CBS  Case  Club  Toolbox for  Case  Solving

Special  edition  for  CBS  Case  Competition  OPEN

Created  in  collaboration  with  

Table  of  contents  

03 CBS  Case  Club

04   CBS  Case  Competition  OPEN
05 How  to  set  your  team  and  manage  your  time
16 Problem  Solving  Methodology
11 Structured  and  Effective  Communication
14 Fundamentals  of  Slide  Production
16 Presentation  Techniques
17 A  few  tips  on  productive  team  work
18 Seven  guiding  principles  on  how  to  win  a  case  competition

The  case  competition  environment  at  CBS  

There are plenty of opportunities to compete in case competitions at CBS. However, there are few
opportunities to learn how to actually become good at case competitions. This is one of the reasons
why CBS Case Club was founded. In this toolbox, we give you a taste of what we have to offer.

Case  Competition  training   Case  Competitions

CBS  

Student  organizations
+  2-­3  competitions

Companies
+  30  competitions

2
CBS  Case  Club

The  official  CBS  Case  Club

The purpose of the club is to educate and train students at Copenhagen Business School in case
solving with the overarching goal of elevating the general case solving level at CBS. CBS Case Club
offers a place for students to meet and learn from like minded case solvers as well as share knowledge
and find peers to form teams for case competitions.

The club facilitates an Academy training program each semester, where students learn about all the
essential parts of case solving together with the leading management consulting company, BCG.

CBS Case Club is run by current and previous CBS students with case solving experience CBS
International Case Teams.

Official Case Academy partner

Apply  for  our  Academy  training  program

The Case Academy is a training program within the various disciplines of case solving, which is offered
to a selected number of motivated and ambitious students over the course of a semester. Executed
through a series of workshops, the program is tailored to provide students – having no or minor
experience – with the basic tools to excel in case competitions. The workshops, entailing both
theoretical content and practical exercises, will be conducted in cooperation with BCG – and will
elevate your case solving and presentation skills to the next level.

1 3 5 7
Q&A  &  Case  
Structured   Midway  Case   PowerPoint  
Competition  
Problem  Solving Competition skills
at  BCG
22th   of  February 15th of  March 29 of  March
th
19-­20th of  April

February March April

2 4 6
Finding  the   Structured   Presentation  
Right  Solution Communication Techniques
08th of  March 22th of  March 5th of  April

Read  more  and  apply  at:  cbscaseclub.dk/academy

Deadline:  15th of  February
3
CBS  Case  Competition  OPEN
Input  from  CBS  Case  
Competition  OPEN

What  is  CBS  Case  Competition  OPEN?

CBS Case Competition OPEN is a chance to explore your potential by competing against teams of 4
students from universities across Europe, with the first evaluation based upon power-­point solutions of
15 slides to a real-­life company case that are uploaded remotely. After all the teams are assessed, a
select few are chosen to take part in semi-­finals on the Friday of week 9 with the potential final
occurring later in the day!

Timeline  for  CBS  Case  Competition  OPEN

How  does  the  toolbox  relate  to  CBS  Case  Competition  OPEN?

The toolbox may seem like a lot at first but don’t panic! CBS Case Competition OPEN is only 15 slides
long compared to the 30-­50 slides that this toolbox is designed for. What’s really important to note is
that the principles included throughout the toolbox are exactly the same for CBS Case Competition
OPEN and any traditional case competition.

The main basic tips in producing the slide content for CBS Case Competition OPEN are the following:
• In the first round, you won’t get to present your slides, so it’s very important to make sure that your
points are detailed enough and clear to the evaluators
• Increase the information per slide
• Prioritize your content and leave out any unnecessary information
• Research previous hand-­ins found below

Get inspiration for PowerPoints, case-­cracking and presentation techniques on the CBS Case
Competition website:

OPEN   PowerPoint   CCC  Case

Presentations Examples Library
https://www.youtube.com/ casecompetition.com/cas casecompetition.com/cas
watch?v=DZVZM0Oqhms e-­library/winner-­slides e-­library

4
How  to  set  your  team  and  
manage  your  time

Setting  your  team

It helps the productivity of the team to give each team member an area of responsibility. We have
outlined the roles that a team typically has below. In addition to these, it is advisable to have a
slidemaster and a time manager. The slidemaster is responsible for the team’s PowerPoint template and
for fixing and aligning the slide deck in the final hours of case cracking. This is typically the person most
comfortable with slide building and PowerPoint. The time manager has an overview of what everybody is
doing and makes sure that the team in on track with its schedule at all times.

