Framework for Case Analysis (Adapted from the original document

Framework for Case Analysis (Adapted from the original
document published by the UMass College of Management)
Part I – Analyzing a Case
What is this document?
You will be asked throughout your Graduate experience to
analyze cases. Because there are many ways to approach cases,
the CM faculty has agreed upon a framework for case analysis
that you will be asked to learn in MGT 650. This framework
will help you throughout your Graduate experience in thinking
about cases as well as in preparing written reports.
UC Note: The SL and DEL curricula are not “case-based.” This
document is intended to illustrate and explain my two-step case
study assignment. My notes appear in bold blue font
throughout.
What is a case?
A case is a story---usually a true story, but not always---that
illustrates business and management theories and concepts you
are studying in a course and/or presents a problem or series of
problems for you to solve. A case usually ends with a dilemma
or critical issue faced by a particular character or organization
depicted in the case. Sometimes a case will be accompanied by
a set of questions, usually theory-based, that your instructor
expects you to answer. Some questions will be devoted to
figuring out the problems imbedded in the case and the causes
of those problems; others will ask you to determine a course of
action to take in the future. These questions will be provided
between steps one and two. More complex cases usually
contain a variety of types of information, e.g. industry and
economic data, financial reports, policies and procedures,

market share and pricing data, descriptions of personnel and
other resources, job descriptions, individual perceptions, and
dialogue. Due to their complex nature, these cases demand your
careful, sustained attention; indeed, each case contains
subtleties that are likely to be discerned only by several re-
readings and discussions with other students.
Why do professors ask students in the Graduate Programs to
analyze cases?
Through the process of analyzing cases, professors believe that
Graduate students can learn the value of: [1] responding
actively and constructively to the conflicts of organizational life
by: suspending judgment about personalities as well as about
courses of action; differentiating between facts and opinions;
graciously giving up an opinion if it is shown to be inadequate;
integrating what one learns through discussions with others in
order to progress in one’s own thinking; examining the total
situation rather than focusing on the most obvious or pressing
elements of that situation; gaining multiple perspectives on a
situation by using theory, concepts and research findings;
understanding the continually evolving interrelationships among
the factors in a situation; acknowledging what is not known or
understood by the student analyst about a situation; explicitly
assessing and acknowledging the degree of confidence the
student analyst is able to have in what he/she has come to
understand about the case; recognizing that a situation can
involve many “problems” and that different stakeholders will
probably experience different problems; setting priorities ---
deciding which problems deserve immediate attention;
developing an action orientation---a willingness to take
calculated risks under conditions of incomplete information,
inadequate resources, and often imperfect solutions;
appreciating the complexity of transforming proposed solutions
into comprehensive, detailed plans for action; and, seeking to
understand the consequences and limits of managerial actions.

As part of this process, I am asking you to analyze your case in
the context of the material and discussions about global
leadership we have covered in the past three weeks.
Will all instructors in the Graduate Programs use cases in the
same way?
The life of an Graduate student would be easier if the answer to
this question were “yes.” The truth, however, is that cases can
be used in a variety of ways, even by a single instructor. One
UMass/Boston faculty member has wisely observed that cases
can be used as:
the hook---a snappy introduction to a topic;
the curtain raiser---a hook with conceptual implications;
the example---an illustration of a concept, frequently
predefined;
the exercise---a test of the student’s mastery of the course’s
conceptual material
the rehearsal---an opportunity for the student to try out skills or
behavior related to or in the context of the course material.[2]
When instructors use cases for the first three purposes, they
almost never expect students to produce a full-fledged case
analysis. Instead, the cases, if they are discussed in class at all,
usually are used by instructors to engage students in thinking
concretely about conceptual material presented in course
readings. Indeed, such cases are usually quite brief---a
paragraph or two, or a page or two, in length. However, when
cases are used by instructors in the form of an “exercise” or
“rehearsal,” students are usually required to produce a
systematic analysis in the form of an oral presentation or
written paper.
My purpose in creating this assignment is related to items # 4 &
5. I am interested in the ways you may apply the theories and
concepts presented and discussed and as a kind of rehearsal for
your application presentation.

