Case Studies/ Briefing Paper

Pages 1 , to 3 are adapted from: Cameron S, (2002), Business Student’s

Handbook, Prentice Hall, Essex

We are going to look at how to use a case study to solve a problem. However
this format can also be used to create a briefing paper for a potential client.

Why are they important ? Case studies bridge the gap between learning and
work situations in which you will be applying that learning. Pioneered by Havard
Law School and then used on their MBA course in 1869, they have been seen as
a valuable teaching tool.

What is a case study? It usually consists of a written description of a situation

faced by or within an organisation. A case study may be a brief outline of a
scenario or 100 or more pages of closely written description and including
company accounts, sales figures and other relevant information. Some studies
are fictional and some based on real-life situations.

Cases can:
• Broaden your awareness of organisational situations
• Give you something on which to practice concepts you have learned
• Provide a useful basis for assessment
• Develop group-working skills
• Highlight assumptions about organisations and how people should or
should not behave

Warning! Remember a case study is the author’s impression of reality and is

subject to bias. Therefore be prepared to look beyond the case study.

Problems that may arise

• Deciding what is needed – what are you meant to be doing

• Working effectively as a group
• Coping with time pressures
• Sorting out the information
• Structuring the information in a way that makes sense
• Difficulty in drawing conclusions from the information supplied
• Communicating the information effectively via a written report or an oral
presentation

Effective case analysis:

Clarify and agree objectives

Try to avoid lengthy and unfocused group discussions – try to ensure that
everyone in the group agrees on the objectives of the exercise. You need to
decide at the beginning:
• What sort of output is required
• When is it required
• Who is your notional client - who are you.

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Working as a group

To be effective you will need to

• ensure that the group process is managed so that everyone feels they can
contribute and they remain fully committed to the task
• disagreements about the case need to treated as valuable and their roots
explored as a potential source of valuable insights into the scenario
• manage the group task so that members make a maximal contribution
• information searching and sorting may need to be split between subgroups
to save time
• efforts need to be co-ordinated
• time-management is a constant problem – need for frequent reviews of
progress and adjusting ways of working
• understand that different members have different skills – split
responsibilities to exploit the members’ strengths

Analysing a complex situation

Some case studies provide an over-abundance of information, some of which is

relevant and some extraneous to your needs. You will need to impose some
structure.

Guidelines for case analysis

• Explore the problem using diagrams such as multiple case and rich
pictures to make sure that you can agree on the ‘symptoms’ of the problem
and the possible features of the situation relevant to this.
• When you feel you understand the problem situation, define the problem
facing the organisation or protagonist in the case study, - use
theories/ideas you have learnt throughout the course (this module and
others) as a framework for diagnosing the underlying causes of the
‘symptoms’ presented in the case
• What criteria will solve the problem or what action can be taken to improve
the situation – remember the client’s/protagonist’s objectives at this stage
• If you have diagnosed the problem correctly, often the type of action
needed will become fairly obvious – but you may need to generate
alternatives for action
• Evaluate the options by exploring what it would take to implement them –
what effects are they likely to have – check how well they score against
your criteria for a solution
• Design an implementation strategy ( if this is part of your brief) which will
meet the needs of the client/protagonist . Ensure the strategy will be
- feasible in cost and other terms
- acceptable to other stakeholders in the situation

Exploiting the learning opportunities

Analysing a case study as a group calls for all your transferable skills and give
you the opportunity to improve and building on them. To exploit this opportunity

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you will need to promote an atmosphere where feedback and reflection are
present. With the groups consent, you could propose a new objective - what can
you learn from the activity itself. You will need to be open to receiving feedback
and be able to give constructive feedback to the other members. You have been
given a set of questions to accompany your logbook. Here are more questions to
help with reflection.

• How well do people feel the group process is working?

• What behaviours are contributing to aspects that are going well?
• Does anyone feel they are not contributing as much as they would like?
• If yes, what is making contribution difficult for them?
• Is anyone beginning to feel reduced commitment to the task?
• If yes, can they pinpoint the start of this feeling ?
• Has there been any conflict?
• If yes, what was the source of this (e.g. different values or assumptions)?
• How has any conflict been handled?
• Is anyone talking more then their fair share?
• If yes, why do they think they are doing this?
• How do others feel about this?
• What things could the group do differently to improve process in future?

Communicating results

PRESENTATIONS

See Blackboard for detailed notes on giving presentations but remember:

• understand your audience’s perspective and what they understand about
the subject – adapt your language and style accordingly
• be clear about what is necessary to communicate
• do this in a straightforward way
• use clear , interesting and imaginative visual aids to reinforce your
message
• keep within the allotted time – it is easy to overestimate what you can say
in a particular time
• most importantly –tell them what you are going to tell them – tell them – tell
them what you have just told them.

THE WRITTEN CASE STUDY

The points above apply. You need to be sure what you want to communicate and
who you are writing for. You need clarity in the way in which you write and use
diagrams and tables to support your discussion. Remember to support your
argument with evidence which should be referenced correctly.

