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Read and understand and analyze Allentown Materials Corporation: The Electronic Products Division (Abridged) pp. 183-195 in Ellet, The Case Handbook.
You are required to read also chapters 5 and 10 and follow the Problem Case Study Method to analyze the case.You are required to complete a 2-page analysis paper
The paper should include the following items:
1. Cover page
2. Abstract / Overview of the case
3. Problem-Based Case Analysis:
Step 1: Problem Definition
Step 2: Problem Diagnosis
Step 3: Cause-Effect Analysis
Step 4: Action Plan
Step 5: Risks & Alternatives
4. Reference
- 1-The goal of analyzing a case study is to determine if the problem diagnosis and problem solution implemented by the organization was correctly done or not.
- 2-You should give an overview of the case and then follow the steps in the problem case study method listed above from Ellet Chapter 10. The textbook clarifies each step and what should be included in each step. Remember that you need to include research that supports your analysis.
Untitled DO N OT CO PY O R P OS T T H E CASE STUDY HANDBOOK ElletFM.qxp 1/22/07 3:37 PM Page i DO N OT CO PY O R P OS T ElletFM.qxp 1/22/07 3:37 PM Page ii DO N OT CO PY O R P OS T T H E CASE STUDY HANDBOOK How to Read, Discuss, and Write Persuasively About Cases William Ellet Harvard Business School Press Boston, Massachusetts ElletFM.qxp 1/22/07 3:37 PM Page iii DO N OT CO PY O R P OS T Copyright 2007 William Ellet All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu, or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163. The copyright on each case in this book unless otherwise noted is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and they are published herein by express permission. Permission requests to use individual Harvard copyrighted cases should be directed to permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu, or mailed to the Permissions Editor, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, MA 02163. Case material of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration is made possible by the cooperation of business firms and other organizations which may wish to remain anonymous by having names, quantities, and other identifying details disguised while maintaining basic relationships. Cases are prepared as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ellet,William. The case study handbook: how to read, discuss, and write persuasively about cases / William Ellet. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-1-4221-0158-2 (hardcover: alk. paper) 1. Management—Case studies—Study and teaching. I.Title. HD30.4.E435 2007 658—dc22 2006034445 The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Stan- dard for Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents in Libraries and Archives Z39.48-1992. ElletFM.qxp 1/22/07 3:37 PM Page iv DO N OT CO PY O R P OS T CON T EN T S Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 Persuasion,Argument, and the Case Method . . . . . . . 5 2 What Is a Case? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 PART I ANALYSIS 3 How to Analyze a Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 4 Case Analysis Demonstration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 case study: “Malaysia in the 1990s (A)” 5 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 case study: “Allentown Materials Corporation: The Electronic Products Division (Abridged)” 6 Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 case study: “General Motors: Packard Electric Division” 7 Evaluations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 case study: “Allentown Materials Corporation: The Electronic Products Division (Abridged)” PART II DISCUSSION 8 How to Discuss a Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 ElletFM.qxp 1/22/07 3:37 PM Page v DO N OT CO PY O R P OS T PART III WRITING 9 How to Write a Case-Based Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 10 Problem Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 case study: “Allentown Materials Corporation: The Electronic Products Division (Abridged)” Sample essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 11 Decision Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 case studies: “General Electric: Major Appliance Business Group (Abridged)” and “Whistler Corporation (A)” Sample essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 12 Evaluation Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Disguised case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Sample essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 PART IV CASES FOR ANALYSIS AND WRITING “Allentown Materials Corporation: . . . . . . . . . . . 183 The Electronic Products Division (Abridged)” “General Electric: Major Appliance . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Business Group (Abridged)” “General Motors: Packard Electric Division” . . . . 215 “Malaysia in the 1990s (A)” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Whistler Corporation (A)” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 vi THE CASE STUDY HANDBOOK ElletFM.qxp 1/22/07 3:37 PM Page vi DO N OT CO PY O R P OS T IN T RODUCT ION The Case Study Handbook has emerged from sixteen years of work with busi- ness school students.The impetus for it was a void in the guidance I could give them about case essays. When I first worked with MBA students, I confined myself to conven- tional writing advice—coherent paragraphs; active voice; essays with a dis- cernible beginning, middle, and end.The advice had an impact, but not as much as I hoped. Eventually, I realized that in case examinations, students often didn’t know how to recognize the need for an argument or were unclear about how to write one. (This lack of knowledge isn’t the fault of students; it’s the fault of the writing instruction they have received.) I immediately placed argument at the forefront