CASE METHODOLOGY

What is a case?

A case is a written description of an enterprise, an event, an incident and

information about its many facets. It generally contains its history, internal and
external environment. A case is a narration of events or episodes of an
organisation covering some or all aspects during a particular point or period of
time. Thus there is no special rule as to what a case should be composed of. All
that it suggests is when a certain situation emerges, we should consider various
ways in which decisions are made or can be made. The cases give different
types of information about the situation. The information may include facts about
the industry, the competitive conditions, the nature of products and their markets,
the physical facilities, the work climate and organisational culture, the skills,
education and training of personnel, the attitudes of people, traits and personality
of managers, organisational structure, interpersonal relations & communications,
financial and other economic data, conversations, sequence of events, etc.
Cases are drawn from different sources, private or public, commercial or non-
commercial organisations.

The case study method is an effective way of enabling one to understand

management concepts. It is a technique of motivating persons to learn and
become excellent analysts for decision making. A case study is an analysis of
what has happened or what is happening. It is an illustration of certain practices.
It is not an illustration of a right or wrong practice. It helps a student to have a
idea of a real life business situation that was present at some stage in a business
unit. This should help the student generate as many alternate courses of action.

Case analysis Methodology

Case analysis involves the following steps:

1. Critical Issues are to be identified: The analyst should look for such critical
issues that would affect the performance and operations of the company.

2. Evaluation of assumptions: Many a time, certain assumptions have to be

made. Are those assumptions realistic and based on facts?

3. Analysis of the Environmental and Industrial factors: Various factors which

influence the environment and the industry in question need to be
analysed.

4. Analysis of the organisation: Attention to be given to organisational

structure, functional integration, interpersonal relations and
communication, etc.

5. Operations of the organisation: Capability of the organisation to achieve

high quality, high performance, etc has to be looked into.
 6. Resource position of organisation to be analysed: Questions like what are
its Investments? What is the capacity? What are the facilities? What is the
cash flow? What is the return on investment? How is budgeting of
strategic funds done? etc to be analysed.

7. Recommendation: While recommendations are offered, it should be seen

that each of them are justifiable and achievable.

8. Provision of a plan: Analysis should be able to provide specific details,

time frame, resources, people, structure and measurable results.

An effective and thorough analysis of the case should be able to provide a

clear solution out of a complex situation with reasonable, consistent and creative
action plans. There will be a lot of scope for the application of quantitative tools,
determination of missing data and deciding the significance of information. It will
be an opportunity for you to apply your personal values to organisational
situations and contribute to the organisational culture by the type of decisions
you take.

A CHECK LIST

The following check list should help in developing a quick approach to

case analysis:

1. Glance quickly through the material.

2. Try to understand the general idea by reading the case as a whole.
3. Comprehend the case perspective.
4. Make notes of important facts/ideas.
5. Arrive at a preliminary formulation of the problem.
6. Grasp relevant facts and link them logically for an orderly relationship
between them. Identify any facts or data not known and which should be
taken into account.
7. If any assumptions have been made, it should be stated clearly.
8. Quantitative analysis should be done with the help of statements, charts
and graphs.
9. Main questions to be answered to be identified and questions to be
answered to tackle the main question should be stated.
10. Criteria for the decision should be determined keeping in view the
objectives.
11. Suggest alternate solutions, stating advantages, disadvantages and
consequences of each alternative.
12. Weigh and decide among alternative courses of action.
13. Implementation plans should be determined keeping the following in mind:
a) Program orientation – what is to be done?
b) Responsibility identification – who is to do it?
c) Schedule of events – when exactly a job is to be done?
d) Budget – how much will it cost?
14. Contingency plan should be kept ready if needed.

Before a detailed analysis, a macro analysis needs to be done on the

following aspects which are relevant to the case:

Environmental Legal business Psychological

Religious Economic Sociological Financial
Industrial

Several tools are needed for case analysis. Their selection depends upon
the case and the type of analysis needed. Some of them could be -

Financial analysis tools, decision trees, present value tables, SWOT analysis,
Porter’s five forces, product market analysis, customer analysis, etc.

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