...CHAPTER 3 HO W TO A NA LYZE A C A SE A case is a text that refuses to explain itself. How do you construct a meaning for it? Start by recognizing some contextual factors that help limit and narrow the analysis. Cases are usually studied in a course.A marketing case requires you to think as a marketer, not a strategist or manufacturing manager. Courses are often divided into different modules or themes defined by certain types of situations and, often, concepts, theories, and practices appropriate for these situations.You can expect to encounter the themes in the cases that are part of the modules and opportunities to put to work the analytical tools and best practices you have learned. Past case discussions provide a foundation for thinking about a new case, and study questions can call attention to important issues.You should make use of all these contextual factors, but they don’t amount to a method for analyzing a case. STARTING POINT FOR UNDERSTANDING The case method is heuristic—a term for self-guided learning that employs analysis to help draw conclusions about a situation. Analysis is derived from a Greek word meaning, “a dissolving.” In English, analysis has two closely related definitions: to break something up into its constituent parts; and to study the relationships of the parts to the whole. To analyze a case, you therefore need ways of identifying and understanding important aspects of a situation and what they mean in relation to the overall situation. Each...
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...and Management of Technology and Innovation. The objectives of the course are: 1) to understand a number of crucial theoretical, empirical and managerial issues in business innovation; 2) to develop the ability to apply theory to real world cases; 3) to develop the ability to critically assess the usefulness of competing or complementary theories. ------------------------------------------------- STUDY MATERIAL Books Burgelman, R.A., Christensen, C.M. and Wheelwright, S.C. (2009). Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation, 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill International Edition, ISBN 978-007-126329-0. In this course manual the abbreviation BCW refers to this book. Chesbrough, H. (2006). Open Innovation, The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology, Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation: ISBN 1-4221-0283-1. Articles Some material is not covered by the books mentioned above. Therefore, there are some additional articles you have to study. All these papers are available via online (university library) sources. These are not provided as hard copies. Make sure you obtain: Cooper, R.G. (2008), “Perspective: The Stage Gate Idea to Launch Process – Update, What’s New, and NexGen Systems”, Journal of Product...
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...THE LAST WORD PRASAD KAIPA NAVI RADJOU | CEO ADVISOR AND COACH | FELLOW | JUDGE BUSINESS SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE “Companies mustshut down theirCSR departments” They should instead focus on re-engineering value chains to bring sustainability in their business models, Kaipa and Radjou tell Rohit Nautiyal DALIP KUMAR away with the CSR department by rolling sustainability in the firm’s business model. New KPIs (key performance indicators) were introduced so senior managers could take the right kind of decisions that contribute towards water conservation which eventually helped the firm save money and pass the benefit to consumers. Not to mention, this initiative helped Florida Ice & Farm become environment friendly. Unilever’s CEO Paul Polman wants to double the company’s revenues and reduce the environment impact by 50 per cent. Both the examples explain how this schizophrenia (increasing profitability and creating a moniker like CSR) can be eradicated by finding a noble purpose. Companies must walk the talk by getting over with PR exercises on CSR initiatives and focus on re-engineering their value chains. So what you are essentially saying is that overhauling one’s business purpose can be a solution for the ongoing CSR debate. Prasad: Yes. Let us try and understand this with an example. As part of its product portfolio, PepsiCo sells both obesity inducing drinks and healthy products. Hypothetically if they choose to do a CSR initiative in schools, distributing...
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...Executive summary The case is a decision case where the main actor is Henry Baker, an expert person in the fitness industry who after the acquisition of is previous company (Personalized Fitness) from a national chain is not happy with the current situation for several reasons. Henry is now in front of a dilemma, because he doesn’t know if continuing to stay in the current company (Mega Fitness) trying to improve the situation or leave and join one of the main competitors in the Tempe area. Despite seems easy jump in the new position in a different company, the analysis reveal that the risk in this movement are pretty high and in the long-term scenario would probably not pay back. The best way to proceed seems in working in both the side for better understands details of the new company in terms of role, style, etc. meanwhile trying to solve issues on the current company (Mega Fitness). In the current scenario with a lack of fundamental information it’s clear from the analysis that work for address the issues in Mega Fitness would be a better option instead to jump in a very risk and uncertain situation (the role of “Junior”, the owner of the competitors company is fundamental and could be disruptive for Henry and his job/career). Typology – Decision case Henry Baker needs to take an important decision, remain in the current company (Mega fitness – national brand) and work for improve the situation or embrace a new adventure joining a competitor (smaller...
