REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUAL CASE ASSIGNMENTS
(2,000 words + or -). They will also lead the class discussion of the case. Email me your choice from You will need to read all cases, regardless of whether you are doing your assignment on it. Those assigned will lead the Discussion Board by posting a discussion question to BB by Monday before the week starts; they will then lead the discussion responses from the class and incorporate them into the final submitted case, due Monday at the end of the week.
Case 6 The American Red Cross
Case 16 Town Sports International
Case 23 “Breaking Up is Hard to Do”:Pepsico in 2014
Case 26: J.C. Penney Survives the Ron Johnson Era
The four cases are available in your textbook.
Suggestions for case analysis are in Case Study Analysis (Chapter 13) of the text. Please do not include any downloads of information from financial websites. This is to be your work alone. Any discussion of financial ratios should include a reasoned explanation of what they mean and why they are important. You do not need to recap the case itself because it takes up too much space and the class has read it. Other students will comment on the submissions during the week the case is due. The only area of the report to use outside material is at the end, when you tell me “what really happened” by using an update obtained from outside sources. Otherwise, don’t use current information in the body of your analysis. For cases with no financial information, you will earn those points immediately.
In Chapter 7, you will see options for corporations in terms of direction: Grow, pause, retrench. I will want you to make choices between these in your recommendations.
I like the TOWS analysis tool for case studies because of its real world applicability. It builds on the SWOT analysis by offering solutions to, for instance, use strengths to take advantage of opportunities and overcome weakness to take advantage of opportunities. TOWS information is found in the Appendix and is treated as a tool in case grading.
Obviously, there will be more than one person per case. The students who choose the particular case will lead class discussion, but submit their own case to me at the end of the week (by Monday midnight).
I want to know “is this a healthy company”? Ratios alone do not tell that picture, but your overall analysis of the problem (if there is one), the alternatives, pros and cons of each one, and your final recommendation will be important. I do not have to agree with you, but you should be able to defend your suggestions. Typical tools to be used are: environmental analysis, competitive analysis, five-force analysis, global analysis where appropriate, internal resource analysis, financial analysis, choosing the best strategy or combination of strategies, and explaining issues of implementation and control. Grading for the case is typically as follows:
Discussion Board 10
Strategy 10 (includes writing)
Finance 10
Alternatives 10
Recommendation 10
Implementation, conclusion 5
What really happened? 5
You should include an addendum of what really happened in a case, such as “such and such has since been acquired by GE”, but do not use current financial information in your analysis. It is very important to use this rubric no matter what the “case” chapter says—students frequently leave out “alternatives” and lose a lot of points.
Though the discussion board will include all members of the team, the paper turned in will be individual work. You are expected to use information from the discussions as arguments in the final case, so submitting the case before Sunday is not advised.. All assignments are due on Monday at midnight of the week they are assigned. For instance, if Andrews (or any combination of students) picks the first case, they will post discussion questions by 11:59 pm on Monday, April 2nd , and each team member will submit their own case by 11:59 pm on April 9th.
Cases from Which to Choose:
1) Case 6: The American Red Cross: Week 2
2)Case 16: Town Sports International Week 4
3)Case 23: “Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Pepsico in 2014,Week 7
4) Case 26: “J.C. Penney: Surviving the Ron Johnson Era”, Week 8
