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CASE ANALYSIS PROCESS STEPS

I have found it useful to first start with your financial analysis to give your audience some

sense of how well the “focal firm” is performing in relationship to major competitors intheir industry (This information should be presented as an Appendix or chart). What is

required here is that you identify what indicators drive “success” or “failure” for the focal

firm and compare your findings with a benchmark indicator for the industry.

Second, in Appendix 1: Segments of the General Environment (elements in the broader 

society that affect industries and their firm). As we have discussed in class, firms cannot

directly control these activities but they can manage them. The challenge for your groupis to understand each segment and its implications for the focal firm so appropriate

strategies can be formulated and implemented. The objective is to identify the strategic

relevance of each stakeholder activity for the focal firm. As apart of your presentation

you should highlight the activities that the organization is worrying about. In other words,you want to get some sense of the potential of these stakeholder activities to change how

the organization defines itself. It is helpful to present this information as a chart for eachsegment.

Third, in Appendix #2, you should provide an analysis of the industry environment

(factors that influence a firm, its competitive actions and responses, and the industry profit potential--threat of new entrants, bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, threat

of substitute products rivalry amongst firms and threat of government. If your assigned

company is a vertically integrated company, this analysis should be on a specific businessunit. This helps your reader and your audience to get an understanding of what industry

segment you have targeted to address. This key step is an “anchor point” for this analysis.

In addition, you should provide an assessment of the competitor environment. The

 purpose of this analysis is you are seeking to understand: what drives the competitor (in

the targeted industry segment), as shown by its future objectives; what the competitor isdoing and can do, as is revealed by its current strategy; what the competitor believes

about itself and the industry, as shown by its assumptions; and what the competitor’s

capabilities are, as shown by its capabilities. This analysis should be done on at least two

of the major competitors in the targeted industry. Both the industry and competitor analysis should be presented as figures in your presentation. The purpose of your 

environmental analysis is to identify opportunities and threats to the focal firm.

Fourth, in Appendix 3: External Analysis Summary, you should list opportunities and

threats (5-10 each) and follow the process outlined in the syllabus for preparation of this

Appendix. The data for this Appendix is drawn from Appendix #1: General EnvironmentAnalysis and Appendix #2: Industry and Competitor Analysis. Fifth, in Appendix 4:

Internal Factor Analysis, as with Appendix #3 you should list strengths and weaknesses

(5-10 each) and follow the process outlined in the text. The data for this Appendix is

drawn from an analysis of the focal firm’s value chain to identify core competencies. In

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this regard you should prepare a “value chain map” for the focal firm to identify those

core competencies. You should also prepare a “value system map” for the firm. The

 purpose of this exercise is to determine how many activities are critical for the firm to participate in to create and sustain its competitive advantage. This information should be

 presented as a chart or table.

Sixth, in Appendix 5: Strategic Factors (See your syllabus), when strengths and weakness

(as identified through the study of the firm’s internal environment) are matched with

opportunities and threats (through the study of the firm’s external environment). WithSWOT analysis you are drawing conclusions about (1) how the company’s strategy can

 be matched to both its resource capabilities and its market opportunities, and (2) how

urgent it is for the company to correct resource weaknesses and guard against external

threats. In summary, simply listing a company’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunitiesis not enough; the payoff of SWOT analysis comes from the evaluation and conclusions

that flow from the four lists.

Finally, this is the work that has to be done as apart of the strategy formulation exercisein Appendix 6: A Tool for Situation Analysis. This step is one of the most important parts

of your process. It is important to trust what the data is telling you. As a consequence,once you have developed strong alternatives (best, middle and worst). Your choice must

 be defensible and promote benefits over the other alternatives. You should also consider 

effective implementation. The implementation actions you recommend must be explicit

and thoroughly explained. Occasionally, careful evaluation of implementation actionsmay show the strategy to be less favorable than you originally thought. The evaluation

and control process ensures that the firm is achieving what it set out to accomplish. Your 

recommendations for this process should include some assessment of these metrics: (1)determine what to measure, (2) establish standards of performance, (3) measure actual

 performance, (4) compare actual performance with the standard and (5) take corrective

action.