Case study with specific instructions and rubric

There are three cases that are evaluations of companies as outlined in the Assignments and the Schedule of Weekly Activities. The preparation of the cases in this course is different than the cases you have written in the past. These will require substantial investigation into case company’s strategies, competitive positions and actions, problems being faced, the company financials, ratios and trends. The case studies are about a real company's current position in the industry, the external competitive environment, the current strategies being used, and recommendations for strategies the company should use going forward. The cases should identify a problem faced by the company, using the strategic management tools highlighted in the text and a quantitative analysis. You then generate realistic solutions, evaluate and select one, and then provide recommendations and the timeline to implement your recommendations. Remember that you are working to understand the company's current strategy and future direction that offers a solution to the problem of meeting the company’s shareholder requirements. Again, remember that you are fulfilling the requirements of the rubric for each of these cases.

By analogy, in the BSG you have a set of prescribed goals to attain and a set of reports issued weekly to assist you in understanding how your company is doing relative to the competition and giving you an opportunity to revise your operational plans for the next period. However, in the three cases you have to look at a company’s performance over the past few years and understand how their performance is changing and identify underlying problems. You are to identify trends in performance, problem areas, and how the company is performing using all of the tools that you have learned throughout your MBA program. Remember that you are working to meet or exceed the shareholder expectations.

The perspective for your report analysis should be directed to the company’s Board of Directors (BoD). Remember that the BoD is familiar with the company’s history, its management structure and the strategies deployed in the past. Recycling old history about the formation of the company, its previous management, etc. will not be looked upon favorably by the BOD (or your instructor). Remember that your case study must be brought up to date with the most current 10K report or financial information. Get at the critical issues and report on them. Remember that in business, situations do not come with a set of questions. The questions sometimes have to be generated and then researched to find solutions to those questions. Success in the cases is important to your final grade in that the three cases constitute 35% of your course grade.

The first case is a team case, worth 5%, so you can learn from one another and have a little less stress approaching the assignment. The other two cases are individual, each worth 15%