GROUP CASE PRESENTATIONS

You will be asked to form groups of three or four students each.  Team members are not expected to "dress up", use excessive visual aids when they are not appropriate, and such; you are being graded on the quality of the substance of the presentation.  See the Case Presentation Evaluation form that will be used for deriving a score for the oral presentations.  More details will be given in class.

 
WRITTEN CASE REPORTS

Each presenting group will submit a single written report after receiving written feedback on the oral presentation.  This report will be based on the case report that was presented to the class.

Written reports must be no longer than five typewritten pages (double spaced, excluding tables or charts).  Tables, charts, calculations, and such, may be added as appendices, but the reader (grader) will only refer to these if specifically and necessarily referenced in the text of the report.  All reading otherwise halts at the end of five double spaced pages, and a grade is assigned at that point.

STUDENT NAMES MUST NOT APPEAR ON THE FRONT PAGE OF WRITTEN CASE REPORTS.  Please put names on a separate cover page at the end of the report.  Reports can then be "blind" graded by the professor.  Also, do not bind reports in any kind of folder.  Use plain white paper with a single staple in the corner.  You will not be allowed to keep graded reports.  Be sure to make a photocopy of your original report before you submit it.

EVALUATION
Oral and written reports will be evaluated according to the following objectives:

A) PROBLEM DEFINITION: Was a key problem identified?  Did the writers simply present a massive catalog of problems?

B) SITUATION ANALYSIS: Did the writers simply restate facts given in the case?  Was relevant information provided that would be necessary to analyze the market, the competition, company strengths and weaknesses, etc.?  Were the writers' assumptions stated and supported?

C) ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS: Were relevant and reasonable alternatives considered in solving the problem?  Did the writers pay excessive attention to a single alternative?  Was the analysis of sufficient breadth and depth?  Was the analysis of sufficient breadth and dept?  Was marketing theory integrated into the analysis in an appropriate manner?

D) COURSE OF ACTION: Did the analysis follow to a logical recommendation?  Was the recommendation decisive?  Did the recommendation include enough specifics regarding how and when it might be implemented so that it could be used by someone?

E) PRESENTATION: Was the report will organized?  Was the oral report done in a professional manner?  Was the written report free of spelling and gramatical errors?

The method of preparing case reports by your textbook authors and your professor is not necessarily the only "right" way to approach a report.  This approach, however, happens to lend itself well to the cases in this text and to the way that your professor will evaluate presentations and reports for a grade.  One more time.  This is the way that your professor will evaluate presentations and reports for a grade.  Reports that do not follow the general prob. - alts. -rec. schematic, used as the basis of almost every class discussion, will receive a score of no higher than 50% (E-).  Note that this does not necessarily mean that you must spoil your report by inserting unnecessary headings or by following a strict format.

See also the Case Presentation Evaluation form that will be used for deriving a score for the oral presentations.

PARTICIPATION

Audience participation in case presentations will be completely voluntary, but keep in mind that you are being graded on the quality of your participation.  As the recipient of the group presentations, you will be required to take an active role by asking critical questions.  No recommendation by any group can ever be ideal; almost anything can be challenged.  Questions almost always must be asked before one can make a decision to accept or reject the recommendation of someone else.  You are not attempting to "pick fights" or make enemies with your classmates.  You are instead attempting to flush out inconsistencies or informational gaps in the presentation. 

Good questions usually help rather than hurt the presenting group.  By the end of the term, you will find that there are a number of common, general questions that can be asked in almost any decision-making situation; this should help you to anticipate objections when you write reports or make presentations in the future.  You will receive a grade in points for each question, with your final grade for this portion of the course determined by the total sum after all presentations have been made. 

For this term, with only two days of case presentations, we will allow a maximum of two percent of your grade to be accumulated on the day that your team presents, and a maximum of three percent of your grade to be accumulated on the other day of presentations.