Case Study

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1. Case analysis – paper and presentation

2. Company analysis – paper

1. Case Analysis (15%)

Each team is to present analysis of an assigned case related to a chapter. All the cases

required in this class are in the folder “Textbook and course-related

links&references/cases” and in chapter/module folders on Blackboard.

The case analysis should include four sections:

• Summary of the case: including the history, current challenges, and major

strategic issues the firm is facing

• List of key concepts related to strategic management: you should look for those

concepts in the chapter related to the case and elaborate these concepts using case

material, in two or three short paragraphs

• Answer to the following questions: a detailed list follows, but not all the

questions are required

• Brief update of the company: the update should be closely related to the case

material such as key performance indicators mentioned in the case

You should use the case material to prepare the case analysis report. Updated material

should only go into the last section of the report. The pedagogical value of this project

lies in the (historical) facts in the case material. DO NOT try to update case material

yourself.

You should include subtitles for each section in your paper, and list the questions

you choose to answer.

For each case, there are two lists of questions: a list of general questions as following,

and a list of case and chapter specific questions posted in chapter/module folders on

Blackboard. You are required to answer four to five questions in total from the two

lists, but it’s up to you to choose which questions to focus on.

A detailed list of general questions:

1. Introduction and analysis of financial performance

o Indicate the company’s name and line of business, and define the industry

in which it competes.

o Report the financial performance of the company within this business over

the past three to five years.

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o Report the average financial performance of firms in the industry. Identify whether the industry is above- or below-average in profitability.

o Identify whether the company has a competitive advantage based on the difference between its performance and the industry average, and its

performance compared with major competitors.

o Provide a broad overview of the issues that the company is facing. 2. Analysis of external environment

o Describe the factors in the general environment especially important to the firm and the industry.

o Describe the total revenues and profitability of the industry over the past few years.

o Explain why industry profitability is less or greater than the national average using Porter’s five-forces model.

• Do buyers have significant bargaining power? • Do suppliers have significant bargaining power? • Is the threat of entry significant? • Is the threat of substitution significant? • Is rivalry intense?

3. Analysis of the company’s competitive position (internal factors)

o Describe the company’s financial performance relative to the industry average and major competitors over the past few years.

o Identify the company’s strategy. • What are the company’s quantitative goals for market share and

profitability?

• How do the company’s products/services differ from those of rivals? Does the company achieve a premium price?

• What are the critical resources and capabilities that distinguish the company from its competitors? Are these resources and

capabilities easy to imitate and substitute for?

• Does the company have unusual problems that put it at a competitive disadvantage?

4. Analysis of forthcoming change in the company’s industry

o What major trends are likely to affect the profitability of the industry? Which are likely to improve profitability and which are likely to damage

profitability of the industry as a whole?

o What is the timing of the trends? Will the industry likely go through a major punctuated change over the next five years?

o Are the trends likely to have particularly strong impact on the company? 5. Analysis of threats to the sustainability of the company’s competitive

advantage

o Are there trends that are likely to have particular impact on the company’s competitive advantage or disadvantage?

o Are there major threats to the sustainability of the company’s position? 6. Recommendations

o Are the company’s industry structure and competitive position satisfactory?

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o What options does the company face for improving its financial returns

over the next five years?

o What strategic actions do you recommend given your analysis of the

options available to the company?

The case report paper should be single spaced, no more than 5 pages, excluding endnotes

and appendix. Use Word-standard top, bottom, and side margins, 12-point Time New

Roman font. You should cite references for all facts, conclusions, analysis, logic, and/or

quotations that come from others. You may either use “endnotes” by listing, at the end of

your paper (and NOT included in the page limit) the full citation and the name of the

author and/or publication and date within the text (e.g., [Hitt et al 2013] ) or formal

“raised number” footnotes plus a formal bibliography listing all sources. APA citation

format is recommended (http://www.bibme.org/citation-guide/apa/). You may also find it

useful to put tables, graphs, charts, maps, etc., in an appendix (which is NOT part of the

page limit). One point will be deducted for over page limit.

The case presentation is about 10-15 minutes, including about 11-15 slides.

Supplementary material is encouraged but not required. You must cite your source, for

example, web site, publication, etc. Only the presentation slides are required for this

class. No presentation is required.

Your paper and presentation will be graded based on the following criteria:

Case Total: 15

Case report: 10

summary (2 points), key issues (3 points), answer to discussion questions (4 points),

update (1 point)

Case presentation: 5