Internet Enabled Supply Chain
MIS 3537 – Spring 2017

Case Study Analysis

Case method teaching immerses students into realistic business situations.  Cases provide the reality of managerial decision making — which includes incomplete information, time constraints, and conflicting goals — as students learn how to analyze business situations.  The case method stimulates students’ thinking and encourages discussion.  Not only is it a very relevant and practical way to learn, it’s exciting and fun.

The cases are from Harvard Business School Press.  The cases will help you understand how companies are using Supply Chains in innovative ways.  The instructor will provide a list of questions with each case.  The instructor will lead a discussion of these cases in the class.  For each case, one group will also be expected to make a presentation of the case in the class.

One group will present each case in the class, and another group will post the ‘correct’ answers (collected from the class discussion) to these case questions on the blog after the class discussion.  The remainder of the groups are required to submit a printout of their answers to the instructor at the beginning of the class. Also, be prepared to discuss the case in the class.

Instructions for each Student for Each Case

Although the answers to the case questions posed are to be submitted by the group, each individual student’s individual preparation and participation is critical.  Specifically:

  1. Preparation. Each student must read the case.  Then work within their team to analyze the case, and then formulate an action plan.  Without this, the case discussion will mean little.
  2. Presence. If the student is not present, she or he cannot learn and, more important, cannot add her or his unique thoughts and insight to the class discussion.
  3. Promptness. Students who enter the classroom late disrupt the discussion and deprecate the decorum of the process.
  4. Participation. Each student’s learning is best facilitated by regular participation.  More important, each student has the responsibility to share his or her understanding and judgment with the class to advance the group’s collective skills and knowledge.

Instructions for the group making case presentation

Submission:

  1. Submit the case study analysis via email to me (at Edward.Beaver@temple.edu) – no later than 2 hours prior to class time on the day the case study is to be discussed in class. The file should be in Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt or pptx) format.
    I will enable this file for your presentation to the class.
  2. Submit a printout of your presentation slides to instructor at the beginning of the class.
  3. Late submissions will not receive assignment credit

Content:

  1. Briefly (3-5 slides) discuss the company and the main points of this case.
  2. Present a slide or two on how the company is doing now (e.g. through some web research – what their latest profit is or how they seem to be doing overall.)  If you can include some latest news about their supply chain, that’ll be great.
  3. If appropriate, prepare a diagram of the complete supply chain (as given in the case). On the diagram, highlight the insourced and outsourced components.
  4. Prepare 1-2 slides on each of the case questions posed (i.e. from the blog).

Presentation Style: Points will also be awarded for presentation style. Here are some tips that you may want to note:

  1. Remember that the slides are not the presentation. Avoid reading verbatim from the slides.
  2. Make sufficient eye contact with the class.  It is not a good idea to read prepared notes directly.
  3. Make the slides sufficiently interesting.  For example, you can include pictures or videos related to the company.
  4. Formal attire is not required for the presentation.

Instructions for the group posting correct answers

Every week, one group will post ‘correct’ answers to the case questions on the blog. Here are the instructions to that group:

  1. Please post your answers as a comment to the post which contains the case questions.
  2. The answer should be posted after we discuss the case in class (preferably before noon the following day).
  3. Please make sure that you post ‘correct’ answers based on the inclass discussion.  Points will be deducted if you post incorrect answers to the case questions on the blog.
  4. Feel free to discuss any answer with me if you are not sure of the correct answer to any question.

Case Questions: Instructions for Groups Not Presenting

For each case I will post on the course blog several (5+) questions to be answered.

One group will present this case in the class.  Their answers to the questions will be included in their presentation.

All other groups (including the group posting the correct answers) are required to submit a printout of their answers to the instructor at the beginning of the class.  All groups are to be prepared to discuss the case in the class.

Here are some tips for writing the case answers:

  1. Answers should be brief and to the point (10 lines max).
  2. Answers should be substantiated by proper reasoning from the case or other sources.
  3. Avoid general statements such as “make customers happy”, “increase profits” etc without proper explanations.

Case Grading Method:

I will use this method to grade all case assignments.

Each case has a maximum of 10 points that can be awarded.

For each case, I pose 5+ questions for each team to answer prior to the case discussion in class.  I choose 4 of the questions posed for grading.   An answer that is complete (e.g. per question instructions) and touches the themes from the case will receive 2 points each.  This represents (2 x 4) 8 of the possible 10 points.

I also award a maximum of 2 added points for any of the following:

  • Unique, creative, insightful comments or analysis from the case materials
  • The critical facts and ideas in the answer are presented in a clear, readable and compelling manner.

The following are examples of an answer to a possible case question.  The content (ideas) are the same in each example.  However, I believe that Example 1 presents them in a clearer, and more readable and compelling manner (e.g. would receive added points).

Example 1

Keys to Success:

More content available: providers bring sufficiently different content on one site obviating need to visit other sites or use different viewing options.

Free to use: users only need to register to watch much free content.

Popularity: Providers use social network platforms to attract more users / audience

Relationship with Partners: Understand each partner’s business to provide what they desire (profit, audience share, buzz, etc.)

Example 2

There are several keys to success. Having more content available as well as sufficiently different content on one site obviates need to visit other sites or use different viewing options. Providing viewing free of charge means users only need to register to watch much the content. Providers use social network platforms to attract more users / audience and drive up their popularity. A strong Relationship with Partners is also a key to success. The relationship allows understanding each partners’ business to provide what they desire most (profit, audience share, buzz, etc.).