CORE
PROBLEM”, THINK & LIST all the
Possible Solutions. (Write short notes
as to why?)

B. List all Possible Solutions. (Write short

notes as to why you think it is a
solution?)
C. Generally you have three
possible ALTERNATIVE
SOLUTIONS. ( From your Group Discussion )

D. Do costs benefits analysis and

advantages & disadvantages of
each of the suggested alternative.
E. Now rank your solutions by the PROCESS of
ELIMINATION (Write short notes) and Select
the Best Solution.

F. JUSTIFY your solution as to why you think it is

the best solution.

G. WRITE CONCLUSION (very important)

H. Restate the CORE PROBLEM and the POSSIBLE

SOLUTION you are presenting.
WAC: WRITTEN ANALYSIS OF A CASE

• WAC IS NORMALY 5 TO 10 TYPED PAGES

Of COMPREHENSIVE CASES.

• HOWEVER YOU MUST SUBMIT A

FOLDER CONTAINING YOUR ROUGH OR
SCRAP WORK (HAND WRITTEN WORK
OF EACH INDIVIDUAL AND THE GROUP
WORK) AS A PROOF OF YOUR WORK.
 FINAL SUBMISSION OF CASE STUDY
– YOUR FINAL FOLDER CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING:

1. INDIVIDUAL HAND WRITTEN CASE ANALYSIS BY

EACH GROUP MEMBER
2. MINUTES OF THE GROUP MEETING
3. A FORMALLY WRITTEN ANALYSIS OF CASE
(WAC)
4. A FORMAL PRINTED POWER POINT
PRESENTATION (IF REQUIRED BY THE
INSTRUCTOR)
THANK YOU!