If you are asked to analyze a case, what are the key elements
your instructors might ask you to consider?
You rarely will be asked to analyze cases the same way every
time, even by a particular instructor in a particular course.
Nevertheless, the analysis elements described below cover most
of the ground that is likely to be of interest to instructors in
your Graduate courses. In thinking through a case, you may be
asked by your instructor to consider all twelve of the elements
described below. Most often, however, your instructor will ask
you to consider only a few of the elements. There are many
possible reasons that an instructor might exclude elements from
consideration: sometimes an instructor’s goals for a particular
class session can be met only if students are asked to
concentrate on a few selected elements; sometimes elements are
excluded because they are not relevant to a particular field of
study; sometimes elements are excluded because they interfere
with a particular instructor’s carefully considered way of
teaching cases.
No matter which elements you are asked to use, make careful
notes as you conduct your analysis. You will need to bring to
class well-organized and detailed references to the evidence of
the case if you are to participate effectively in class
discussions.
Elements of Analysis
1. Develop a detailed chronology of events---both major events
and those that seem, on first reading, relatively minor. In doing
so, pay careful attention to how certain you can be about each
event.
2. Describe the key economic and policy issues and trends in
the country(ies) where the firm is operating.
3. Describe the industry in which the firm is operating---
perhaps including such information as competitors, new
entrants, substitute products, suppliers, and the end-use and

intermediary buyers.
4. Identify the relevant cast of characters (often called
stakeholders).
a. Acknowledge to yourself whether you like some of these
stakeholders better than others. Have you tended to jump to
conclusions about what kind of people they are (e.g. he can’t be
trusted; she’s the perfect boss; that procurement department is
full of obstructionists)? b. Look carefully for evidence that
might contradict, in any way, your first impressions.
5. Describe each stakeholder’s problems, goals (or demands),
and concerns.
a. For each stakeholder, look for evidence that something has
happened in the case that the stakeholder finds troublesome and
seems to consider a problem.
b. Identify the assumptions being made by each stakeholder, and
any apparent biases of each stakeholder.
c. Identify the goals (sometimes stated as explicit demands) of
each stakeholder.
d. Then, as best you can, identify the concerns underlying these
demands. In other words, what does the behavior (words,
actions) of the stakeholder suggest to you about why that person
(or group) wants what he/she seems to want?
6. Evaluate the quantitative information that you have available
in the case.
a. Identify assumptions underlying the data.
b. Examine consistency among units.
c. Determine the quality of data, e.g. completeness, accuracy,
possible biases, consistency among multiple sources.
d. Use estimation to gauge whether results “seem right.”
e. Identify ways in which the data may oversimplify an issue or
situation.
f. Summarize the quantitative information.
g. Be prepared to express the summary in a variety of forms: in

words, in visual/graphical displays, in tables of numerical
results, in analytical formulations.
h. Look for patterns among the results that help you gain insight
into the issues of the case.
7. Use theory, concepts, models, and research findings that you
have been studying in your class to enrich your view of the case
and help you to identify problems.
How does __________ (theory/model/concept) help me
understand ___________?
Using a variety of different concepts, theories and models to
organize your investigation will allow you to reframe and gai n
multiple perspectives on the issues of the case. As you complete
your various inquiries, you will find that some have enabled you
to gain important new insights about the case, while others told
you little of significance. In your written report, of cour se, you
should write about those inquiries that were most meaningful.
The steps below describe a process that you may follow to
answer a conceptually-grounded question:
a. Define the concept (theory, model). Be prepared, if your
instructor asks you, to quote it from the text or relevant
readings; this will ensure that you are working with the
appropriate conceptual material and that you have a framework
for organizing evidence from the case.
b. Look in the case for evidence that seems relevant to all or
some portion of the definition that you quoted in (a). Be
prepared, if your instructor asks you, to quote that evidence,
also noting where it is located in the case and identifying what
is happening at that moment in the case.
c. Next, express in your own words how the piece of evidence
you quoted in (b) fits all or some part of the definition you
quoted in (a).
d. Repeat (a) and (b) as many times as necessary: to search for
evidence concerning all elements of the concept, theory or
model, not just the ones for which evidence is easy to find; and

to locate all relevant evidence from the case, not just an obvious
example or two. Sometimes you will be unable to find evidence
relevant to a particular part of the definition. If this happens, be
sure to acknowledge explicitly that you were unable to locate
evidence. If you need to make assumptions about certain
aspects of the case, do so, and clearly state what those
assumptions are.
e. When you have finished your analysis of the evidence,
express in your own words how you would answer the question
posed about the case. Be sure to: describe how confident you
are about your conclusion, given the amount of evidence you
have found; and describe how your conclusion is affected by the
direction of the evidence (e.g. the evidence all points in one
direction, is evenly divided, or is mixed but slightly weighted in
one direction).
8. Identify additional information that you need to fully analyze
this case.
In analyzing a case, you often find that you must make certain
assumptions because essential information has not been
included by the case writer. In real life, too, key pieces of
information often are missing, or cannot be obtained because
the collection of the information would take too long or be too
costly. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that relevant
pieces of information are missing and that your conclusions,
therefore, might be flawed.
9. Identify the basic issues that you must confront and the
relationships among them.
a. Considering everything that you have learned in the steps
above, identify the key problems that must be solved.
Sometimes, one problem cannot be solved without first making
at least some progress on the solution of another---so be
attentive to how problems overlap or interrelate.
b. Also, identify problems that are less central but still
deserving of attention.

