BUSN495 Case Study of Bossard
BUSN495: Required Assessment Assignment: – Case StudyAssesses Course Learning Outcome #2 Justify strategy selection, goals, forecasts and tactics using research and financial .Assesses BBA OutcomesComprehensive Case Study Assignment Guidelines: (use the analysis processoutlined in the assignment description, which is adapted from the AmericanManagement Association 8 Step Case Analysis)Paper Outline Note: The paper should not exceed 6 pages (not including the cover page).Introduction: a brief overview of the topic and how you plan to proceed with your discussion.Case Facts and the root cause of the problemIdentifying and listing relevant case factsIdentifying and describing the root cause of the problemIdentifying and describing the problem componentsAnalysis & Decision MakingGenerating alternativesEvaluating alternativesChoosing and supporting alternatives(s)Action Planning: Describe how you will turn your solution or decision into action, how, when and what.Measurements: Recommend measures that will evaluate performance.Conclusion: a summary of the key points of the case analysis.Case Analysis Assignment DescriptionCase 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 four phases:Problem identification and definitionThe 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 canfigure out what is going on before making a decision. Identify and stating the key factshelps you identify the most important facts. Provide a list of the most relevant case facts. These facts should be organized aroundexternal forces (external environment) that affect an organization including but notlimited to: political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, legal and competitive; orinternal factors such as management problems, staffing issues, financial, or marketingchallenges. ii) Determining the root or cause of the problemThis step expands on the previous step by identifying the facts in the case that arecontributing to the problem and/or are symptomatic of the problem. In this step, a simplequestion that might guide the discussion is: what are the current challenges faced byXYZ company? Identify all the challenges that the company is facing to includeinternational/global business decisions and ethical/social responsibility issues.iii) Identify the problem componentsThis 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 arecontributing to this situation. First, the government has recently passed laws toderegulate the industry. This is causing competition in the industry to increase. Second,widespread adoption of telecommunications and the internet means customers arefinding it much easier to shop around and compare prices. This is also stimulatingcompetition and is driving down prices industry-wide. Lower prices have led to lowerprofits in the industry and the 1% fall in XYZ’s net margin is reflected in the $1,000 000decline 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 thatdownsizing has adversely affected employee morale which the management believes isresponsible for the 2% decline in productivity. (XYZ, pp 214-215).Analysis and decision making Most business cases involve decision making. For instance, some might need adecision on questions such as, “What strategy or strategies should company XZYpursue in the future? This decision can be made after an analysis of the company’sstrategy and situation. The final decision will vary based on the data available and theperceived consequences. Analyzing the various dimensions of the decision requiresthree things: decision options or alternatives, decision criteria, and providing relevantevidence (Case Analysis Guideline, n.d). These three steps are below: Generating alternatives (options)Since the case assignment or question requires a solution, a decision or an opinion thenyou need to consider all the options. Brainstorming will help you generate a list ofpossible 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 problemsidentified in the case and any case questions? List as many alternatives for eachchallenge as possible.b) In addition to the challenges identified propose specific alternatives for thefollowing questions:a. What are the organization’s options for future growth in global markets? Whatmight be potential markets?b. Given the organization’s current financial situation and keeping in mind anypotential impact on return on investment capital to investors, what are the organization’sstrategic options for environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibilityinitiatives?In this step, you do not need to be judgmental; virtually any idea goes but if you do notlist it, you cannot then choose it as the best option. A few examples of company XYZ’salternative solutions:Close XYZ down – the future is bleakDo nothing – the company has already cut costs enoughIncrease productivity- to reduce unit costsEmploy more sales people- to increase sales revenueRun some extensive advertising campaigns- to increase sales revenue and product awarenessDiscontinue company benefits – to reduce costsContinue to lay off staff as needed – to reduce costsImplement voluntary redundancy/retirement and a hiring freeze – to reduce costs.Ask employees to pay a proportional cost of medical benefits – to reduce costs.Evaluate alternativesOnce you have listed all your alternatives, the next step is to narrow them down to thosethat seem most plausible; much like whittling down a long list of new cars to a fewpotential makes and models. After you’ve screened your list, take the relevant facts thatyou gathered in step 1 and apply them to each of the remaining alternatives. Thisprovides you with the necessary supporting evidence to reject most of the remainingalternatives 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 costsIncreasing 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 successThe 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.Choose an alternativeAfter evaluating all your options, choosing the best alternative is usually a straightforward next step but it is also one that is often skipped, even by businessprofessionals. 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 youthink the reasons for your solution, decision or opinion are obvious, you must stillexplain which facts led you to that conclusion. Imagine that you had decided to donothing because you think things will settle down.It is not enough to say, “XYZ could close down or spend a lot of money on advertisingand promotion to boost sales but the best solution is to do nothing, I think things willsettle down.” Support your recommended course of action using theevidence/information from the case, other research and your experience to clarify yourreasoning. For example:“Although management believes that the recent 10% reduction in staff has reducedcosts sufficiently to allay the effects of competition for the next 3 years (XYZ), theycannot afford to stand still or do nothing further because competition is increasing and ishere to stay (XYZ). Increasing promotional activity would also increase costs with noguaranteed results and more job losses would result in a further decline in morale andproductivity. Bearing all this in mind, XYZ’s best option, therefore, is to introduceemployee healthcare contributions. This will save the company $1, 500 000 per annumand employees have already indicated that they would be willing to accept this option inpreference to further job losses (XYZ) so, productivity is likely improve once thechanges 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). Action planning The first two stages of the case analysis process focus on identifying and makingdecisions about the big picture. In this last stage, steps 3 & 4 call for you to define howyou will turn your solution or decision into action, how, when and what you will monitorto 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 ProgramAction RequiredAction byTime required/Deadline Identify volunteers for focus groups to identify appropriate communication methodsBenefits Director1 week/ 31st JanConduct focus groupsBenefits Team2 weeks/14th FebPrepare communication & enrolment forms in formats identified by focus groupsBenefits Director & PR Consultants4 weeks/14th MarchSend draft communications & documents to printersPR firm1 week/21st MarchMeasurementsFinally, as with any plan, it is very important to build in measures so that you canperiodically monitor whether it is working. Therefore, you need to state HOW, WHENand WHAT you will measure, for example: quarterly reviews of new accounts opened,sales volume or number of units sold, increases in customer awareness or satisfactionlevels, gross profit margins or net profits. You must also have a contingency plan incase 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'velready identified?