Marketing
MORRIS GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
Some Additional Thoughts on the Subject of Case Analysis
Case analyses are used to enrich your classroom experience by helping you develop your own framework for identifying and addressing business problems or opportunities. It's hoped that you will leave this class with a set of general problem-solving skills that you can apply in a marketing or senior management context.
Cases are characterized by a limited time frame for making decisions, seemingly incomplete information, and no clear 'best' answer... similar to situations you face in 'the real world'. For each case, you will be expected to analyze the situation, identify the key problems or opportunities, propose and evaluate alternative courses of action and recommend or defend a final course of action. More often than not, you'll do this by answering a short series of questions related to the case.
The case method is essential to developing the problem-solving and communication skills highly valued in graduates of MBA programs. The ability to generalize from specific case situations discussed in the classroom to new situations that you may encounter outside of the classroom is one of the foundations of business education today. Class discussions will be used to deepen and integrate your understanding of marketing concepts and familiarize you with appropriate analytic tools.
Here are some things to think about as you approach each new case.
• Read the assigned materials well in advance of the class session.
• Give yourself time to reflect and consider what you read before you come to class.
• Analyze the information you read, using the following points as a guide:
- Identify the business problem or opportunity facing the company or decision maker.
- Determine whether you identified the problem or only a symptom of the problem. If the latter, review the facts in the case to uncover the underlying problem.
Cases include relevant as well as irrelevant information. Have you identified information relevant to the problem or opportunity?
Can you use the relevant information to address the problem or opportunity? If so, how? If not, perhaps this information isn't really relevant.
Look at the tables and charts in the case. What information do they provide? You do not need to be a business, financial or statistical analyst to successfully complete this course. However, it's expected that you can and will make basic observations (e.g., net income has been flat for the past 3 years; marketing expenditures have increased dramatically; etc.).
• Based on your analysis, prepare your position, your point of view about the problem and a set of recommendations or possible courses of action. Again...more often than not...this will take the form of detailed answers to a set of questions.
On the day the case is being discussed in class, come to class prepared and ready to contribute. Share your experience, knowledge and insights with the rest of the class. At the same time, listen to what your peers have to say. Evaluate your point of view based on inputs provided by your associates.
CASE NUMBER ONE
`ROSEWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS'
Answer each of the following three questions related to the above-mentioned case. Your answers should be direct, thoughtful and supported by facts and figures documented in the case pack. The assignment is to be typewritten (12-point, double-spaced, one-inch margins) and accompanied by a cover sheet containing the following information: case name, case number, student name, class name, instructor's name and date submitted.
It's assumed that your answer to each question will take the better part of one full, typewritten page. Anything less is probably lacking in the way of real analysis and supporting information from the case.
Your assignment is due at the beginning of class on Monday, May 18.
1. From what you've learned by reading the case and based upon personal experience, how do most people choose a hotel for purpose of an overnight stay? Might that decision process differ for guests of a Rosewood property?
2. What are customer loyalty programs? Do they work? If so, would Rosewood Hotels & Resorts benefit from implementing a customer loyalty program?
3. Given what you know from the case about Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, what do you think John Scott and Robert Boulogne should do in the way of implementing any sort of corporate identity program?