Solution Marketing
• Focus  on  solution  slides,   • Focus  on  the  marketing  
especially  the  strategy   aspect  of  the  solution
umbrella  that  outlines  the  
solution

Insights Financials  
• Focus  area  is  find  key   • Responsible  for  finding  
insights   financial  impact  of  solution
• Usually  conducts   • Usually  also  takes  key  risks  
quantitative  analyses   and  implementation

Managing  your  time

In this case competition, you have 24 hours -­ make sure that every hour counts. While a rigid and
inflexible plan is not recommended, it is however recommended that broad lines for the 24 hours are
established. Based on our experience, we consider the following setup as a comprehensive framework
for managing the time using the backward case cracking approach*, but you should employ the approach
that you find the most optimal. The concepts described below will be elaborated throughout the toolbox.

Read  the  case

Build  your  slide  deck.  This  is  the  core  of  the  process,  
and  it  is  important  that  delegation  of  work  is  
Brainstorm   Create  the   Create  the  
combined  with  regular  check-­ins  to  ensure  that  
solutions** Dot-­Dash storyboard
everyone  are  aligned.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Do  the  SCQ  first   Narrow  down   Rehearse,  proof-­

individually  and   and  settle  on   read/align  slides  and  
then  as  a  team solution** build  back-­up  slides

*  Concept  is  introduced  on  page  10.

**  Note  that  the  “Disney  Dreamer”  method  on  p.  9  covers  these  two  stages 5
Problem  Solving  Methodology

SCQA

The SCQA is frequently used tool for case competitions. It works well both as a tool to understand the
context, challenges and key question of the case, but also as a communication tool to make a good
executive summary. We recommend that the team does the SCQA right after reading the case. A good
tip is to first do it individually and then as a group to ensure independent thinking and maximize
chances of getting it right. Make sure that you have a short and crisp SCQ that you are completely
aligned on before moving on the finding the right answer.

Situation  – Set  the  scene

1
Must  be  indisputable  &  relevant  to  create  buy-­in  among  judges

Complication  – Describe  the  problem

2
Must  be  biggest  tension  in  your  storyline

Question – Make  it  clear  what  you  solve

3
Must  arise  logically  from  complication  &  be  SMART*

Answer – Present  your  recommendation  

4
Must  release  tension  from  complication  and  arise  logically  from  question

The importance of the SCQA cannot be overstated: having the right understanding of the company and
solving the right problem is a must in order to win a case competition.

Example  of  SCQA

• We  possess  a  number  strongholds  today  which  have  been  the  backbone  of  our  
performance,  namely Situation
–…
• However,  lately  performance  has  been  declining  …  due  to
Complication
–…
– …,  having  resulted  in  unsatisfactory  sales  and  profit  performance,  as  well  as  …

• Therefore,  the  key question we have  to  answer is…   Question

Focus  on  XYZ  will  be  essential  to  our  future  success
• Several  possible  directions  have  been  considered  and  matched  with  current  
business  strengths
Recommen
–…
dation
• Given  our  current  business  strengths,  our  future  goal  should  be
–…
• We  will,  therefore,  build  up  our  business  model  around  …

*  See  SMART    explanation  on  page  15

6
Problem  Solving  Methodology
How  Consultants  
work
Hypothesis-­driven  problem  solving  
The most fundamental skill of any problem solver is hypothesis-­based thinking. Structuring analyses in
this way ensures efficiency and focus because only relevant data is being analyzed. A crucial part of
the hypothesis-­based methodology is to ensure that the formed hypothesis is falsifiable. When a
falsifiable hypothesis is formed, one should construct a framework that enables testing of the
hypothesis and collect the data required to do so.

Data  required    
to  test  the  
hypothesis

Confirm Conclusion

Case   Initial  
Analysis
question hypothesis

New  
Falsify
hypothesis

Relevant  
framework  to  test  
the  hypothesis

Example:
Confirm  /   New  
Question   Hypothesis   Analysis   falsify   hypothesis  

How  can  the   Increasing   Scale   Hypothesis   New  

client  cut   scale  by  1%   benchmark   falsified.   hypothesis:  
procurement   will  reduce   of  main   Regression   Sourcing  in  
expenses  by   price  per   competitors.   shows  that   emerging  
10%? item  bought   Required   scale  does   markets  will  
by  1.5% data:  Price   not  affect   reduce  
per  bought   price  per   procurement  
item  and   item expenses
volume  for  all  
competitors

7
Problem  Solving  Methodology
How  Consultants  
work
The  MECE  issue  tree  
Issue trees are used to break down complex problems into more manageable sub-­issues. While the
previous section explained the process of hypothesis testing, the MECE framework helps identify the
relevant hypotheses. MECE is an acronym for "Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive" and is a
way of organizing information – often in the context of issue trees. If the issue tree is done in a "MECE"
way, all sub-­issues collectively exhaust the solution space (all possible solutions) and the sub-­issues
are mutually exclusive (no sub-­issues are overlapping). A MECE issue tree ensures that no possible
solution is missing and that work streams can be distributed among the case team members without
any duplication of the work.

