A Suggested Methodology for Your Work on Cases

A Suggested Methodology for your work on Cases

You may find the case method somewhat perplexing when you work on your first case assignment. This happens because you may not have built up a background of knowledge about marketing and you may not have developed a logical framework of analysis for problem solving.

Your first effort should be to read the case assigned carefully enough to remember many of the details presented in it. Most students find that they need to read the materials several times. After reading with great care it is important to identify the major problem(s) or question(s) involved.

Step 1: The Problem(s) or Question(s)

Every case analysis requires the identification of the principal question or problem that requires an answer. Unfortunately, business problems do not arrive labeled “problem”. Therefore the student must learn to identify the problem(s)raised. It is often appropriate to state the question in the form of agreement or disagreement with the decision or recommendation made by on of the persons in the case. Such a question might be. “Do you agree with Belmont’s proposed price change?” Or you might state your question in the following form: “What should the price be?” On occasion the main question needs to be broken down into sub-questions, such as the following. “What should the price be? Should some one have the authority to adjust the price in dealing with customers and if so, in what range? Should the price have a specified period of time in which it is in effect?”

It is imperative that you locate the basic “What should locate the basic problem(s) or question(s). For examples, it is not meaningful to assert that low sales volume is the problem, since low volume is only symptomatic of an underlying problem such as poor supervision and control by sales managers, inadequate coordination of the several kinds of promotion, a poor compensation plan, or something else.

Step 2: The Facts

Some persons find it very helpful to visualize the system under consideration and to identify who is managing the various systems or subsystems. See if you find this of assistance. You may want to prepare a diagram depicting these relationships. Some students like to use the systems framework around the system under consideration, so that they can perceive the inputs and outputs of the system, the goals, the organizational structure, the resources available, the set of products and/or services offered in the market, the routine operations, the accomplishments, and the past and probable actions and responses of competitive and complementary systems.

It is vital that you sift and sort the facts of the case, even if there are a large number of them. A time-consuming technique but many persons find productive is to rank order the facts. List the most