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Analyzing Case Studies and Writing Business Reports

What is a case study Report ?

A Case Study Report:

•Focuses on real-life issues (problems) in a company or organisation

•Relates theoretical concepts to practical situations

•Uses analytical and problem-solving skills

–What are the issues/problems ... in this company?

–What are the solutions to the problems in this case?

•Requires critical thinking i.e.

–Explain, analyse and justify.

DOES NOT JUST DESCRIBE!

Some Tips for Analyzing Case Studies

Tip 1

Read the case. Then read it again! Then read it again!

•First, skim the case to understand the general issues

•Second, read the case to understand the details

•Third, read the case and take notes

Start with Requirement 1 and read the case AGAIN making notes of the information in the case which is relevant to this requirement. Repeat with additional requirements.

Reading a Case and Taking Notes: Example: Kaye West Case Study

Q1 from Today’s re-enforcement questions

What type of work unit organisational structure does Kaye West University use for its student support services?

Paragraph 4

“Traditionally these service functions have been provided at a faculty, rather than university level; that is, faculties have been responsible for providing these services to their students (see Exhibit 3). The university originally decided to place its student support services within faculties, rather than within the central administration units because it believed this provided some important benefits to its students.”

Note: Relevant to Q1 - Suggests Organisational Structure is student (market) rather than function focused

Tip 2

• If requirements ask for problems to be identified use topic slides and readings as a guide to identify the relevant problems. BUT:

–Don’t simply restate slides/readings

–Identify the SPECIFIC problem in the case

–Don’t be too general or theoretical

–Explain/justify why you believe there is a problem

Kaye West Case: Identifying SPECIFIC problems

Q3 from Today’s re-enforcement questions

What problems/limitations do you believe Kaye West University may face with this type of organisational structure?

A poor response:

–Limitations of market based organisational structures include duplication of non-production staff.

–This is too general, not relevant to the case facts (Kaye West doesn’t

produce) and not your own words (it’s straight from the lectures

•A better response:

–Each faculty at Kaye West will have their own support services centres.

–This means Kaye West will need to duplicate support service staff, which will be expensive.

Tip 3

If requirements ask for solutions/improvements to solve problems

identified use topic slides and readings as a guide for which problems are

relevant. BUT

–Don’t simply restate slides/readings

–Outline the SPECIFIC solution

–Explain WHY it will overcome a SPECIFIC problem

–Don’t be too general or theoretical

Tip 4

•Support your statements with evidence (from the case and if necessary, theory)

–This is the meaning of explain or justify

•A poor response to Q3:

–Limitations of market based organisational structures include duplication of non-production staff.

–This is a statement without explanation or justification

•A better response:

–Each faculty at Kaye West will have their own support services centres.

–This means Kaye West will need to duplicate support service staff

(Explanation), which will be expensive (Justification).

Writing Business Reports

•Reports are very different to essays.

•Reports tend to be very structured and this structure is achieved by using Headings and Subheadings.

•The report you are preparing is a short report. These reports often have standard structure of simple headings (with each heading also including sub headings where relevant)

Table of Contents

The table of contents identifies each section of the report and its

page number

•Each heading and sub-heading is numbered and included in the table

• Headings and subheadings are descriptive

–They indicate the focus of each section/paragraph

–Can be used for easy location of information

Headings, Sub-Headings - The Organizational

Structure of a Report

•Headings break the text into sections that are easily readable. They:

–Highlight the main ideas of your Report

–Order the information in your Report

–Represent a new issue/idea/point

–Assist the reader to find information quickly

•Headings should be used:

–Each time a new aspect of the content is presented

–To plan the whole report

•Use heading styles in Word so that your table of contents is automatically

generated.

–Heading 1 for main headings like 1.0 Introduction

–Heading 2 for sub sections like 1.1 Background

Kaye West Example: Table of Contents

Executive summary ……………………………………………….….........2

1.0 Introduction …………………………………………………..…………. 3

2.0 Organisational Structure At Kaye West…..………………….….5

2.1 Current Organisational Structure…………..………………........ 5

2.1.1 Benefits of Current Structure…………………...............……6

2.1.2 Limitations of Current Structure…………………............….6

3.0 Recommended Organisational Structure ……………….………… 8

4.0 Student Support Services Centres – Discretionary Cost Centres…9

5.0 Conclusion ………………………..…………………………………… .... 13

NOTE: These Headings are a little boring. You can be inventive and use

more interesting – but still informative - headings!!

The Introduction : Useful Language

•Kaye West University is… It has planned to… As a result of this, a

number of problems have arisen…

•This report identifies the key issues… It explores the ways in

which an adequate management accounting system could…

How to Structure Paragraphs in Business

Reports

•Each paragraph should start with a

Topic Sentence

o Identifies topic and main idea

•Then add Supporting Sentences

oExpand - on main idea

oEvidence - case information or theory

oExample - from case

oExplain or justify - student analysis

•Finally, finish with a Concluding

Sentence/s in the last paragraph before

the next Heading/Subheading

oLinking back to the main idea

Example of Paragraph Structure: Kaye West

Case - Q 10

The Faculty Student Support Service Centres can be categorisedas discretionary cost centres. Discretionary Cost Centres tend not toproduce tangible ”products”. Instead their role is often to provide support services whose outputs are qualitative and difficult to define objectively – i.e. outputs are not quantifiable.

In the case of Kaye West, the role of all the Faculty Student Support Service Centres is to provide support of a qualitative nature to students – e.g. Counselling or Study and Learning support. The outcomes of these centres is therefore qualitative. For instance, the Counselling Centre’s “output” should be measured in terms of how well it helps students to deal with problems affecting their academic studies. How well each Counselling Centre does this cannot be objectively quantified. In comparison in engineered cost centre, such as a production department, output can be quantified – i.e. the product being produced.