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...MIT SCHOOL OF BUSINESS PGDM – Case 6 Semester - I Subject Name: Human Dynamics HOW GOOGLE CHOOSES EMPLOYEES Finding the best engineers, programmers, and sales representatives is a challenge for any company, but it's especially rough for a company growing as fast as Google. In recent years, the company has doubled its ranks every year and has no plans to slow its hiring. More than 100,000 job applications pour into Google every month, and staffers have to sort through them to fill as many as 200 positions a week. Early on, the company narrowed the pool of applicants by setting a very high bar on traditional measures such as academic success. For example, an engineer had to have made it through school with a 3.7 grade-point average. Such criteria helped the company find a manageable number to applicants to interview, but no one had really considered whether they were the most valid way to predict success at the company. More recently, the company has tried to apply its quantitative excellence to the problem of making better selection decisions. First, it set out to measure which selection criteria were important. It did this by conducting a survey of employees who had been with Google for at least five months. These questions addressed a wide variety of characteristics, such as areas of technical expertise, workplace behavior, personality, and even some nonworking habits that might uncover something important about...
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...Professor Harry E. Stucke BIG GROUP CASE STUDY By Bhuiyan Shariful Kudret Demirkol Alam Mujub Ye Yu LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY February 27th, 2012 INTRODUCTION The Big Idea Group (BIG) was created by Micheal Collins to help both inventors and corporations meet the innovation challenge. BIG partners with inventors and companies to identify, develop and bring to market innovative ideas. Before BIG Collins founded Kid Galaxy in 1994, a specialty toy company and became a producer of the award-winning Bendos line. Bendos, a line of Gumby-like figures eventually helped Kid Galaxy gross $5 million a year. But Collins, who held just a 4% stake in his company, says he felt there was little growth in store. Collin is exposed to Clayton M. Christensen, a Harvard Business school professor who posited a theory about why companies fail, even with great technology, in his book The Innovator's Dilemma. The professor gave him an endorsement and an undisclosed investment for an idea-hunting company. A year later Collins became a success with Tiny Totes, a set of mini-handbags girls could use to store collectibles. Tiny Totes was designed by an Indianapolis woman who had tried for a number of years to break into the toy business and Collins was able to give her the first break. Almost all of Collins' products are new ideas for toys and consumer products. Collins is now looking to diversify his company Big Idea Group (BIG) which has become successful...
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...going to need all the words you can get for your analysis and evaluation. Avoid quotes from the article and introductions longer than 2 sentences. 2) Stick with one section of the course (micro, macro, international, or development). Don’t start off in micro (apple prices rise, supply and demand, elasticity) and then evaluate the potential macro effects (this could hurt economic growth). Even if this is true, the IA is about going deep into one part of the course, rather than showing the linkages between different parts. 3) Less is (often) more. Because of the very constraining word count (750 words) you’ll want to focus on really developing just one or two (two at the most) diagrams in your IA. And only evaluate one potential solution (the one in the article or one of your choice if (and only if) there isn’t one in your article. Some of you, I know, are wondering, “What if the article mentions two solutions? Like price ceilings AND subsidies?” Answer: the International Bacheloreate Organization says you can highlight the section of the article you’re going to focus on, so just highlight one solution (and not the other) and you’re good to go. Bibliographies are not obligatory, but they’re nice. And if you include them, they won’t count against you for the word count. Now you’re ready. Here’s the Method: 150 Words Don’t waste words with a lengthy introduction (or quotations). Instead right away start explaining the case using 3 or 4 course words. And then define these words. We’re...
