Graded Homework

Required Assessment Assignment:

Comprehensive Case Study – Rubric and
Guidelines

Assessment Outcomes Measured:

·
Assesses Course Learning Outcome #2 –Justify goals, strategy,
forecasts and business decisions using appropriate information and financial analysis

·
Assesses BBA Outcomes per IACBE rubric(included
below)

Length
and Format:The paper should not exceed 6 pages (not
including the cover or reference pages), in APA format, and as a Word document.

Content
Outline (derived from the AMA case analysis format):

I.
Introduction:a brief overview of the
topic and how you plan to proceed with your discussion.

II.
Case Facts and the root
cause of the problem

–
Identifying and listing relevant case facts

–
Identifying and describing the root cause of the problem

–
Identifying and describing the problem components

III.
Analysis & Decision
Making

–
Generating alternatives

–
Evaluating alternatives

–
Choosing and supporting alternatives(s)

IV.
Action Planning:Describe how you will turn
your solution or decision into action, how, when and what.

V.
Measurements:Recommend measures that
will evaluate performance.

VI.
Conclusion:a summary of the key
points of the case analysis.

Case Analysis Assignment
Description

Case studies present you with real life
scenarios and situations that help to develop your critical thinking, problem
solving and decision making skills in the relatively safe environment of the
classroom. Whether the situation
described in a case is fairly straightforward or is highly complex, the entire
problem solving process involves 4 phases and eight steps outlined below.

The
analysis process will involve fourphases:

1. Problem
identification and definition

The process of identifying
and defining the problem involves three steps:

i)
Reviewing the case and identifying
and describing the relevant facts

This step allows you to
identify the key facts (the most relevant ones) so that you can figure out what
is going on before making a decision.
Identify and stating the key facts helps you identify the most important
facts.

Provide a list of the most
relevant case facts. These facts should
be organized around external forces (external environment) that affect an
organization including but not limited to: political, economic, socio-cultural,
technological, legal and competitive; or internal factors such as management
problems, staffing

issues, financial, or
marketing challenges.

ii)
Determining the root or cause
of the problem

This step expands on the
previous step by identifying the facts in the case that are contributing to the
problem and/or are symptomatic of the problem. In this step, a simple question
that might guide the discussion is: what are the current challenges faced by
XYZ company? Identify all the challenges that the company is facing to include
international/global business decisions and ethical/social responsibility
issues.

iii)
Identify the problem components

This third part of the
problem identification fully identifies the problem and the key components of
the problem.

An example of part ii) and
iii) is below:

The current challenges facing XYZ are how to remain
competitive and profitable, improve productivity and maintain good employee
relations. A number of factors are contributing to this situation. First, the
government has recently passed laws to deregulate the industry. This is causing
competition in the industry to increase. Second, widespread adoption of
telecommunications and the internet means customers are finding it much easier
to shop around and compare prices. This is also stimulating competition and is
driving down prices industry-wide. Lower prices have led to lower profits in
the industry and the 1% fall in XYZ’s net margin is reflected in the $1,000 000
decline in net profit. Consequently, XYZ has been downsizing and recently laid
off 10% of its workforce in an effort to cut costs. A recent company survey indicated that
downsizing has adversely affected employee morale which the management believes
is responsible for the 2% decline in productivity. (XYZ, pp 214-215).

2. Analysis
and decision making

Most business cases involve
decision making. For instance, some
might need a decision on questions such as, “What strategy or strategies should
company XZY pursue in the future? This
decision can be made after an analysis of the company’s strategy and
situation. The final decision will vary
based on the data available and the perceived consequences. Analyzing the various dimensions of the
decision requires three things: decision options or alternatives, decision
criteria, and providing relevant evidence (Case Analysis Guideline, n.d). These three steps are below:

i)
Generating alternative
solutions (options)

Since the case
assignment or question requires a solution, a decision or an opinion then you
need to consider all the options. Brainstorming will help you generate a list
of possible alternatives.

Some questions that are being
considered in this case that you must discuss and answer or list as
alternatives in this section:

a) How could the organization solve the
primary challenges and problems identified in the case and any case questions?
List as many alternatives for each challenge as possible.

b) In addition to the challenges
identified propose specific alternatives for the following questions:

a.
What are the organization’s options for future growth in global
markets? What might be potential markets?

b.
Given the organization’s current financial situation and keeping
in mind any potential impact on return on investment capital to investors, what
are the organization’s strategic options for environmental sustainability and
corporate social responsibility initiatives?

