Process: the instructor's questions often provide a good starting point to analyze the case
1) As the board member of Tesla, would you have voted for or against the merger with Solar City? Why?
2) Assess Musk;s strategy to build the Gigafactory: what are the pros and cons of building the largest factory in the world for batteries?
3) Assess Musk's strategy for Tesla: If you were Elon Musk, would you drive Tesla to become a large automobile company, a battery company, a sustainable energy company?
4) Would you advise Musk to continue to shoot for the moon (or more accurately Mars)? Stay the course, but take on nothing new? or retrench and narrow his focus?
Define the Protagonist for this case: ________________
Process: Each case will have (a) protagonist(s) who must make decisions about the issues and problems of the case.. Note: in some cases there can be a group of protagonists. You need to understand what motivates the protagonist to be an effective consultant.
1. What information does the case provide you about the motivations and decision making processes of the protagonist?
2. What are the goals that the protagonist needs to achieve and their timing?
3. What are the most likely tactics to convince the protagonist to accept your recommendations?
4. What should be included and what should be excluded (or handled with great care) within your Powerpoint presentation or written document to the protagonist?
Process: In analyzing some cases, detailing the timeline can be useful.
Timeline for (what):
Date/Time Event
Group the problems, opportunities, or issues of the case into categories and then prioritize them:
Process:
1. List all problems, opportunities, or issues in this case;
2. Group related problems, opportunities, and issues, then, define a descriptive Category Name
3. Prioritize the Categories from the point of view of the protagonist;
4. Select the few categories at the top of the priority list for detailed analysis, using the next pages in this Form.
5. It is not expected that low priority categories will be analyzed; that is why they are "low priority".
Problems or issues Category Name Priority
Case Overview: Based on your analysis of the prioritized categories in the case, draft a concise statement of the case from a high level and from the perspective of the protagonist.
You may want to revise this overview after completing the analysis and action plan. In most cases, one or two sentences comprise an optimum overview.
Even in complex cases a short paragraph is sufficient. Think of this as an "elevator speech" and you are getting off of the elevator on the 4th floor.
Analysis of Category (Name):
Concise Statement of this Category's Problems and Issues:
Priority of this category:
Analysis of this category may include some or all of the following factors as appropriate:
Relevant data from the case
Current performance level vs performance targeted level
Attach or embed the following as appropriate to support the analysis:
1. Qualitative analysis models, illustrations, analysis maps, etc.
2. Quantitative analysis tools: spreadsheets, decision trees, tables, etc.
Bring your knowledge and other course work to the analysis process
Consult with others to aid in your analysis; research the Internet if appropriate
Possible Actions (Decisions) to address this category:
Possible Action Benefits of this action Disadvantages of this action
REPEAT FOR EACH CATEGORY IDENTIFIED
Recommended Action (Decision) Plan
1. Concise overview of the action plan from the perspective of the protagonist: This should be another "elevator speech" addressed to the protagonist.
2. Detailed Action Plan from the perspective of the protagonist:
What is to be done (refer to notes or see attached appendices for justification of this decision) Who is responsible by name or title Schedule (attach gantt chart if appropriate) Follow-up and / or control actions Contingency action, if something goes wrong(risk analysis)