What a business case study asks you to do
A case study puts you in the position of an adviser. You are given a description of an organization, usually with some numbers, some history and a decision or a worry. Your job is to work out what is really going on, weigh the realistic options and tell the reader what to do and why. Nobody wants a summary of the case. Your instructor already knows it.
Most cases fall into one of three types, and the type changes how you open your answer.
| Type of case | What it gives you | What your paper must do |
|---|---|---|
| Decision case | A manager facing a choice, such as enter a market or close a plant | Name the decision, compare the options and commit to one |
| Problem case | A company whose results are slipping for reasons that are not obvious | Diagnose the root cause before suggesting any fix |
| Descriptive or success case | A firm that did well, or a practice that worked | Explain why it worked and what other firms can learn |
Check your assignment sheet for the exact questions. If your instructor has written three or four questions at the end of the case, your paper should answer each in turn, usually under its own heading.
Read the case in three passes
Most students read a case once, highlight half of it and start writing. A better routine takes less time overall because it stops you rewriting.
- Pass one, skim for the story. Read the first and last paragraphs, the headings and every exhibit. You want to know who the company is, what it sells, and what the decision or worry is.
- Pass two, annotate facts. Mark every number, date and named person. Write in the margin what each fact suggests: growth, cost pressure, a competitor move, a cultural issue.
- Pass three, build a fact sheet. On one page, list the ten to fifteen facts that matter most, grouped as customers, competitors, finances, operations and people.
The fact sheet becomes your evidence bank. When you later write that sales are under pressure, you can point to the exact figure instead of hand-waving.
Keep your own opinion out of pass two
Note facts first and judgments second. If you decide what the problem is while you read, you will notice only the facts that agree with you.
Find the real problem, not the loudest symptom
The case will usually present symptoms: falling sales, rising turnover, unhappy customers. A symptom is what you can see. A root cause is why it is happening. Fixing a symptom without the cause is the most common reason a recommendation feels weak.
A useful problem statement has three parts: who is affected, what is going wrong, and why it matters. Here it is in practice.
Example (hypothetical company)
Case: Harbor Brew, a regional coffee chain with 40 stores, has seen weekday afternoon traffic fall for three quarters while weekend traffic is steady. Management wants to cut prices.
Symptom: fewer weekday afternoon customers.
Possible causes to test: new competitor near office districts, loss of the remote-working crowd, slower service at peak times, a weaker food menu after 2 pm.
Problem statement: Harbor Brew is losing weekday afternoon customers, mainly in office-district stores, because its food offer and speed of service no longer fit how workers now use afternoon breaks. A price cut would lower margin on existing customers without addressing why people are leaving.
Test each possible cause against your fact sheet. Keep the ones the evidence supports and say plainly which you ruled out. That reasoning is exactly what a marker wants to see.
Choose frameworks that fit the question
Frameworks are tools for organizing facts, not decorations. Use one only if it answers a question your case raises. Using five models with no conclusion earns less than using one model well.
| Question your case raises | Framework that helps | What you take from it |
|---|---|---|
| What outside forces affect the firm? | PESTLE | Political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental pressures |
| How tough is this industry? | Porter's Five Forces | Where bargaining power and rivalry squeeze profit |
| What does the firm do well or badly? | SWOT, value chain | Strengths to build on, weaknesses to fix |
| Which products or units deserve investment? | BCG matrix, product life cycle | Where to invest, hold or exit |
| How can the firm grow? | Ansoff matrix | Market penetration, new markets, new products or diversification |
| Is the plan financially sound? | Ratios, break-even, payback | Whether the numbers support the recommendation |
Whichever you use, write one or two sentences saying what it shows for this company. A SWOT table with no commentary is a list, not analysis. See our guides on SWOT and PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces for how to write them up.
Use evidence from the case
Every claim in your analysis should be backed by something in the case or by a short calculation. Compare these two sentences:
- Weak: "The company has a cost problem."
- Strong: "Labor costs rose from 28 percent to 33 percent of revenue over two years (Exhibit 3), which is the main reason operating margin fell."
Refer to exhibits by number, and do your own simple calculations when the case invites them: growth rates, margins, share of revenue by segment, payback on a proposed investment. Show the formula once so a reader can follow it. If you use outside facts, such as an industry trend, keep them few and cite them in your required style.
Generate options and compare them fairly
A recommendation is only convincing when the reader sees what you rejected. Aim for two to four realistic options, including a version of doing nothing or doing the minimum. Then judge them against criteria that matter for this firm.
| Option | Cost and effort | Risk | Fit with strategy | Evidence it works |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Cut prices 10 percent | Low effort, high margin cost | Competitors can match it quickly | Poor, it signals a discount brand | Weak: traffic problem is not about price |
| B. Add an afternoon food menu and faster service | Medium, training and equipment | Medium | Strong | Moderate: matches how customers use afternoons |
| C. Close the weakest office-district stores | High, one-off costs | High, brand impact | Mixed | Strong on cost, weak on growth |
State the criteria in a sentence before the table, then use the table to support a short paragraph that says which option wins and why. Keep the scores honest. If your preferred option has a real weakness, name it and show how you would manage it.
Write a recommendation someone could act on
A strong recommendation answers four questions: what to do, who does it, when, and how you will know it worked.
- What: one clear action or a short package, not a list of everything possible.
- Who and when: a rough sequence, such as pilot in five stores in the first quarter, roll out in the second.
- Cost and return: an estimate of what it costs and what you expect in return, with the assumptions stated.
- Measures and risks: two or three measures of success, such as weekday afternoon traffic and average ticket, plus the main risk and your fallback.
Do not introduce new analysis in the recommendation. Everything it relies on should already be earned earlier in the paper.
