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.

Sections (in Body of the Report)

•The discussion under each Main Heading (labelled 20, 3.0 etc) represents a different section of your Report

•Each section should include at the beginning:

–A brief introduction to each section (contained within 2.0, 3.0 etc.)

– A brief description of what the sub-sections cover

•Subheadings = Sub-sections  (labelled 2.1, 2.2 etc.)

–Should only discuss one main point (issue, problem, recommendation or suggestion etc.)

– Should not be too long

 maximum of 3 paragraphs each

Doing a literature review

This Advice Sheet introduces you to the basics of compiling a Literature review.

What is a literature review?

     ·     It's a critical and evaluative account of what has been published on a chosen research topic.

• Its purpose is to summarise, synthesise and analyse the arguments of others (It is not an academic research paper, the main purpose of which is to support your own argument.)
• You should describe and analyse the knowledge that exists and what gaps occur in research related to your field of interest. (This should clarify the relationship between your own research and the work that has previously been done.)
• It should reveal similarities and differences, consistencies and inconsistencies and controversies in previous research.

What it is not

It is not primarily an argument for the importance of what it is you are researching. While it is necessary to explain what the primary purpose of your research is, the reader of a literature review will assume that the need for undertaking the research has already been established.

It is not a descriptive list of papers or summaries. You must not just list your sources and describe them in detail one at a time.

A literature review is organised around ideas, not the sources themselves as an annotated bibliography would be organised. You should assess previous studies and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. You also have to think about which themes and issues your sources have in common.

The approaches needed for different disciplines It is important to note that certain disciplines will have a different approach to literature reviews. Your department may have particular preferences so you should always make sure that you have consulted your supervisor before you start work. ·         Science and engineering have fairly rigid conventions for reporting on research. They can have a specific structure e.g. “introduction”, “background” followed by “methodology” “results” and “discussion”. This is known as an explicit literature review. ·         Social science literature reviews often follow a similar pattern to science and engineering literature reviews although some social sciences e.g. anthropology may have a less explicit approach. ·         Political science literature reviews may have to include a section which establishes basic premises and has definitions of certain terms and models. ·        Literary and historical literature reviews do not have a single convention. In contemporary literary studies an “explicit” chapter may not be needed. The researcher may be taking a new theoretical approach to material which has already been studied before.

Approaching your literature review

There are five stages to your literature review:

1. Find models

2. Problem formulation – which topic is under consideration and what are the constituent issues?

3. Literature search

4. Evaluation of findings

5. Analysis and interpretation of literature

1 Find models

Look for other literature reviews in your discipline and read them to get an idea of the types of themes you might want to include in your research or ways in which you could organise your final review. You can do a database search to find models – put the words “literature review” along with your keywords to retrieve references to articles of this type

2 Problem formulation

You should try to construct a working statement that will form the basis of your literature review. The statement does not have to argue for a position or an opinion. It will rather argue for a particular slant on the material.

3 Literature search

The literature search will help you identify scope and key issues. Efficient searching will help you:

•          Identify which authors are interested in your specialism and those who take a generalist’s view.
•     Trace authors who are prominent in your subject and who can help you justify the importance of your research idea.
•          Include the authors would or could contradict your ideas.

4 Evaluation of findings

Reading research articles is different from other types of reading. You must develop a good

understanding of the research literature to be able to write a competent literature review.

Understanding the literature requires you to read, re-read and assimilate complex ideas.

         

Scan the article

For the preliminary scan, don’t read the articles closely so as to avoid getting mired in detail. It may help to note down the key points for each article. When reading you should keep the following in mind:

•         What are the authors’ academic reputation?
•    Identify the research question and the specific hypotheses, the findings and how the findings were interpreted.
•        Are the authors objective or does their work appear to have a particular bias?
•         Is contrary data considered and discussed or is it ignored?

5 Analysis and interpretation of the literature

After you have an idea of the main ideas in each article, identify the precise methods used and the theories tested. When you are comparing the work of a number of researchers some of whom have a different take on the problems of the research question, you will need to have an in-depth understanding of their work. A close reading may reveal differences in theoretical outlook.

