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Case-study structure
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<blockquote data-quote="Dheepa" data-source="post: 54892" data-attributes="member: 1572"><p>Hi, I think Alice's comments above are very applicable to a "commercial scenario" case study. The thematic approach she outlined is something which I did myself.</p><p></p><p>Something that I found particularly helpful for non-legal case studies is using the Porter's Five Forces framework to kick off my thought process. There's quite a lot of helpful information about this online already, but I'm setting out some of my own thoughts anyway especially in the context of deciding between two companies.</p><p></p><p>1. Barriers to Entry</p><p></p><p>Does any one company have high R&D costs, is any one company stronger in a particular region that is more difficult to enter because of local regulations/politics, experience - are the company's key executives staying on or are they looking to leave (does this mean you'd have to find more experienced hires post-acquisition)</p><p></p><p>2. Bargaining Power of Buyers</p><p></p><p>Does the product one company make have a USP over another (product differentiation means buyers are more likely to buy your product if it's something they cannot get anywhere else)? Does one company have brand loyalty programs in place that would/would not sway customers? How strong is the economic spending power of your target market? Are consumer habits/tastes changing in this particular area, how are each of the companies keeping up with that?</p><p></p><p>3. Bargaining power of suppliers</p><p></p><p>Is one company more horizontally integrated than the other (i.e. does it have it's own in house supplier capabilities), what are the range of supplier options available to each company (does one company have more distribution/supplier networks), are there any technological innovations that could be used to undercut high supplier costs?</p><p></p><p>4. Threat of substitute products</p><p></p><p>This ties in slightly to deciding which company has a product with a stronger USP but other things to consider include the price of the substitute and the quality of the substitute (does one company's product have an advantage over the other's in these respects)</p><p></p><p>5. Competition</p><p></p><p>Are there many competitors, relative size of the competitors and competitive positioning (are the companies a smaller competitor like an Aldi or Lidl or a large one like a Tesco or Sainsbury's - how would that affect your choice of company), potential for the industry to grow (is it a highly stagnant industry with many fixed long term players or is it a growing one with high investment interest and market interest - particularly important if the your client i.e. the company buying wants an exit strategy), is there room to undercut your competitors - if so how?</p><p></p><p>As I've said there's a lot more out there on this but I hope what I've set out gives you some pointers. I also really like the framework because there's a lot of scope for you to bring in your own topical commercial awareness.</p><p></p><p>The only other thing I'd advise [USER=138]@Jai C.[/USER] is to avoid the pros and cons structure you mentioned. It can be a far too simplistic way of analysing a case study and if you think about it, most people can pick out the pros and cons themselves pretty easily. What you'd need to demonstrate is the ability to tie those pros and cons into your wider reasons for choosing that particular company (i.e. the key themes for your choice - as Jaysen has said this is harder to do but shows more analytical ability I think) and ideally balance out any cons within your choice with some additional arguments or solutions that makes that choice the right one anyway.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dheepa, post: 54892, member: 1572"] Hi, I think Alice's comments above are very applicable to a "commercial scenario" case study. The thematic approach she outlined is something which I did myself. Something that I found particularly helpful for non-legal case studies is using the Porter's Five Forces framework to kick off my thought process. There's quite a lot of helpful information about this online already, but I'm setting out some of my own thoughts anyway especially in the context of deciding between two companies. 1. Barriers to Entry Does any one company have high R&D costs, is any one company stronger in a particular region that is more difficult to enter because of local regulations/politics, experience - are the company's key executives staying on or are they looking to leave (does this mean you'd have to find more experienced hires post-acquisition) 2. Bargaining Power of Buyers Does the product one company make have a USP over another (product differentiation means buyers are more likely to buy your product if it's something they cannot get anywhere else)? Does one company have brand loyalty programs in place that would/would not sway customers? How strong is the economic spending power of your target market? Are consumer habits/tastes changing in this particular area, how are each of the companies keeping up with that? 3. Bargaining power of suppliers Is one company more horizontally integrated than the other (i.e. does it have it's own in house supplier capabilities), what are the range of supplier options available to each company (does one company have more distribution/supplier networks), are there any technological innovations that could be used to undercut high supplier costs? 4. Threat of substitute products This ties in slightly to deciding which company has a product with a stronger USP but other things to consider include the price of the substitute and the quality of the substitute (does one company's product have an advantage over the other's in these respects) 5. Competition Are there many competitors, relative size of the competitors and competitive positioning (are the companies a smaller competitor like an Aldi or Lidl or a large one like a Tesco or Sainsbury's - how would that affect your choice of company), potential for the industry to grow (is it a highly stagnant industry with many fixed long term players or is it a growing one with high investment interest and market interest - particularly important if the your client i.e. the company buying wants an exit strategy), is there room to undercut your competitors - if so how? As I've said there's a lot more out there on this but I hope what I've set out gives you some pointers. I also really like the framework because there's a lot of scope for you to bring in your own topical commercial awareness. The only other thing I'd advise [USER=138]@Jai C.[/USER] is to avoid the pros and cons structure you mentioned. It can be a far too simplistic way of analysing a case study and if you think about it, most people can pick out the pros and cons themselves pretty easily. What you'd need to demonstrate is the ability to tie those pros and cons into your wider reasons for choosing that particular company (i.e. the key themes for your choice - as Jaysen has said this is harder to do but shows more analytical ability I think) and ideally balance out any cons within your choice with some additional arguments or solutions that makes that choice the right one anyway. [/QUOTE]
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