In this step,
you do not need to be judgmental; virtually any idea goes but if you do not
list it, you cannot then choose it as the best option. A few examples of company XYZ’s alternative
solutions:

·
Close XYZ down – the future is
bleak

·
Do nothing – the company has
already cut costs enough

·
Increase productivity- to
reduce unit costs

·
Employ more sales people- to
increase sales revenue

·
Run some extensive advertising
campaigns- to increase sales revenue and product awareness

·
Discontinue company benefits –
to reduce costs

·
Continue to lay off staff as
needed – to reduce costs

·
Implement voluntary
redundancy/retirement and a hiring freeze – to reduce costs.

·
Ask employees to pay a
proportional cost of medical benefits – to reduce costs.

ii)
Evaluate alternatives

Once you have
listed all your alternatives, the next step is to narrow them down to those
that seem most plausible; much like whittling down a long list of new cars to a
few potential makes and models. After you’ve screened your list, take the
relevant facts that you gathered in step 1 and apply them to each of the
remaining alternatives. This provides you with the necessary supporting
evidence to reject most of the remaining alternatives and decide on the
best. A few examples are provided below:

·
Deregulation and consumer
shopping habits mean competition is likely to be a fact of life for a long time
to come– doing nothing is, therefore, not an option. The company must look for
more ways to cut costs

·
Increasing productivity would
help the company but without the commitment of the workforce this is unlikely
to be successful.

·
Employing more sales people is
an option but would increase costs without any real guarantee of success

·
The company already advertises
regularly – doing more would push costs up higher than the industry average
making it more uncompetitive unless revenues greatly increase as a result. This
seems unlikely with the advent of increasing competition.

·
Discontinuing company benefits
would decrease costs but may damage employee morale still further, However, it
is a longer term possibility as employees have indicated they would rather pay
for benefits than lose their jobs.

iii)
Choose an alternative

After evaluating
all your options, choosing the best alternative is usually a straight forward
next step but it is also one that is often skipped, even by business
professionals. So, make sure that you
state your preferred solution simply
and clearly. Keep in mind that your readers aren’t as familiar with the case as
you so, even if you think the reasons for your solution, decision or opinion
are obvious, you must still explain which
facts led you to that conclusion.
Imagine that you had decided to do nothing because you think things will settle
down.

It is not enough to say, “XYZ could close down or spend a lot of
money on advertising and promotion to boost sales but the best solution is to
do nothing, I think things will settle down.” Support your recommended course
of action using the evidence/information from the case, other research and your
experience to clarify your reasoning.

For example:

“Although management believes that the recent 10%
reduction in staff has reduced costs sufficiently to allay the effects of
competition for the next 3 years (XYZ), they cannot afford to stand still or do
nothing further because competition is increasing and is here to stay (XYZ).
Increasing promotional activity would also increase costs with no guaranteed
results and more job losses would result in a further decline in morale and
productivity. Bearing all this in mind, XYZ’s best option, therefore, is to
introduce employee healthcare contributions. This will save the company $1, 500
000 per annum and employees have already indicated that they would be willing to
accept this option in preference to further job losses (XYZ) so, productivity is likely improve once the
changes are communicated and implemented.”

Note: Your chosen alternative(s) must be
supported by an integration of facts emanating from business concepts such as
finance, management, marketing, operations, human resource, etc. They must also be supported using the results
of the environmental analysis or case fact highlighted in section 1 (i).

3. Action
planning

The first two
stages of the case analysis process focus on identifying and making decisions
about the big picture. In this last stage, steps 3 & 4 call for you to
define how you will turn your solution or decision into action, how, when and
what you will monitor to ensure things are working out as planned and what you will
do if they are not.

In our XYZ example, we have decided to
introduce a new benefits program to reduce costs. Let us assume that the
benefits team in the Human Resources department will be responsible for
communicating changes in the benefits program to employees. This communication
must be complete by mid- May so that employees can make informed selections in
the open enrollment period during the last two weeks of May.

Communication
Plan for New Benefits Program

Action Required	Action by	Time required/Deadline
Identify volunteers for focus groups to identify appropriate communication methods	Benefits Director	1 week/ 31st Jan
Conduct focus groups	Benefits Team	2 weeks/14th Feb
Prepare communication & enrolment forms in formats identified by focus groups	Benefits Director & PR Consultants	4 weeks/14th March
Send draft communications & documents to printers	PR firm	1 week/21st March

4.
Measurements

Finally, as with
any plan, it is very important to build in measures so that you can
periodically monitor whether it is working. Therefore, you need to state HOW, WHEN and WHAT you will
measure, for example: quarterly reviews of new accounts opened, sales volume or
number of units sold, increases in customer awareness or satisfaction levels,
gross profit margins or net profits. You must also have a contingency plan in
case things do not go as expected. Will
you make modifications to your existing plan? Will you start the process
over? Will you choose some other
alternative that you’ve already identified?