How do different authors cite the same work?. One author may explain the method of an earlier study, describe its results in great detail and cite it repeatedly while Another may give it only a passing reference.

Allow enough time

Before you can write about your research project you must have evaluated the existing literature properly so do allow yourself sufficient time to do this.

Writing the Literature Review

Number of articles reviewed

Published review articles may contain more than a hundred studies. You may wish to consult your supervisor about how far you should go back in time and how many articles you want to include.

Organisation

There are a number of different approaches to organising a literature review so again do consult your supervisor before beginning the work.

You could use the following method:

•          Introduce your research question (what it is, why it is worth examining)
•          Narrow research question to the studies discussed
•          Briefly outline the organisation of the paper. If there is a major controversy, describe it and explain that you will present research supporting one side and then the other.
•          Or, if three methodologies have been used to address a question, briefly describe them and say that you will compare the results obtained by the three methods
•          Describe studies in detail
•          Compare and evaluate studies
•         Discuss the implications of the studies and how you intend to build on them

Who should you ask?

It may not be possible to survey every person who could provide a useful response to your questionnaire.

In such cases, you will need to choose a sample from your population to survey.

Conclusion/Recommendations

Discuss what you have learned from reviewing literature so far and where the research leads? After reading your review your reader should be convinced that your proposed research project will play a necessary role in furthering knowledge in your field.

                         

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Writing at University

In writing university assignments, students are required to think clearly and critically, use valid evidence and produce well-structured and coherent pieces of writing. This applies broadly in all academic fields of study (disciplines).

Writing at university is different from some workplace writing. For example, at work a concise listing of points may be required but, at university, students are expected to elaborate on points with argument and explanation.

Tertiary writing requirements also differ from the writing students are expected to do in secondary school. University students are usually expected to research more widely and in more depth. Assignments set at university also tend to be longer. As well, university students may be expected to take a more critical and questioning attitude to knowledge than may have been required in secondary school.

The writing university students are required to do for their subjects can involve a range of text types - essays, reports, papers based on case studies, literature reviews and short answers/problem solving of tutorial questions.

Writing at university must be based on reading and investigation. It is expected to present more than the writer's 'opinion' based solely on past experience and general knowledge.

Though all academic disciplines share a common core and require intellectual rigour and skills, they have different traditions of scholarship. Writing and research in business subjects is quite different from writing and research in psychology, for example.

Expectations of lecturers/markers

In addition to the differences in research and writing between disciplines, there may be differences from course to course within a discipline and you may encounter different expectations from subject to subject within the same course. Even lecturers teaching the same subject may emphasise different aspects.

What is expected of you in a particular assignment? Remember that as a university student:

• Your purpose for writing is usually to display competence.
• Your audience is your marker.

What should I do first?

It is vital to carefully read the assignment description and any explanatory notes provided. Also, be alert for any comments that the lecturer may make about the assignment. Try to work out why a particular assessment task has been set. Can you figure out how it relates to the goals of the subject, as set out in the unit guide?

Another useful strategy is to determine what the assignment is designed to evaluate. Some assessment tasks are planned to develop your problem-solving skills; others are devised to judge how well you can relate theory to practice; others to ascertain whether you have read deeply and critically on a topic.

After having read the assignment description and the unit guide, if you are still not quite clear about what is expected of you in the assignment, ask your lecturer or tutor. Discussion with other students can also be helpful.

Some lecturers provide detailed marking criteria, indicating how many marks are allocated to particular aspects of the assignment. You should spend your time accordingly.

Your lecturer or tutor may be willing to discuss or look at a plan of your assignment to let you know whether you are on the right track; they are unlikely to read your entire paper before you submit it however.

Possible sources of confusion

A possible source of confusion can be the use of terminology and the blurring of distinctions between different types of texts - for example, essays and reports. For some essay-type assignments you may be required to use headings (a characteristic of reports, not of standard essays). Also, such assignments may be referred to as 'research reports', 'research papers’, ‘literature review reports' or 'research assignments'.