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Writing up your case study:

There is no ultimate guideline to a professional report. The most important thing

is that you sound convincing while presenting your solution and that you address
all the issues raised in the case and that you address all the possible concerns of
the person(s) receiving the report.

You may find it useful to present a business report using the following headings:

Executive Summary:
A short ( no more than A4 page) summary of your main findings and
recommendations

Terms of Reference: (particularly useful when creating a briefing paper)

Who are you
Who is your client
What have they asked you to do.

Overview of the current situation:

An overview of the situation as you understand it. This should include all
assumptions made by you regarding the case. You can also use this section to
introduce new details or issues to the case (for example where you have found
that certain issues have not been raised in the case study text) or to qualify
issues that have been raised. Remember however, that the receiver (your client)
may not be impressed when you tell him/her that his/her ideas are not correct!
You may need to be diplomatic.

Analysis of the current situation:

Once you have clarified your understanding of the situation you can start to
analyse the situation. There are two useful methodologies for this. However,
alternative methodologies may be just as useful.

PEST/PESTEL Analysis
The PEST/PESTEL methodology can be used to analyse the macro-environment
which may influence your case.
PEST /PESTEL stands for Political Economical Sociological Technological
Environmental and Legal factors in the macro-environment.

Political Factors:
Governments and other political bodies can have a big impact on a business and
consumers. Issues to be considered under the political heading could include
( but are not limited to ):
How stable is the political environment?
How will tax rates or other contributions influence your business
What is the government’s view on economics?
Etc.

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Economical Factors:
Under this heading you would look at the economical factors influencing your
case.
This may be ( but not limited to):
How is the growth rate of the economy?
What is the short-, medium- and long-term outlook?
Etc.

Sociological Factors:
These are the social and cultural factors that can be observed in the macro-
environment. These may include ( but are not limited to):
Dominant religion
What are the attitudes towards foreign goods/services – foreigners themselves?
Language problems
Communication styles
Etc.etc.

Technological Factors:
These are the ‘infrastructure’ factors that influence your case. For example ( but
not limited to):
Are transport /communication means available where needed?
How is technology used?
Etc.

Environmental Factors:
More and more companies are asked to look at how their activities may be
affecting the environment. For example (but not limited to)
Pollution
Transporting of products

Legal Factors:
Legal requirements vary between countries. For example (but not limited to)
What is a contract
Laws and regulations

SWOT Analysis
Apart from the macro-analysis you will also have to consider the micro-
environment of your particular organisation. One of the most frequently used
methodologies is the SWOT methodology.
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Strengths:
Find out what your organisation is good at. What do others see the organisation
as being good at? What are the strong points of the organisation? And where do
you have expertise, special or unique knowledge etc.?

Weaknesses :
What are the weak points of the organisation? Where does the organisation lack
knowledge or expertise? What do others see as the weak points?

Opportunities:

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What opportunities exist for the organisation? Where can the organisation grow
or learn? What new skills can be added to the organisation?

Threats:
What are the threats from competitors? Are there other factors that may
negatively influence your organisation?

Solutions and recommendations:

Based on your previous analysis you can then present your solutions or
recommendations to the issues that you have identified from the case studies.

If you have used PEST/PESTEL and SWOT these recommendations should

usually be derived from your previous analysis. E.g. building on the strengths,
taking advantage of the opportunities. At the same time, the solutions should
wherever possible counter-act the weaknesses and prepare for the possible
threats. All of your solutions and recommendations should, of course, take
account of the outcome of your PEST/PESTEL analysis.

Also remember that there is no such thing as an absolutely right way when
preparing your solutions and recommendations. There are many different ways
to achieve a goal. However, your recommendations and solutions have to be
based on your previous analysis.

Forecasts/Outcomes:

In a few, but not all, of the case studies you will be required to make assumptions
about possible outcomes. In those cases, you will have to rely on an ‘educated
guess’ what the situation will be like in the short-, middle-and long-tem.

As will all forecasts, there are no ultimate solutions. Generally, the best way is to
try and find out as much as you can about the situation that requires you to make
a forecast. For example by looking at other organisations that have done
something similar, by looking at current trends, etc. and then make forecasts
based on these figures and facts.

Referencing :

Although the style of the reports may be very different from the kind of written
work produced in other modules, all references that you have used should be
included when submitting your work.

The university referencing handbook sets out how to reference correctly.

Bibliography

When submitting work at university, you will be asked to add a bibliography. This
list of books, journals, websites etc. includes all the literature you have read or
used for references which have contributed to your case study or report.

Appendices

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This includes any supplementary material that is needed to support the main
body but is not essential to the main findings. If they were included in the main
body of the report, they would disrupt the flow and detract from the facts and
arguments

Glossary

If technical terms or abbreviations are used – these should be explained in the

glossary

Abbreviations

These can be very annoying to the reader. The first time the topic is discussed it
should be spelt out in full, usually in brackets along side the abbreviations.