Case Analyses
Contexts for Case Analyses
In the workplace, you will likely spend time analyzing complex situations—for your
managers or for clients—to support policy changes, organizational action, or formal
responses to some issue or opportunity. You may, for example, see the chance to create a
new product or product line, implement a new process to improve production, or
recognize that you need to find out what a certain group of consumers thinks about the
product or services your company offers. When you write up the results of your analysis,
your purpose is to persuade readers that your recommended solution is the best one.
Considering Your Audience
The case analysis is a useful document for people who have the responsibility and the
power to make important decisions. You may be in that position yourself, or you may be
writing to others who are. Your readers will rely on the accuracy of your research and the
credibility of your analysis to make their decisions, so you need to be especially mindful
that your writing conveys an effective ethos.
Understanding the Features of a Case Analysis
A case analysis provides four kinds of information within a persuasive framework:
1. A clear statement of the problem. A scenario description that explains or poses a
problem, challenge, or situation that has been studied. Scenarios are “scenes” that can
be constructed from your knowledge of anything that provides the context for the
problem or challenge: data, documents, field research, self-reports, market analyses
and surveys, government regulations, and more. As the writer of a case analysis,
much of your research will include studying this context. You may even conduct field
or other documentary research on your own when the nature of the scenario is not
entirely clear.
2. A summary of the context. Summary information explains the critical issues in
the scenario and the steps that did or might lead to a satisfactory resolution (or
missteps that would not). The summary of the context will provide information and
research that helps the audience understand the case.
3. Proposed solutions. Proposed solutions, which may be real or hypothetical, are
realistic responses to the problems posed by the scenario, with an objective treatment
of each solution’s advantages and disadvantages.
4. Recommended solution. A specific endorsement of the best solution and a
detailed plan for reaching the solution, a step that requires thinking critically about
solutions and consequences.
5. Bibliography. A list of all sources used to make your recommendations, primary
sources referred to in your analysis, and, if required, a secondary bibliography
providing suggestions for additional reading.
Reading Sample Case Analyses
To view sample case analyses, visit the following sites.
Sample Student Case Analysis:
Sample Case Report Based on SWOT Analysis Techniques: Case Analysis of a Large
Technology Firm (Ltf)
http://www.temple.edu/writingctr/student_resources/case_analysis_sample.htm
How-To Guides and Professional Samples
“A Model for Case Analysis and Problem Solving” by Edward G. Wertheim
http://web.cba.neu.edu/~ewertheim/introd/cases.htm
“The Case Study” by Robert W. Starinsky
http://facweb.cti.depaul.edu/rstarinsky/case%20studies.htm