Team Case Report Discussion and Summary

Student teams will research a case in depth and prepare the case for discussion. One or more members of the team may lead the discussion. The team will write a 10 - 12 page (double-spaced, 12 pt. font) final analysis of the case, including and addressing the recommendations of the class. This assignment will be due one week after the case was presented.

• The paper will discuss the key elements of the case. Generally, all reports begin with an Introduction to the case. Outline briefly what the company does, how it developed historically, what problems or opportunities it is experiencing, and how you intend to approach the issues in the case write-up. For example, "First, the environment of Organization XYZ is discussed ..., Second, problems the organization faces are outlined ...," and so on.




Do not repeat in summary form large pieces of factual information from the case. Summarize, paraphrase and tailor the information to support your position.

• The body of the report should include a strategic analysis of the organization. You may choose any accepted technique to analyze your case. Examples include a SWOT analysis (internal elements include strengths and weaknesses; external elements encompass opportunites and threats), Porters' Five Forces Model, the Value Chain Model or others you have learned. Analyze and discuss the nature of the problems of the organization's corporate and IT strategies and then analyze its structure and systems. Use headings and subheadings to structure your analysis to specific issues of importance in the case.



• The last section of the report should include your solutions and recommendations. Be comprehensive and make sure they are in line with the previous analysis. The recommendations must fit together and logically move from one to the next.

• Quality of work performed by the student
• Level of effort
• Participation in group meetings
  

Evaluations will be done on a rating scale, ranging from 1 to 10, where 1 is worthless and 10 is invaluable. A score of 6 is considered average. It would be possible for a student to do outstanding work on a small part of the project (a 10 for quality but a 1 on effort) and receive a low overall grade due to effort level. As an additional measure students will rank their peers in each area from most valuable to least valuable.