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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
