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Solving A Case Study | Part I

There was nothing more dreadful for me than solving a case study. Honestly, whenever I was handed a case study to solve in a class, my throat would get dry and the words appeared to blur and dance in front of me. I would stare at the first page for a few seconds and quickly count the rest of the pages before reading the first paragraph, gulping as I’d begin. But thanks to my merciless teachers who seemed to love case studies as much as I hated them, I gradually began to overcome this fear. And soon enough, I realized solving a case study is nothing but a simple procedure of steps. If you do them right, viola! Your case is solved. Before I go on to the steps, let me first give you some quick tips on how to begin a case study:

1. Read the case three times. This is at minimum.
2. Every case study has a task for you to do at the end; perhaps some questions to answer or a summary to write. In any case, just read through the whole case without reading the questions for the first time. Don’t stop if you are not getting what the case is about and don’t even expect you’ll get it the first time. Your objective to read the case the 1st time is to only get the gist.
3. Now that you’ve finished reading for the first time, have a look at the questions and read the whole case again – starting from the beginning. Take a pencil and begin underlining what you feel is relevant to your questions. Mark the underlined text with a symbol that you can understand later. For example, say you’ve been asked to do the SWOT Analysis of the case; what you do is put a small S for any line you feel describes the company’s strength. But again, don’t become obsessed with finding the answers to your questions just now. Your objective for reading the case 2nd time is only to understand the problem statement.
4. You see what the problem is and you are ready to solve the answers. Read the third time, this time concentrating on finding solutions to your questions. By now, you will already know to quite an extent where the answer to particular question lies in the case. Hence, your objective for reading the case the 3rd time is to find solutions to your problems given at the end of the case.
5. In case you’re working in groups, make sure you read the case ALONE the first time. In fact, it would be nice to read it alone the second time too and sit with your team to read for the third time. Why am I saying this? Picture this: You’ve begun reading the case with your group fellows for the first time and you’re only at second paragraph. One of your team members, who by the way, is a fast reader, reads the whole case and declares she knows what the problem is in the case: the company didn’t have enough funds! What has she done? She has caused you and everyone else in the team to form an opinion about the case before even finishing it. There are lesser chances now that you’ll think in any other direction; for example, maybe it was the lack of resources which was the major issue in the company. So, always read the case alone the first time when working in a team and save the discussion to be done in group.

Up till now, you’ve learned the dos and don’ts of a solving case study. Remember, you still haven’t penned down the case. What you’ve done is that you’ve understood what the case is about and looked for the answers to the questions, if given. Here comes another very important tip: There is never a right or wrong answer in a case study. It all matters on the way you present your case and the supporting arguments you give to defend it. This is the stage where enters your writing skills. A well written case analysis is the key to getting a good grade and as you will see in Part II of this article, it’s nothing but a process of few steps as I mentioned above. Stay tuned for the second part