Case study

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In Week 2, you are to use Case Study 1-2 (McDonald’s Expands Globally While Adjusting Its Local Recipe) from Chapter 1.

As you read the case study, you need to uncover at least one problem associated with the global growth of McDonalds.  If you uncover a number of problems, identify what you think is the MAIN problem. 

Then use the CASE STUDY TEMPLATE provided to complete your case study.  


global marketing 9th edition  by warren keegan 


template and instructions below 


Case Study Guidelines and Template

Case studies are interdisciplinary in scope; they cross many disciplines within organizations and expose the "manager" to many varied situations of day-to-day activities. Cases studies are a picture-in-time, much like an accounting profit and loss report for a past business quarter. They are, after all, real life situations.

Cases develop a manager’s analytical skills, because the results are quantitative and qualitative in nature and support their recommendations and decisions. They are also beneficial in helping the learning process of asking the right question(s).

Case studies place you (the student) in hypothetical Consultant position, requiring you to weigh the facts and options to recommend those critical decisions. As the consultant, you are to remain objective and refrain from making subjective claims. Opinions should be supported using concepts and terms from your text. If you use outside research, be sure to cite your sources IN the body of the paper as well as listing the source as a reference at the end of the paper.

A case study will have three common traits. They deal with real companies and situations, seldom have a solution, and contain loads of data. Your task as a consultant will be to review the respective data, locate the relevant information, arrange it in a practical and sequential order, and arrive at a solution or recommendation. You must remain objective throughout this process. 

Since this is a formal analysis, you are to write in a style that reflects formal, collegiate level work. This will include an objective perspective, 3rd person voice, lack of contractions/slang/expressions. Any references should contain appropriate citing in APA format. Failure to do so will affect your grade.

There are many ways to look at a single case study. First, look for questions that need to be answered. Look for issues, constraints, potential problems and what needs to be changed that would perhaps strengthen the company, create growth, or increase profits.

There are numerous ways to organize and write a case study. For this course, a case study analysis MUST includea "Statement of the problem," "a Summary of the Facts," "Analysis," "Recommendation(s)"“Conclusions,” and a “Reference Page”.

USE THE FORMAT/TEMPLATE ON THE FOLLOWING PAGE for your Case Analysis Write Up.

I. Statement of the Problem(s)

State in a few sentences the problem (or you may want to think about “issues” if the word “problem” causes you confusion) that exists within the case study. There may be multiple problems BUT PICK JUST ONE MAIN ISSUE. Always keep your audience (such as a Board of Directors who may have hired you as a Consultant) in mind while formulating the problem statement; they may have opposing views on the situation.

Note that some cases do not have a recognizable “problem”. In these cases you may be asked to state what decisions you would make for the future of the company.

II. Summary of the Facts

Briefly, sum up the facts in the case that are relevant to the stated issue/problem you noted in Part I. It may include pertinent history or background information, industry trends, or other relevant data. These are the details from which your Analysis will be based upon. You should NOT include opinion or analysis here…just the relevant facts.

III. Analysis

Analysis is often the most difficult portion of the case to write and should be completed before any attempt to the physical writing of the case. In other words, you would have been analyzing while reading the case study a few times and you would have been making written or mental notes.   This will be the LONGEST PART of your case writeup.

The tools associated with analysis are comparison, contrast, and synthesis. Comparison is looking for and then finding similarities among other elements being analyzed. Contrast is looking for and finding differences between elements. Synthesis is integrating the information and formulating a consistent interpretation of the case. You many not need to use all the tools, but you will use at least one. The “tool” you used must make sense in light of the information you are analyzing.  

Your recommendations in the next section MUST come from the analysis you conducted and this is the area that will highlight the gaps or opportunities among the data.

IIII. Recommendations

This section provides direction. Based on the information and analysis you conducted above, state your recommendations. This is your "argument." Using the information of the case and the analysis, you "argue" that certain steps should or should not be taken. Your audience must be able to understand the reasons for your recommendations. These recommendations should not be summative in nature, but specific. It is not appropriate from a consultant position to simply suggest "more research" unless you define who, what, where, how, why. Nor should you recommend hiring a consultant. Essentially, you ARE the hired consultant. Tell the "audience" (i.e. me as the President of the Board) how to fix the problem(s) and why your solution will work.

V. Conclusion

This section is for any concluding remarks that may be necessary. It can be used to summarize your recommendations, while adding in the caveats and other considerations that you wish to highlight.

VI. Reference Page

This section will contain all the references used for the case study in APA format.  AT THE VERY MINIMUM, you should have the textbook and two other source referenced here, and where appropriate as inline cites (ie. in the paragraph you are using details from).  An inline citation notes the author(s) last name(s) and year.  If a direct quote is being taken, the part is in quotation marks and the citation includes the page number if one exits.   Sample inline cites:

(Hale and Thakur, 2013)

(Hale and Thakur, 2013, p. 45) for direct quotes

A good resource for APA formatting can be found at:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

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