Any decision maker or person who is in the position to make the final recommendations as mentioned in the case.

II. Time Context

It is the first suggested outline in solving business cases. Students needs to specify the time context (month and year) if case facts are explicit about it. The time context should tell us when the problem was observed; which required the necessity of an action. A business problem requiring an action during world war will have a different action if it were to be tackled today. In short, a business problem will have different solutions, under different political and economic environments.

This defines the perceived problem in the case which becomes the subject of the analysis. It may be presented in declarative or question form.

These are the goals which the case analysis hopes to achieve. The basically satisfy the test of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timebound)

State the internal and external environment of the company/firm through SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis.

Strengths: characteristics of the business or project that give it an advantage over others Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the team at a disadvantage relative to others Opportunities: elements that the project could exploit to its advantage

Threats: elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or project

Factors which are not clear or not specifically stated in the case but need to be clarified can be stated as assumptions to limit the analysis.

These are the possible solutions to the problem identified. Each ACA must stand alone and must be able to solve the stated problem and achieve the objectives. Each ACA must be mutually exclusive, I.e., the student must choose an ACA to the exclusion of the others.

Each ACA must be analyzed in the light of the SWOT analysis and assumptions, if there are any. Advantages and disadvantages of each ACA should be clearly stated. If the case contains enough information/data, advantages and disadvantages should be supported quantitatively to minimize bias.

Based on the analysis of the ACAs, the conclusion, recommendation/decision can be made. There is no need to repeat the analysis done in the ACA section of the analysis.

The plan of action delineates the series of actions to be undertaken to operationalize the adopted ACA. To ensure that the analysis is done comprehensively, it would be best to program the plan according to the basic functional areas and to present the plan by having column headings for activity, person/unit responsible/ time frame, and budget.

Im sharing these guidelines for the benefit of those who are taking up their MBA degree. May this be of help to all of us.

GOOD LUCK to us all!!!