The key to project discovery is "discovery learning". Discovery learning means, among other things, that you will be expected to tackle concepts and techniques on your own before they are discussed in class. The assigned reading should help, but you will probably find it necessary to think harder and more creatively than before.

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Cases provide an actual or realistic setting in which to apply the concepts you are learning. Therefore, in many class sessions we will discuss an assigned case. Prior to the session, read the case and, guided by the assignment questions, prepare your analysis of the case. In the class discussion, we will: identify and explore the key issues; compare and contrast the various views raised and approaches used; and consider broader implications of the concepts beyond the bounds of the assignment questions or the specific case. We will also review any required computations.

Please note that case assignment questions probably will not be exactly the same questions asked in class. Case assignment questions will help you develop a framework for thinking about the case situation. Then, when the analyses developed by other students are exposed through discussion, you can decide which parts of your analysis are strong and should be defended, and which should be replaced with clearer or more effective reasoning that your fellow students have developed. Cases often have more than one defensible solution. Below is a general guideline to help you prepare for inclass case discussion:

Skim the case once, with the goal of identifying the protagonist in the case and getting a feel for the situation he/she faces. Try to put yourself in the position of the decision maker.

Reread the case carefully, with the aim of identifying all important information that is presented in the case and any required information that might be omitted. Also make note of questions that might occur to you during the reading. Identify the action issues. For example, is the case about budgeting, or is the budgeting issue really a symptom of some deeper problem that management faces? Identify what analysis must be undertaken to inform each action issue. The analysis should help you identify specific actions that the protagonist should take. For example, can data in the case be used to compute contribution margins for each product in the line?

Do the analysis that you have identified, using the data available from the case and making clear and well-informed assumptions about missing information that you require for the analysis. For example: "I wasn't given the cost of direct materials for the proposed project. Well, in the other projects mentioned in the case, direct materials was 36% of direct labor, so if I assume they are about the same here, then..."

Given your analysis, recommend a course of action, explicitly considering and rejecting plausible alternative courses because of the analysis.

Develop an implementation plan for the desired action, considering as many constraints as possible, including constraints generated by the company, the people involved, and any other constraints that you can identify.

Test the plan and the analysis before class against the analysis of other students, either informally, in a small group, or on the home page in the appropriate conference. This prior testing will help you determine whether you are on the right track. More importantly, this will help you learn from one another's approaches to case analysis and improve your own approach to analyzing business problems.

For additional advice on case preparation, click here.

You will come to class with well organized computations and notes.

Occasionally, you will be asked to work in groups to solve demonstration problems or to formulate an approach to resolving case issues. In addition, two cases will require group work both inside and outside the classroom. They include National Youth Association and Provigo (A), (B), and (C). Both of these assignments involve uncertainty about the future, performance measures, and within- and between-group negotiation and problem solving. However, Provigo is a more demanding case than most of the others we will analyze.

Group members will be required to give formal presentations of suggested solutions and recommendations for the Provigo case. I will invite guests from within or outside the University to your Provigo presentations and will introduce them before presentations begin. Although I will listen to comments from the guests, I reserve the right to determine your final presentation grade. This will be your only graded presentation.

Prior to the Provigo presentation, however, the class will present potential solutions to the controversy in National Youth Association. National Youth Association can be considered practice - the presentation, not the analysis. You will receive feedback on its organization, visual aids (if any), and the style of the presentation. However, only the content of National Youth will be graded - and for extra credit. (The average of your National Youth Association and Brockway and Coates group grades may be used to replace one of your individual homework grades.)

You will also receive feedback regarding organization, visual aids and style on your Provigo presentations, and you will be graded on both the presentation and its content. The presentation grade is an individual grade; the content grade is a group grade. Altogether, Provigo represents 10 percent of your course grade.