Example:
Selected  
Question   MECE  issue  tree   hypotheses  

By  putting  pressure  
on  government  in  
How  to  reduce  supply  in  
growing  countries,  
growing  countries?
drug  problems  can  
be  reduced
How  to  reduce     How  to  stop  drugs  in  
supply  for  drugs transit?
By  increasing  the  
How  to   punishment  for  
How  to  stop  distribution  in  
reduce   distributing  drugs,  
user  countries?
the   problems  can  be  
quantity   reduced
of  drug   How  to  help  users  
use? recognize  the  real  costs?
By  increasing  the  
How  to  reduce  
How  to  punish  users   punishment  for  using  
demand  for  
more? drugs,  problems  can  
drugs?
be  reduced
How  to  reduce  perceived  
How  can  drug   benefits  of  users?
problems  be  
reduced?
How  to  improve  anti-­
How  to  help   addiction  treatments?
users  recover  
By  handing  out  clean  
from  drugs? How  to  improve   needles,  drug  
rehabilitation  ? problems  can  be  
reduced
How  to   How  to  make  drugs  
reduce   healthier  and  safer?
the   How  to  reduce  
By  developing  a  
impact   the  dangers?
How  to  encourage  switch   new,  healthier  drug,  
of  drug  
to  less  harmful  drugs? drug  problems  can  
use?
be  reduced

How  to  make  

How  to  reduce   precautionary  actions?
side-­effect  (e.g.  
gangs,  crime)? How  to  help  drug-­users  
back  from  side-­effects? 8
Problem  Solving  Methodology

Idea  generation
We have experienced that most teams are having issues with switching into a highly creative mode to
come up with a good idea when they under time pressure. We have identified three common pitfalls
when teams try to brainstorm: 1) You try to think of the good idea directly 2) You hold back ideas that
could inspire your colleagues 3) You shut down your colleagues creativity by being realistic and critical
to early in the process. Shortly, we will present you with a simple method that allows you to avoid these
issues. Furthermore, we have also seen that a lot of teams struggle with deciding on a solution and
therefore spends an too much time in the brainstorming phase. The way to overcome this is to have a
process that the group has jointly decided on and which it trusts to give a “good enough” idea. Here it is
important to remember that there is no perfect solution. In the end, the winner will the team that
presents the most well-­argued and compelling solution to the judges. Thus, the idea is just one
parameter of your solution and it is only as strong as your argumentation and story.

The method that we recommend to incorporate in your process is called ”The Disney Dreamer”. It
consists of three phases that your team go through. First we have the dreamer phase where you write
up all your ideas up a blackboard – everything is good enough, so not criticism. The trick here is to
think quantity over quality because you want expansive thinking and not restricted thinking. By being
inspired by each others crazy ideas, you will develop creative out of the box ideas you would otherwise
never have thought of. The next phase, the realist, is really all about thinking how can we make these
crazy ideas work. How can we adjust and combine them so that they actually become feasible. Force
yourself to find ways of making the impossible possible. The last phase, the spoiler, is finally the time to
be critical of your ideas. Bring out the devil’s advocate and narrow down your best solution/combined
solution. When you have completed the process you will feel good about your solution because you
know it was the outcome of a comprehensive process.

The  Dreamer The  Realist The  Spoiler

• Bring  out  all  ideas! • Re-­examine  ideas • Be  critical  and  find  

• No  criticism  is   • Re-­work  them  into   holes  in  your  
allowed something  practical solutions
• Think  totally  out  of   • Try  to  make  the  ideas   • Narrow  down  the  
the  box possible  – Think  “how” best  solutions

• ~20-­25  minutes • ~15-­20  minutes • ~15  minutes

9
Problem  Solving  Methodology
An  Approach  to  
Case  Cracking
Backward  case  cracking  approach

A highly effective approach to case cracking is to push your team to select a solution very early in the
process. This allows for the the majority of the time being spent on building a solid argumentation and
obtaining depth in the solution. The team starts by doing the SCQ to narrow down the context and case
question. Directly thereafter, the team initiate a thorough brainstorm on recommendations to get all
ideas on the table. After this, the team narrows down the solution primarily based on business logic,
only making strictly necessary analysis and check ups with data outside of the case. Using this
approach a team can settle on a solution within the first 4-­6 hours. This makes the majority of the time
available to build the argumentation for the chosen solution, limiting time spent on other options that
won’t be presented anyway.

