Originally posted on LinkedIn on May 31, 2024

This article is written by Cam Welsh who has coached case solving teams at the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary over the past 2 decades with significant success.

As a case-solving coach, I had the opportunity to attend the Global Circularity Challenge where case-solving students from around the world tackled the issue of promoting circularity in the fashion industry. This competition provided students with a structured process based on design thinking, guiding them through a 7-week journey to develop a solution and a business canvas that they eventually pitched to a jury. A structured process is crucial for building a robust case analysis and solution. Case solvers require a structure to work through their case resolution, involving specific key steps. In my extensive experience, I've developed my "So What?" process, which involves regularly questioning why each part of the solution matters as it's being developed and reinforcing this during case solution debriefs. My "So What?" technique can also be used in the classroom when discussing the elements in a case. 

The first step for case solving is to ask critical questions, such as determining the business the organization is in, how it generates revenue, who the audience is, and what the audience wants to know. Once these answers are determined, the case solvers must decide on the best-supported solution and what is required to support it. Case solvers must be free to differ in their approaches and tools. Additionally, the process might be influenced by the case content. While doing this, the case solvers need to ask, "So What?" does this solution do to help further the mission of the organization?" 

One key element of support is demonstrating an understanding of the problem and its context. Various tools can be used for this, including competitive landscape maps, stakeholder analysis, target market analysis, etc. These can be combined with tools like personas, customer journeys, or product journeys to help the audience understand the situation clearly and concisely. Again, as case solvers use each tool, they must consider the value added to the solution, the support it provides, and does it answers the "So What?". The next step is to develop the solution based on the presented analysis. The audience needs to understand the alternatives considered and the decisions made. 

Decision criteria are also a must. Criteria must be based not only on the context of the case but also on what is important to the audience. The criteria must link to the goals, values, mission, and culture of the organization in question. Some tools can be used to illustrate the criteria and the decision, such as decision trees or decision matrices. Beyond the criteria, the solution must be supported by the analysis. Also, the linkages between the context and solution must be apparent. With the evidence presented, the case solvers need to consider why it is included to support the solution and "So What?" value it adds. 

In the next edition, we will look at defining the problem being tackled and building the start of the case-solving structure.