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...Any company that aspires to succeed in the tougher business environment of the 1990s must first resolve a basic dilemma: success in the marketplace increasingly depends on learning, yet most people don’t know how to learn. What’s more, those members of the organization that many assume to be the best at learning are, in fact, not very good at it. I am talking about the well-educated, high-powered, high-commitment professionals who occupy key leadership positions in the modern corporation. Most companies not only have tremendous difficulty addressing this learning dilemma; they aren’t even aware that it exists. The reason: they misunderstand what learning is and how to bring it about. As a result, they tend to make two mistakes in their efforts to become a learning organization. First, most people define learning too narrowly as mere “problem solving,” so they focus on identifying and correcting errors in the external environment. Solving problems is important. But if learning is to persist, managers and employees must also look inward. They need to reflect critically on their own behavior, identify the ways they often inadvertently contribute to the organization’s problems, and then change how they act. In particular, they must learn how the very way they go about defining and solving problems can be a source of problems in its own right. I have coined the terms “single loop” and “double loop” learning to capture this crucial distinction. To give a simple analogy: a thermostat...
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...expected $50,000 in annual profits. He intends to gain an increase of 5% over the next few years. His expected turnover rate is relatively low for the size of his organization (10%). However, in order for Mr. Stonefield to attain a level of success he wishes for his new business, and perhaps significantly lower his turnover rate, he must establish a set of guidelines to facilitate his efforts. This guide is a performance management plan. The performance management plan is a guide that will enable a high level of success and provides means to measure the effectiveness of business operation or employees. The performance management plan is a key component to the success of any organization usually established by the executive staff. In this case Mr. Stonefield and his business colleagues are at the executive level. They will outline key performance strategies, financial needs for operations, align goals and responsibilities for individuals in the company, and collect performance data from the different departments. The performance management plan is important as it can collect data and analyze the information against predetermined guidelines, goals, or objectives; usually specific to the task or function being reviewed. Individual goal and responsibilities will be the main focus to help create a sense of understanding for each employee on what they need to know to accomplish each day in their job function. Since Landslide Limousines is a new company, there are no set guidelines;...
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...IfM – Institut für Management GmbH Seminar Paper Module: Lecturer: Strategic Management Mr. DI Gerald Moser, MBA Topic: Innovation management in the technical service industry General and possible requirements implementation methods shown in a case study for the company A&C Author: Matriculation no.: Mr. Ing. Daniel Weiß 1260958 Date of submission: 30th November 2012 Table of content 1. Introduction ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Fundamental aspects........................................................................ 1 1.2 Aim of this seminar paper ................................................................. 1 1.3 Scope ................................................................................................ 1 1.4 Structures and approach................................................................... 2 2. Innovation management in services industries....................................... 2 2.1 Definition ........................................................................................... 2 2.2 Relevance ......................................................................................... 2 3. Requirements on an innovation management ........................................ 3 3.1 Process models ................................................................................ 3 3.1.1 Phase model according...
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...This would allow people to come and enjoy food, leave donations, and gather more information about the organization. You could also give out incentives if people donate to the organization. A fun incentive for someone who would come to the organization often could be to have a front row parking spot. This will allow the organization to set out brochures, to meet and greet with staff and volunteers, and to ask any questions they may have about the organization. The program planning and evaluation process can provide opportunities for program improvement. There are many different areas program planning and the evaluation process that can improve programs. Areas they can help improve the programs are for funding reasons, to help clients, for employees, and can also help have a better understanding of the programs within the organization. Program evaluations allows you to find out what works and what does not work within an organization. It also allows you to show the effectiveness of the program, along with helping employees to better...