A 'case study' assignment, for example, does not automatically imply that a particular type of writing is expected. Case studies require the analysis of a particular case, that is, an event, an organization, a process, an object, and so on. After analyzing the case, you may be required to write an essay that discusses the issues arising from the scenario. Alternatively, you may be required to write the assignment as a report, using headings and subheadings and making recommendations to deal with a problem in that setting.

It is essential to clarify what individual lecturers expect in assignments. It is often the unstated and taken-for-granted assumptions that are the most difficult to uncover and address.

Writing for assessment

Have you ever wondered why written assignments are such a popular way of assessing student learning? It is because writing is both:

• a product of learning - your finished assignment displays your learning
• a tool for learning - through the process of writing, you can clarify your thoughts and refine your understanding.

Have you noticed that it is not possible to explain anything - even orally - if you do not really understand it? Similarly, the requirement to present work in writing forces the writer to think through a topic.

Writer's block

Did you know that beginning to write is often the hardest part of writing an assignment?

Writing university assignments is a challenging task. Sometimes students get stuck. They just cannot get started or they cannot seem to move on from where they have stopped. Remember that you are not alone if this happens to you - even published writers experience this. It is important to have some strategies for dealing with this.

• Make a preliminary plan but be flexible about it.
• However inadequate you think your first attempts at writing will be, do make a start. When you return to your work, you will at least have something to work on, rather than a blank page or an empty computer screen.

It is helpful to think of writing as a 'messy' circular process, not a neat linear process. Reading, thinking and writing overlap. Once you have started writing it does not mean that you will not need to do any further research. In fact, after beginning to write, you may realize you need to read further because you can better identify what you do not yet know.

Writing is not easy and it takes time, but it is worth the effort.

Why some assignments fail

What do you think is the most common reason for assignments failing? It is not plagiarism or lack of knowledge. Though plagiarism is an important issue in student assignments, it is not the main reason for assignments failing. Also, students generally have sufficient knowledge of their subject.

Lecturers point out that if an assignment is unsatisfactory it is often because the student did not answer the specific question asked and did not limit the topic as they were required to.

Some traps to avoid

Spending too long on the research stage

It is difficult to give specific rules on how long you should spend researching and when you should begin writing. Also, as noted earlier, these processes will overlap.

How long you spend researching and reading should be related to the complexity of the assignment and how many marks it is worth. Sometimes lecturers specify how many references they expect. Mainly, though, you will have to judge when you have read enough to tackle the assignment.

Learning what not to read is an important skill. You can use the textbook or the study guide as a starting point to gather basic background information. Follow references listed in these texts to branch out to areas related to your specific topic.

When researching for your assignment, you may find that you are making lots of photocopies and collecting a lot of material that you are not going to have time to read. You can tend to feel you are doing something worthwhile because you are researching for your assignment and this can give you a false sense of security. In fact, you may be putting off having to start writing.

Putting off doing any work on the assignment until the deadline is close

If you leave your assignment until the last minute it will not have the substance, depth or focus it needs. You need time to allow the process of writing and thinking to take place.

Proofreading at an early stage of writing

Proofreading (correcting errors of grammar, spelling and punctuation) at the early stages is not a good idea because:

• it can hinder the flow of your thought
• you may later decide to delete parts of your writing and may have to discard segments you spent time proofreading.

Perfectionism

Remember that it is better to hand in an assignment that is less than perfect than hand one in late or not at all because you are trying to make it 'perfect'. You might complete 80% of an assignment in 12 hours and then spend six hours perfecting it. It may be more worthwhile to hand in the assignment on time rather than spend that much time on fine-tuning if this leads to late submission.

When you get your assignment back

Read the marker's comments! Of course, you are first interested to know what your mark is. However, do not look only at the mark. Take note of the marker's comments and use the marker's feedback to improve your next assignment.