c. Then, identify problems that can safely be ignored for the
foreseeable future.
d. Before considering additional analysis elements, be sure that
you have fully described the existing situation, or what in
quantitative modeling might be called the “base case.”
This is the dividing line between Steps 1 & 2 of your case
analysis assignment. Items 1-9 will be discussed in Week/Unit
4. Items 10 forward will become part of your case analysis
presentation in Week/Unit 5.
10. Keeping in mind the whole array of problems that must be
solved, create as at least two different courses of action, each of
which seems likely to solve these problems. Be specific and
practical.
a. In creating courses of action, you should carefully consider at
what level (e.g. individual, team, department, organization)
action must be taken.
b. In creating courses of action, you also must think carefully
about how much specificity is required. In a manufacturing
case, for example, you will have to decide whether to model
each step in the production process separately, or to treat the
production process as a “black box” with raw materials as
inputs and finished products as outputs.
11. For each possible course of action, think through the
consequences. Almost every action has negative as well as
positive consequences. Think carefully about: a. how each
course of action will be perceived by each stakeholder; b. how
each course of action will affect other problems that must be
resolved; c. the difficulties you will encounter in actually
implementing the course of action under consideration; d. how
implementing the course of action you propose may create new
problems; and, e. how uncertainties in your evidence and
assumptions you have made during your analysis might affect
the courses of action that you are considering. Consider what

you can do to prepare for the possibility that the assumptions
you made might prove to be wrong.
12. Decide on a set of recommendations.
a. Prepare a rationale for your recommendations, based on other
elements of your analysis, that anticipates challenges and
counter-arguments that are likely to made by others; b. Create a
plan for implementing your recommendations; and, c. Establish
criteria for assessing how well the implementation plan is
working.
FRAMEWORK FOR CASE ANALYSIS
Part II – Writing About Your Case Analysis
If you are asked to produce a written report about your case
analysis, what format should you use?
There is no “one best way” to write a report about your case
analysis. The following outlines your instructor’s preferred case
presentation format. Feel free to modify when and if it makes
your analysis more clear. Use and adapt the provided
Powerpoint template as the basis for your case presentation.
A. Introduction
in a few sentences describe the case
in a sentence or two, tell the reader how your paper will be
organized, i.e. what the major sections will be and the order in
which they will be presented.
B. Body (should include four major sections: identification of
major stakeholders and their problems, goals and concerns;
identification of problems; analysis of alternative solutions;
recommended solutions)
Identification of Stakeholder’s Problems, Goals, and Concerns
1. For each stakeholder, identify events in the case that that
stakeholder finds troublesome and would consider a problem; in
doing so, quote the case.
2. Identify the assumptions being made by each stakeholder, and

the apparent biases of each stakeholder; in doing so, quote the
case.
3. Identify the goals (sometimes stated as explicit demands) of
each stakeholder; in doing so, quote the case.
4. Then, as best you can based on the evidence of the case,
identify the concerns underlying these demands; again, quote
the case.
Identification of Problems or Critical Issues
1. Identify the key problems that must be solved. Explain with
reference to appropriate concepts, theories, models, and/or
research findings---and the evidence of the case. Quote
evidence to justify your assertions. (Note: this is likely to be a
lengthy part of your analysis.)
2. Also, identify problems that are less central but still
deserving of attention, as well as problems that can safely be
ignored for the foreseeable future.
Analysis of Alternative
Solution
s
1. Keeping in mind the whole array of problems that must be
solved, describe two or three alternatives courses of action that
might be taken to resolve these problems. Be specific and
practical.
2. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of each course of
action, with reference to the following: how the course of action
is expected to resolve the key problems presented; how the

recommended course of action will affect other remaining
problems; how the recommended course of action will be
perceived by each stakeholder; the difficulties you will
encounter in actually implementing the course of action under
consideration; how implementing the proposed course of action
may create new problems; and, how uncertainties in your
evidence and assumptions you have made during your analysis
might affect the courses of action that you are considering.
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