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...John Wiley & Sons, Inc. David L. Kurtz University of Arkansas Louis E. Boone University of South Alabama BUSINESS 14TH EDITION Contemporary . . . at the speed of business “The 14th edition of Contemporary Business is dedicated to Joseph S. Heider, who brought me to John Wiley & Sons. Thank you, Joe.” —Dave Vice President & Executive Publisher Acquisitions Editor Assistant Editor Production Manager Senior Production Editor Marketing Manager Creative Director Senior Designer Text Designer Cover Designer Production Management Services Senior Illustration Editor Photo Editor Photo Researcher Senior Editorial Assistant Executive Media Editor Media Editor George Hoffman Franny Kelly Maria Guarascio Dorothy Sinclair Valerie A. Vargas Karolina Zarychta Harry Nolan Madelyn Lesure 4 Design Group Wendy Lai Elm Street Publishing Services Anna Melhorn Hilary Newman Teri Stratford Emily McGee Allison Morris Elena Santa Maria This book was set in Janson TextLTStd-Roman 10/13 by MPS Limited, a Macmillan Company, Chennai, India and printed and bound by R. R. Donnelley & Sons. The cover was printed by R. R. Donnelley & Sons. This book is printed on acid free paper. ∞ Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of knowledge and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations. Our company is built on a foundation of principles that include responsibility to the communities we serve and where we live...
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...MKT301 - Principles of Marketing Module 1 – Case Summer 2011 Buying Behavior & Market Analysis HIGH INVOLVEMENT: EXERCISE EQUIPMENT (Weider) LOW INVOLVEMENT: CARBONATED SOFT DRINKS Trident University International Keith Broomfield Dr. Jonathan Freeman HIGH INVOLVEMENT- High involvement purchases are those which are important to consumers such as complex, expensive, risky or ego-intensive products & require extensive information processing. For this reason I chose Weider workout equipment. I’ve been building my own gym now for about 2 years and I would like to think I had a pretty good selection of workout equipment. I chose Weider because every time I step into a gym the majority of weight and weight equipment I see is Weider. Apparently they make a pretty good product. Academy and Pre-owned Fitness equipment are the 2 places I go to purchase the free weights and dumbbells that I have. To me it is a very big decision making process, I say that because I try to get dumbbells every 2 sizes up from where I am lifting to that point. Currently...
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...WHITE P APER Big Data: Trends, Strategies, and S AP Technology Sponsored by: SAP Carl W. Olofson August 2012 Dan Vesset THE DAWN OF THE INTE LLIGENT ECONOMY The intelligent economy has arrived. The convergence of intelligent devices, social networking, pervasive broadband communications, and analytics is redefining relationships among producers, distributors, and consumers of goods and services. The growth in volume, variety, and velocity of data has created new challenges and opportunities. The information access, analysis, and management challenges of the intelligent economy can overwhelm organizations unprepared for the emerging changes. In this environment, it is not only access to data but the ability to analyze and act upon it that creates competitive advantage in commercial transactions, enables sustainable and secure management of communities, and promotes appropriate distribution of social, healthcare, and educational services. It is not only access to data but the ability to analyze and act upon it that creates competitive advantage. www.idc.com P.508.872.8200 F.508.935.4015 In This White Paper This IDC white paper discusses the emerging technologies of the Big Data movement. It breaks out these technologies according to their most effective roles and use cases. It also discusses why Big Data has become so important at this time and how Big Data can help enterprises reach their business goals. It considers the challenges created by Big Data and how they can...
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...SUBMITTED TO Omar Faruk Assistant Professor Department of Business Administration East West University SUBMITTED BY Students of the Department of Business Administration ID No. Md. Mohiman 2009-1-10-147 Jaheda Sultana 2009-1-10-029 Md. Anamul Haque 2009-2-10-108 Md.Mehedi Hasan 2009-1-10-073 Organizational behavior Course Code: MGT251 Section: 3 East West University 1. Do you believe that whistle-blowing is good for organizations and its members, or is it, as David Stetler believes, often a means to extort financial gains from companies? Whistle blowing means calling attention to wrongdoing that is occurring within an organization. The fact whistle blowers are good/bad for an organization depends on different situations whether a whistle-blowing will have a positive or negative result over the organization. That is it depends on what they're whistling about. If it has intention to get someone trouble then we have to think about the undesirable consequences it might happen for whistle blowing. On the other sense, if it is someone who is angry with the organization for other reasons and blows the whistle solely to cause harm or embarrassment to the company, then they're just a jerk. On the other hand, of it is related to protest against unethical deeds then it is ok. If whistle blowing is a means toward a positive end, then in the long run, we might want to consider it good for the organization as a whole, but...
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