Case Study on Recent Business Issue

How to Write a Case Analysis

Read the case twice. First read the case without taking notes, working to get the general sense of the case. (You should, however, look up words you don’t know—your job here is to understand the meaning of what you are reading.) For the second read, you should read the case in detail and take careful notes. Your task in this round is to identify problems in the case, formulate recommendations to solve these problems, and then write up your analysis using the five following sections:

1. 1. Problem Statement

   2. Analysis, including the ethical theory or schema you will use.

   3. Recommendations e.g. the compromises you propose, for solutions to the problems.

   4. Implications your recommendations will have on the functioning of the organization.

   5. References in proper APA style. This is required even if you only cite the textbook or the class slides.

The use of outside sources in a case analysis is not required, but students seeking a top grade will need to be fluent in the ethical concepts and philosophical ideas that ground this course.

Problem Statement
Start your write-up by identifying the problem the case raises. You should frame the problem in terms of ethical values such as “fairness” “justice” “community,” etc. You need to identify the ethical values that are in conflict. Ethical problems arise because of a conflict in values between various stakeholders. There must be at least 2 values in conflict. After the problem statement, you should have a paragraph or two that explains the source or basis of the problem e.g. why the problem happened.

Analysis
The most important section of your case analysis comes next, under the heading “Analysis.” This section should be the longest, and most thorough section of your write-up. This section needs to have a clear link to the Problem Statement section above in order to be persuasive.

• Please do not summarize the case, instead, link the problem statement to a theoretical model that you describe and explain in this section.

• The theoretical model should include words/concepts such as “deontology,” “teleology,” “utilitarianism,” “virtue ethics,” and so on that describe ethical concepts.

Recommendations
Next, write your recommendations on to how to solve the problems in a section titled “Recommendations.” It is important that the recommendations follow logically from the analysis. Establishing a link between the analysis and the recommendations is essential for a persuasive case analysis.

• In ethics successful recommendations are nearly always compromises. Therefore, this section should include words and phrases such as “compromise,” “negotiated solution,” “best option under the circumstances,” and so on.

• Put the solutions in order of priority.

Implications
Finally, in your “Implications” section you should elaborate what implications your recommendations will have on the operation of the organization in the short and long term and what broader policy implications your recommendations might have. In other words, if your recommendations are implemented, what changes will the organization and the business community in general have to make in the way they do things now and in the future?

References

As you write your case analysis, you must include appropriate references to the core texts and to any outside sources that you use. Your references should be in the following formats:

1. For books and articles -- Lastname, Firstname (1996) p. xx.

2. For any books, chapters of books, articles, blogs and any other material you access on the web -- (www.charleswarner.us/articles/BUDGETS.html. July, 2012). The date in the reference is the month you accessed a website.

For more information see: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/1/

Source: Adapted from the file at: www.charleswarner.us/HowWriteUpCaseAnalysis.doc