Case Study Examples, Techniques and More

Solving a business case may seem like a daunting task at the beginning, but with practice anyone can solve them like a shrewd consultant. For me, case solving has been a long series of trial and errors. That’s how I learned. Fortunately, for you though, you don’t have to go through that long process. Hopefully, this write-up (which contains all my best advice by the way) will speed up the process for you. So here’s, in a chronological order, my take on case studies:

1. Read the headings and appendix first. In doing so, you’ll understand the theme and context of the case which will help you in your reading.

2. Read through the case quickly. Don’t get bogged down in details. Most Harvard Business Review (HBR) cases follow this sequence: introduce the dilemma in first few paragraphs, followed by industry and/or company history, current situation, problems, appended charts etc. The history part is usually bullshit so more often than not you can skim through that part. Unless it’s a data-driven case, the appended parts will rarely give you any insights so the best way to approach them is to unstaple them and keep them separate for further reference.

3. Take notes. Cases can be as long as 40 pages so it’s easy to get lost. When you read, make sure you highlight or underline facts and figures you feel are important. Since each paragraph talks about one issue, you can scribble that issue next to the paragraph for future reference.

4. Differentiate between problem and symptoms. For instance, declining sales is a symptom whereas the underlying problem could be a demotivated sales force.

5. Phrase the core problem. All the symptoms or “issues” can be traced back to one core problem which you should be able to summarize into one sentence. Framing the problem in one sentence helps the audience or reader of your case solution understand better. In HBR cases, the last sentence of the last paragraph of the introductory section provides a good indication as to what is the core problem.

6. Devise and evaluate solutions. Now, you should come up with probable solutions, that is, more than one way to solve the problem. Then you should evaluate each solution. Discuss the pros and cons, long-term short-term implications etc. and choose the best or optimal solution, which may very well be a combination of two alternatives you had just discussed. But be careful to not to bring additional information from outside the case.

7. Plan of action. Now that you know what you’ll do, it’s time to figure out how you’ll do it. Plan out how you’ll implement this chosen alternative. Be realistic here. Mention the resources you’ll need to gather, the time needed etc. Pretend as if you’ll actually implement it. Elaborate the timeline or steps you’ll follow. This is the part of case solving where you need to spend the most time.

8. Monitoring and Evaluation. Come up with monitoring tools and (if you have the time) contingency or backup plans.

Business Case Study Analysis Tools

If you feel you’re ready to up the game, in Step 2 above, when you’re analyzing the case and looking for the problem, use tools like SWOT, Porter’s 5 forces etc. Using tools isn’t necessary but it is recommended since a relevant tool provides a framework for your analysis and structures the thought process. I cannot overemphasize how important the word relevant is. You should NEVER force fit an analysis tool into your case solution just for the sake of it. It’s better to not use any tool in such case.

Certain tools are better suited to certain situations. For instance, Porter’s 5 Forces is best used when evaluating a new market. Similarly, BCG Matrix is used to classify the performance of a product portfolio. The most popular tool – SWOT – is simply a synthesizing or aggregating framework that evaluates the current situation of a business. SWOT is used to an extent that you could probably say that it’s abused. I will tell you why in a bit.

If you’re looking to learn more about business analysis tool, there’s an amazing resource for you. It’s a book called Business Analysis Techniques – 72 Essential Tools for Success. ALL the essential analysis tools you’ll ever need, ALL of them, are included in this book. And no, you don’t need to know all of the 72 tools. In fact, if you go to Page 272 of the PDF you’ll see that the writers have recommended the top 11 techniques. Use the link below to download the book.

Back to SWOT. To be honest, when presenting a case study it’s better to use no framework at all. The corporate world or the judge of a business competition doesn’t really care about what tools you’ve used. What matters is the outcome of your analysis. Not the tool itself. So mention the tools you’ve used in the passing but focus on what you’ve found out using that tool.

Examples

I’m a big believer in sharing useful content on my blog. A lot of people have complained to me that there aren’t any case solutions that they could use as examples. Below you can find a list of resources and case study examples that I have solved with my team. To make your learning more effective, you should read the cases first, solve it on your own, then compare your ideas with the ones mentioned in the example solutions.

1. Harvard Business School’s Case Interview Guide. This guide covers various frameworks and 24 practice cases. The case questions are written in brief but it’ll give you an idea about what your thought process should be.

2. Visa Case Study and Solution. This particular case was used in the first round of the HSBC-IBA Business Case Competition 2015. More than 800 teams had participated in the nation-wide competition. Our team’s, Avant Garde’s solution was one of the top 30 teams shortlisted for the second round. You can download it here.

3. Lenovo Case Study and Solution. This had to be one of our team’s best presentations in the HSBC-IBA Business Case Competition 2015. Please overlook the poor quality as I couldn’t get the original pdf version, instead I made use of the next best alternative – the scanner on my phone’s Google Drive app.

4. Orient Overseas Container Line Case Study and Solution. This case was given at the finale of the HSBC-IBA Business Case Competition 2015. After winning as group champions in so many rounds, it hurt a lot to take the 2nd Runners-Up trophy. Our laptop crashed. I took ages to finish reading the cases. What a disaster it was! Nonetheless, this will be good practice for you.

5. Black and Decker Case Study and Solution. This case was given to us during the first round of the Intra-IBA Branding Competition. A word of caution though – we stood second during this round as we were one man short, but if it helps, we went on to win this competition.

6. Urban Baby Case Study and Solution. This was for an intra-university qualifier for a nationwide competition. With this solution, our team had topped the ranks. This case can be easily found in Google’s top results, so I would suggest that you read the case and solve it on you own. Then match it with our solution.

7. Old Spice Case Study and Solution. Ah! Brandwitz 2014. Round 1. Brilliant case! One lesson I learned from this round that I still remember is that judges of case studies really like it when you put compare numbers relatively. In this case, we had mentioned that the proposed budget was x% (I don’t recall the exact figure) of Old Spice’s total marketing budget. Relative comparisons surely put things in perspective.

8. Renova Toilet Paper Case Study and Solution. I remember this presentation. IIBC 2014. Round 1. Two of my team members destroyed the product and CEO mentioned in this case. And what do you know! Our little act earned us the top spot.

9. NewCo Case Study and Solution. This case was given to me for the final round of Peak Time Global Student Competition 2015 which was organized by Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. This case is unlike any other out there. Everything I’ve said so far doesn’t apply to this case as it’s solely based on complex calculations. I would only recommend you give it a shot if you have the time. The challenge in this case is to identify the main decision-making criteria.

Presentation Template

The presentation sequence for a case perfectly sums up whatever I’ve discussed so far:

Current situation
Core problem
Alternatives evaluation
Optimal solution
Plan of action
Monitoring and evaluation
Contingency Plans (if you have the time)

I have just the right template that’s on my SlideShare to save you all the hard work! You can download the original PPTX file and fonts using the link on the 4th slide. Edit as per needs.

No learning is complete without practice. I’ve collected 13 case studies for you to practice. HBS, Insead, Ivey‚ IIM you name it! These are cases that I’ve gathered as a student over the past 4 years. Solve them in your spare time. Or better yet, solve them with your teammates then take a professor’s or expert’s feedback. That’s all from me. Hope it helped!

Update: Found this free resource with 82 HBR cases! Download them by clicking here!