Analyzing a Strategy Case Study - Some Tip
Analyzing a Strategy Case Study - Some Tips
Copyright: Adrian Haberberg and the University of Westminster, 1998
Give yourself time to assimilate a case
The longer that a case study is given to “sink in” to your subconscious, the deeper the understanding you will get and the better your answers will be. Read the case material for the first time as soon as you have been allocated it as an assignment or seminar example. Get a general impression:
Which organizations and industries does it relate to?
Is the organization doing well or badly now, and how has it performed in the past? Is it a company that has an unbroken record of success? Or a successful company that has fallen on hard times?
What are the main issues and choices confronting the company? Is it in an expanding industry, or a maturing one? Are customer needs changing? Does the firm confront a variety of opportunities? Or is there a particular business decision which the case is oriented towards?
What information is there in the case, as tables and annexes?
Analyse thoroughly, and use what you have been learning
Put the case aside for a few days before reading it a second time. Then, start to analyze it seriously:
Look at the development of the organization over time. What strategies has it pursued? Which have succeeded and which have failed? Which are the types of environment where it has been able to succeed, and in which types has it had problems?
Use the tools and techniques of strategic management theory, to see what insights they give you. What is the nature of the competitive environment? What kind of strategic resources does the organization have – and which does it lack? How successful has the organization been – and how do you know?
Look carefully at all the tables, annexes and appendices. Why are they there? What information is the case writer trying to get you to get out of them?
If there are numerical data in the case – analyze them. What trends over time do they show? What ratios
Copyright: Adrian Haberberg and the University of Westminster, 1998
Give yourself time to assimilate a case
The longer that a case study is given to “sink in” to your subconscious, the deeper the understanding you will get and the better your answers will be. Read the case material for the first time as soon as you have been allocated it as an assignment or seminar example. Get a general impression:
Which organizations and industries does it relate to?
Is the organization doing well or badly now, and how has it performed in the past? Is it a company that has an unbroken record of success? Or a successful company that has fallen on hard times?
What are the main issues and choices confronting the company? Is it in an expanding industry, or a maturing one? Are customer needs changing? Does the firm confront a variety of opportunities? Or is there a particular business decision which the case is oriented towards?
What information is there in the case, as tables and annexes?
Analyse thoroughly, and use what you have been learning
Put the case aside for a few days before reading it a second time. Then, start to analyze it seriously:
Look at the development of the organization over time. What strategies has it pursued? Which have succeeded and which have failed? Which are the types of environment where it has been able to succeed, and in which types has it had problems?
Use the tools and techniques of strategic management theory, to see what insights they give you. What is the nature of the competitive environment? What kind of strategic resources does the organization have – and which does it lack? How successful has the organization been – and how do you know?
Look carefully at all the tables, annexes and appendices. Why are they there? What information is the case writer trying to get you to get out of them?
If there are numerical data in the case – analyze them. What trends over time do they show? What ratios