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Get an instant quoteA structure you can use and how to spread your words
Unless your instructor sets a template, this structure works for most case assignments.
| Section | Share of words | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| Executive summary | 5 to 8 percent | Problem, recommendation and expected result in about one paragraph |
| Situation and problem statement | 10 to 15 percent | Brief context, the decision or issue, your problem statement |
| Analysis | 35 to 40 percent | Frameworks and evidence, linked to your problem |
| Options and evaluation | 15 to 20 percent | Alternatives compared against criteria |
| Recommendation and implementation | 15 to 20 percent | The action, timeline, cost, measures and risks |
| References and appendices | Not counted | Sources, long calculations and exhibits you built |
Write the executive summary last, even though it comes first. It is easier to summarize what you have actually argued. Our guide on executive summaries shows how.
Write analysis paragraphs that do real work
The analysis section is where the marks are, and it is also where most papers go soft. A paragraph that only states a fact is description. A paragraph that connects a fact to the problem is analysis. A reliable pattern is point, evidence, explanation, link.
- Point: the claim, in one sentence, that moves your argument forward.
- Evidence: the figure, exhibit or quotation from the case that supports it.
- Explanation: why the evidence supports the point, in plain words.
- Link: what it means for your problem statement or recommendation.
One paragraph, written two ways (hypothetical company)
Descriptive: Harbor Brew has 40 stores. Weekday afternoon traffic is down and the company has a food menu that ends at 2 pm. Competitors have been opening near offices.
Analytical: Weekday afternoon transactions in office-district stores fell 17 percent over three quarters, while weekend transactions stayed flat (Exhibit 2). Because the food menu stops at 2 pm, workers who want an afternoon snack have no reason to choose Harbor Brew over a nearby competitor that serves food all day. This points to the offer, not the price, as the cause of the decline, which is why a price cut is unlikely to bring customers back.
Notice the analytical version contains the same facts, plus a number, an exhibit reference, a reason and a link to the problem. Read your draft paragraph by paragraph and ask whether each one ends by telling the reader why it matters. If not, add the link or cut the paragraph.
Use short signposts so the reader never wonders why a section exists: this section tests whether the problem is price, product or service; the next compares three ways to respond.
A complete sample outline you can copy
Here is how the Harbor Brew case could be organized, with a line on what each part contains. Swap in your own case and keep the logic.
| Heading | What goes under it |
|---|---|
| Executive summary | The weekday afternoon decline, its cause, the recommended pilot and the target result, in about 150 words |
| 1. Situation and problem | Two paragraphs of context, then the problem statement: the offer and the speed of service no longer fit how office workers use afternoons |
| 2.1 External environment | PESTLE points that matter: hybrid work, rising rents, competitor openings. Skip the rest |
| 2.2 Industry and competitors | A short Five Forces reading focused on rivalry and customer power in afternoon visits |
| 2.3 Internal capability | Menu, equipment, staffing at peak times, using the exhibits as proof |
| 2.4 Financial check | Margin by store type, the cost of a price cut and what a new menu would need to earn to pay back |
| 3. Options | Price cut, afternoon food and faster service, close weak stores, compared on a table |
| 4. Recommendation | Option B in five office-district stores first, then roll out |
| 5. Implementation and measures | Timeline, cost, measures such as weekday afternoon transactions and average ticket, risks and fallback |
| Appendices | Calculations, exhibits you built |
A good opening paragraph for section 1 might read: Harbor Brew is a 40-store regional coffee chain whose weekday afternoon sales have fallen for three consecutive quarters, concentrated in its office-district stores. Management is considering a price cut. This report argues that the decline reflects a mismatch between the afternoon offer and how workers now use that time, and recommends a targeted pilot instead.
Plan your time, and how to handle a group case
Cases reward reflection, so leave time to think. If you have a week, a plan like this works well.
| Day | Task | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Three-pass read and fact sheet | One page of facts grouped by theme |
| 2 | Problem statement and framework choice | Draft problem statement, list of frameworks and why |
| 3 | Analysis draft | Analysis paragraphs with evidence and calculations |
| 4 | Options and recommendation | Option table and a specific recommendation |
| 5 | Executive summary and full edit | Complete draft with summary written last |
| 6 | Formatting and references | Headings, exhibits, citations in your required style |
| 7 | Rest and final read-through | Proofread, number check, word count |
For a group case, agree on the problem statement before anyone writes, because different people diagnosing different problems is the most common reason group papers read as disjointed. Then split by section, share one fact sheet, and give one person the job of editing for a single voice and checking that every number matches throughout.
Common mistakes that cost marks
- Retelling the case The reader knows it. Use two or three sentences of context and move to analysis.
- Solving the wrong problem If your problem statement describes a symptom, your recommendation will treat a symptom.
- Framework dumping Several models, no conclusions. Pick the one or two that fit and interpret them.
- No numbers Claims without evidence read as opinion. Quote the exhibit or run the calculation.
- Vague recommendations Words like improve, focus on and enhance say nothing. Say what, who and when.
- Ignoring risks Every option has a downside. Showing you see it makes your recommendation more credible.
- Outside research that overrides the case Use the case as your main source. Outside facts support it, they do not replace it.
A final checklist before you submit
- Does the problem statement name who, what and why it matters?
- Does every framework you used end in a sentence about this company?
- Is each major claim tied to an exhibit, a figure or a calculation?
- Do you compare at least two real options, including a minimal one?
- Is the recommendation specific about action, timing, cost and measures?
- Does the executive summary match what the paper actually says?
- Have you answered every question your instructor wrote, in order?
- Are your headings, citations and word count in line with the brief?
If you are short of time or want a second pair of eyes, you can order business case study help and upload the case and your marking criteria.