See the course
grading rubric and IACBE rubric on the following pages.

Case Study Course Grading Rubric:

Grading Criteria	Performance Level
Superior: A to A-	Average (B+ to C-)	Below Average (Below C-)
Content (80%)	Section I: The paper identifies and demonstrates an excellent understanding of the key issues/problems in the case study. Section II: A thorough and insightful analysis of key problems and alternatives is presented; listed alternatives and selected solution(s) are thoroughly analyzed and supported with strong arguments and well documented evidence from the case facts. Section III & IV: the action plans and measurements are appropriately described and are practical and implementable.	Section I: The paper identifies and demonstrates a reasonable understanding of the key issues/problems in the case study. Section II: An acceptable analysis of key problems and alternatives is presented; listed alternatives and selected solution(s) are analyzed and supported with moderate arguments and well documented evidence from the case facts. Section III & IV: the action plans and measurements are described and are somewhat practical and implementable.	Section I: The paper identifies and demonstrates a limited understanding of the key issues/problems in the case study. Section II: A limited analysis of key problems and alternatives is presented; listed alternatives and selected solution(s) are analyzed and supported with strong arguments and well documented evidence from the case facts. Section III & IV: the action plans and measurements are not well described and are neither practical nor implementable.
Writing Mechanics (10%)	The writing demonstrates clarity of ideas, is organized, and is free of grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors. Further, formatting is appropriate. The paper must have an introduction and a conclusion that highlight the key points.	The writing demonstrates some clarity of ideas, but has a few grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors (less than four). Further formatting is appropriate. The paper has an introduction and conclusion; however, these may not fully summarize the key points.	The writing is unfocused and lacks organization. Further, it contains multiple spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. The paper has an introduction but not a conclusion or vice versa.
APA Formats (10%)	All APA formats are appropriately utilized. These include: cover page, page numbers, running heads, in-text citations, and a reference page.	Some of the APA formats are appropriately utilized. These include: cover page, page numbers, running heads, in-text citations, and a reference page.	Few or no APA formats are appropriately utilized.

IACBE BBA Assessment
Rubric

CRITERIA OF EVALUATION (OUTCOMES)	LEVEL OF ACHIEVEMENT
EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS	MEETS EXPECTATIONS	DOES NOT MEET EXPECTATIONS
ISLO#1 Apply business decision tools to inform business decision-making	The student illustrates a superior ability to conduct a qualitative or quantitative analysis. Additionally, the student is able to interpret and use the results of the business analysis. Superior ability is illustrated by the appropriateness and effectiveness of the business decision rendered.	The student is able to adequately illustrate the ability to conduct a qualitative or quantitative analysis. Additionally, the student is able to interpret and use the results of business analysis.	The student is not able to illustrate the ability to conduct a qualitative or quantitative analysis. Additionally, the student is unable to interpret and use the results of business analysis.
ISLO#2 Integrate major principles in the functional areas of accounting, marketing, finance, human resources and management to make business decisions	The student comprehensively integrates of the elements of each functional area, such that final decisions reflect components of each of the functional areas. Additionally, student work is evidenced by a greater depth and breadth of knowledge such that a connection between the functional areas and business decisions are fully integrated.	The student adequately demonstrates the integration of the elements of each functional area, such that final decisions reflect components of each of the functional areas – meaning, the student incorporates all of the elements of each functional area.	The student fails to integrate the elements of each of the functional areas. The student omits at least one of the elements of the functional areas.
ISLO#3 Develop business communication based on professional standards	The student is able to communicate with a high level of professionalism, such that the student can take complex business situations and simplify them to achieve clarity.	The student is able to communicate with an adequate level of professionalism, with some evidence to take complex business situations and simplify them to achieve clarity.	The student fails to communicate with an adequate level of professionalism, and their work lacks sufficient evidence to take complex business situations and simplify them to achieve clarity.
ISLO#4 Demonstrate knowledge of the principles of ethical, legal, and cultural dimensions in business decision-making	The student is able to identify, explain, and apply basic principles in all of the areas.	The student is able to identify and explain basic principles in all of the areas.	The student is not able to identify basic principles in at least one of the areas.
ISLO#5 Apply knowledge of the global business environment	The student illustrates a superior level of knowledge of the global business environment factors and makes appropriate recommendations that are supported by credible research.	The student illustrates an adequate level of knowledge of the global business environment factors and makes recommendations that are supported by credible research.	The student illustrates marginal knowledge of the global business environment factors and makes recommendations that are not supported by credible research.