Based  on  business  

logic  and  limited  data

Case   Brainstorm   Select  

Build  Argumentation
question Solutions Solution

Comparison  of  the  two  problem  solving  approaches  

Keep in mind that there is no “correct” solution in case competitions, just as in real world consulting.
Therefore, in a case competition an extra hour spent analyzing your way to the optimal solution might
sometimes be better spent on building your argumentation. The upside here is clear: The extra time
allows you to obtain more depth in your solution and strengthen your arguments. However, selecting
your solution based on less data points and analysis implies the risk of uncovering contradicting data
points at a later stage. Here you face the choice of “making it fit” or changing your solution and losing
time. The approach is often useful in case competitions, since the strict time pressure does not allow
for a full analysis of all relevant alternative solutions.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Hypothesis  Driven  Problem  Solving

Backward  case  Cracking  Approach

Time  spent  deciding  on  solution Time  spent  building  argumentation Illustrative

10
Structured  and  Effective  
Communication

Storylining
When building slides, action titles are the foundation of your communication. Action titles summarize
the key message of the slide in as short a manner as possible. An action title differs from a regular
headline, as it provides a complete, sensible argument that would work outside the context of the given
slide. The idea of “storylining” is that a list of the action titles should work as a script that stands on its
own and summarizes your story. You can think of the action titles as collectively forming an “elevator
speech” of the case solution. It is a way to structure key messages and ensure consistent
communication.

1 2 3 4 5
Front  page By  focusing  on   Changing  competitive   To  successfully   Simplicity  has  defined  
simplicity,  flexibility   landscape  and   compete,  the  client   other  industries  for  years  
and  transparency,  the   unsatisfied  customers   must  develop  a  simple   and  the  client  must  
client  can  reduce   put  the  client  under   platform  that  provides   leverage  the  same  
churn  rates  and  grow   pressure  across  all   flexibility  and  enhances   simplicity  platform  in  their  
revenue  from  2018 product  categories transparency value  proposition

6 7 8 9 10
Flexibility  to  tailor   Transparency  in  pricing   Employing  a  risk   Simplicity,  flexibility  and   We  recommend  to  
individual  services  will   solves  a  central   mitigating  strategy  will   transparency  improve   reconnect  with  
enable  the  client  to   challenge  for  the  client   maximize  revenue   customer  satisfaction   customers  by  building  a  
provide  customers   and  facilitates  an   potential  while  reducing   and  decrease  churn,   simple  platform  that  
exactly  what  they  want,   improving  customer   risk resulting  in  strong  top   allows  for  service  
thereby  decreasing  churn satisfaction line  growth  by  2018 flexibility  and  price  
transparency

NB:  Illustrative  example    only

Dot  -­ Dash

The Dot-­Dash is a helpful tool to structure your presentation that incorporates storylining. The idea is to
write out the key messages with supporting arguments for each slide. A bullet point (dot) represents the
headline of a slide and a hyphen (dash) represents a supporting argument/data point. We recommend
that you make a Dot-­Dash after you have settled on a solution. By using the Dot-­Dash you will structure
all of your key messages into a coherent story right from the start in a way that easily allows for
delegation of work.

Example  of  a  Dot-­Dash

• We  possess  a  number  strongholds  today  which  have  been  the  backbone  of  our  performance,  namely
– High  customer  loyalty  (customer  survey  with  churn  rates)
– Low  production  cost  (graph  for  comparative  variable  cost  across  competitors)
– High  brand  awareness  (customer  survey  with  brand  awareness)
See  SCQA  example  on  page  6  for  more

11
Structured  and  Effective  
Communication

Storyboarding
The storyboard is a translation of the Dot-­Dash into slides and a tool for putting a presentation together
in an efficient way. You draw up the slides on a white board with action titles (dots) and then visualize
the supporting arguments (dashes). Visualizing ideas and arguments on slides requires a lot of practice
and therefore it makes sense do to this together as a team to help each other out. Typically, some team
members are better than others at slide production, and storyboarding can help leverage the strengths
of different team members.

Example  of  a  storyboarding

Situation  points (Supporting  situation   Complication  points (Supporting  

slides) complication  slides)
•… •…
•… •…
•… •…

Recommendation… 1.  … 1.a.  … 1.b.  …

100
1. … a. … 80
60
2. … b. … 40
20
3. … c. … 0
1.  kvt.2.  kvt.3.  kvt.4.  kvt.

