Case Memo: Navistar: Environmental Management. Case Study

Please follow the Case Memo instruction and the Sample Case Memo as a reference, and write a Case Memo toward the "Navistar". Please be simple when making a suggestion about what Navistar should do to have a better economic/ environmental performance. No additional information other than the uploaded report needed to finish this case memo.

The text of the written case study must fit on one (1) 8 1/2" x 11" page with 1" margins all around. The font should be no smaller than 11 pt. Paragraphs may be singled spaced with double-spacing between paragraphs. Text beyond the first page will not be read. Tables, figures, exhibits reflecting YOUR UNIQUE ANALYSIS AND INSIGTS (not materials from the case itself) SHOULD BE ADDED beyond your one-page memo. They must be: (1) referenced in the text, and (2) kept in order of their reference. Be careful that the point you make in the text by using an appendix/exhibit is clear and that, in combination, they are logically consistent. All information necessary to complete the assignment is included within the assigned case study and the case is specific to a particular moment in time. Therefore, bring theories and insights from the course and your outside experiences, but don’t add outside/additional research or information to the case. Often students are tempted to seek out “what really happened” or current industry/company statistics – these aren’t important or relevant to analyzing the case.

Case Studies should use the following format:

Introduction/Statement of Purpose (3-5 sentences): This section should provide a statement of the purpose of your analysis. Given that you have limited space, eliminate text about "how you have been hired to do a study…" or “based on a thorough assessment…”and quickly get to the point of what is at issue, what is at stake and what action is needed. The key to writing a good statement of purpose is making clear what situation the firm is confronting (threat to profitability, increased regulatory/legal risk, negative market share effects, etc.) and how a failure to consider your recommendation could have detrimental consequences for the firm (further erosion of profitability due to cost escalation, increased regulator burden/expansion, market share shrinkage due to competitor encroachment, etc.). Students usually err in this paragraph by providing too much descriptive information about the situation – assume your reader is living the situation outlined in the case and is uninterested in its detailed description. Remember, company personnel are busy, mired in detail and biased by their place/role in the organization. Your goal is to identify the "big picture" implications of the situation.

Recommendation (one paragraph, don’t be afraid to use bullets): In many of the cases, you will be asked to choose from a finite set of alternatives. Thus, in this section, it is important to both identify the alternative you think is preferable and the key steps required to implement this alternative. Where alternatives are less clearly defined, your first job is to succinctly identify the alternatives. The key to writing a good recommendation is identifying the timing, interdependencies and key uncertainties in the steps or stages of your recommendation. Your goal is to provide written evidence that you understand the second and third-order effects of your recommendation. For example, some steps in a recommendation will clearly lead to the next step (i.e. a decision to expand into new geographic or product market requires capacity) and may be written as an assertion. But, this step may lead to the consideration of multiple alternatives and hence, the development of contingency plans (additional capacity might be pursued by revamping existing production facilities, construction of new facilities, or formation of alliances, all of which vary in the amount and sources of capital required). Indeed, thinking about your recommendation as a system of relationships with varying time dependencies may lead you to revise the order in which the steps in the recommendation are presented.

Rationale (2-3 paragraphs; 1/2-2/3 of a page): Your rationale section should clarify how your recommendation helps the firm overcome the situation you identified in the introduction. For example, if, in your introduction, you argue that the firm's profitability is threatened, be sure to identify how your recommendation specifically improves profitability. The key to writing a good rationale is to make your logic or line of reasoning come full circle. It is important to record the logic and reasoning that precipitated the selection of a particular alternative as a recommended course of action. This includes articulating not only why the alternative was selected but also why the other alternatives were not selected. Again, as in the introduction, this should not be a descriptive analysis of the situation. It is a statement of how your recommendation helps the firm's managers address the key external and internal issues confronting them.

*Notice there is no conclusion. Unlike academic writing, writing for a business audience requires you to say your piece as quickly and succinctly as possible. Therefore, your reader – if willing to trust you – shouldn’t have to read past the introduction to know your key points/assertions and why it is important to continue reading.

Pitfalls to avoid in your analysis and communication of case studies (Rasche & Seisreiner, U. of Potsdam):

1. Inadequate definition of the problem. By far the most common error made in case analysis is attempting to recommend a course of action without first adequately defining or understanding the problem. Whether presented orally or in a written report, a case analysis must begin with a focus on the central issues and problems represented in the case situation. Closely related is the error of analyzing symptoms without determining the root problem.
2. The search for “the answer”. In case analysis there are no clear-cut solutions. Keep in mind that the objective of case studies is learning through discussion, exploration, and the search for intelligent questions. There is no one “official” or “correct” answer to a case. Rather, there are usually several reasonable alternative solutions.
3. Not enough information. Analysts often complain that there is not enough information in some cases to make a good decision. However, there is justification for not presenting “all” of the information in a case. As in real life, a manager or consultant seldom has all the information necessary to make an optimal decision. Thus, reasonable assumptions have to be made, and the challenge is to find intelligent solutions in spite of the limited information.
4. Use of generalities. In analyzing cases, specific recommendations are necessarily not generalities. For example, a suggestion to increase the price is a generality, a suggestion to increase the price by $1.07 is a specific recommendation.
5. A different situation. Considerable time and effort are sometimes exerted by students contending that “If the situation were different, I’d know what course of action to take” or “If the marketing manager hadn’t already fouled things up so badly, the firm wouldn’t have a problem”. Such reasoning ignores the fact that the events in the case have already happened and cannot be changed. Even though analysis or criticism of past events is necessary in diagnosing the problem, in the end, the present situation must be addressed and decisions must be made based on the given situation and the future.
6. Narrow vision analysis. Although cases are often labeled as a specific type of case, such as “Pricing”, “Product”, “Personnel” and so forth, this does not mean that other variables should be ignored. Too often students ignore the effects that a change in one management element (e.g. investment) will have on the others (e.g. financing).
7. Realism. Too often analysts become so focused on solving a particular problem that their solutions become totally unrealistic. For example, suggesting a $1 million advertising program for a firm with a capital structure of $50,000 is an unrealistic solution.
8. The business research solution. A quite common but unsatisfactory solution to case problems in business research, for example, “The firm should do this or that type of business research to find a solution to their problem.” Although business research may be helpful as an intermediary step in some cases, business research does not solve problems or make decisions. In cases where business research is recommended, the cost and potential benefits should be fully specified in the case analysis.
9. Rehashing the case material. Analysts sometimes spend considerable effort rewriting a two- or three-page history of the firm as presented in the case. This is unnecessary since the instructor and other students are already familiar with this information.
10. Premature conclusions. Analysts sometimes jump to premature conclusions instead of waiting until their analysis in completed. Too many analysts jump to conclusions upon first reading the case and then proceed to interpret everything in the case as justifying their conclusions, even factors that are logically against it.