1.c.  ..... Resolution  main   2.  … 2.a.  …

… points
… a. …
1. …
… b. …
… 2. …
… c. …
… 3. …

Tell  what  you  want  to  tell  them,  then  tell  them,  
and  then  tell  them  what  you  just  told  them  
To win a case competition, you have to communicate your findings
effectively. Generally, it is a good idea to repeat you main findings
three times to make sure the judges remember them. We
recommended that you start with an executive summary, then you
present the actual solution, and lastly, you synthesis the main findings
of the solution.

12
 Structured  and  effective  
communication

The  Pyramid  Structure

The pyramid structure is a principle of how to structure communication and thinking. The idea is to first
summarize the conclusion and then present the supporting arguments. Optimally, this should be done
following the MECE principle. Breaking thoughts down in this way has proved to be the most logical
way and makes it easier to understand for the receiver. Primarily, there are two ways of presenting
arguments, namely, the inductive reasoning structure and the deductive reasoning structure. Generally,
inductive is preferred as it is easier to follower, but deductive is very useful when making a
controversial point.

A The  Pyramid  Structure B Two  main  ways  of  presenting  arguments

• Give  answer  upfront

S
• Easier  to  group  thoughts
C • Easier  overview  for  the  
Q receiver
A
Top Inductive  
reasoning  structure
Down

• If  receiver  might  
disagree  upfront
• If  receiver  needs  basic  
understanding  before  
• Summarizes  first conclusion  /  
• Easier  for  the  receiver  to  digest  – does  not   recommendation
Deductive  
have  to  look  for  the  pattern
reasoning  structure
• Structures  in  the  most  logical  order

Example  of  deductive  structure    – argument

You  must  change

Statement Cause/why? How?

Here  is  what Here  is  what Thus,  here  is  what  
is  going  wrong is  causing  it you  should  do

Example  of  inductive  structure  – grouping

You  must  change

Why?
How? Do  A Do  B Do  C

13
Fundamentals  of  Slide  Production

The  major  elements  of  a  case  presentation

There is no formal "right" way of structuring a case presentation. However, most presentation include
an executive summary, analysis providing key insights, elaboration of proposed recommendations,
financial impact, risk assessment, implementation plan of the solution and a summary. Below you will
find one example of how to structure a slide deck

•Set  the  stage  and  tell  them  what  challenge  you  are  solving
"Executive  
•Tell  the  recommendation  and  its  impact  up  front
summary"
•Tool:  SCQA  – 1-­2  Slides

•Identify  the  sub-­problem  and  what  is  causing  it

”Key  insights" •This  part  should  drive  towards  your  recommendation
•2-­4  slides

•Detailed  description  of  each  of  your  recommendations

”Solution" •Body  of  the  case  deck  – clear  communication  is  key
•2-­5  slides

•What  is  the  implementation  strategy  and  what  are  the  risks?
"Impact,  risk  and   •What  is  the  impact?  Show  that  you  solve  the  problem!
implementation" •3-­4  slides

•Synthesize  solution  with  context  created  in  the  executive  

"Summary" •A  catchy  ending  with  a  call  to  action
•Less  than  1  minute  – 1  slide  only

14
 Fundamentals  of  Slide  Production

Building  blocks  of  a  case  competition  slide  

Every slide should serve one of the following three purposes: 1) Communicate a set of key implications
or facts. 2) Guide the audience through different analyses or create a logical transition. 3) Drive
towards recommendation. Below we give an example of how to structure a slide.

Transparency in  pricing solves a  fundamental  problem  for  the   Client Logo

Always  
Action  title   client and  facilitates an  improving customer satisfaction include  the  
conveys   logo  of  the  
the  key   case  
In  the  telco industry  60%  of  customer   This  is  a  central  problem  for  the  client,  but  is   company
message  
inquires  concerns  billing  issues   solved  with  transparent  pricing
of  the  slide
Customer Recommendation Billing  easy to  understand
complaints score -­18
Transparent  pricing
100% 8% 100% 100 Highlight  
Key   13% 76 73 75 70 important  
60% 66
takeaway   55 aspects  of  
of  graph  is   50% 50 the  data
told  in  the  
header
0% 0
Billing   Installation   Other Total   TDC Telia Telenor
Use  of   issues problems inquires
graphics  to   Especially for  the  client,  price transparency is  a  
Customers in  the  telco industry face severe weak spot
enhance   difficulty in  understanding their bills • Transparency reamins an  obvious lever  for  
communi-­ • Why are some calls free when others are not? customer satisfaction Tracker  to  
cation • Why am  I  charged extra for  this particular • Quick wins are realizable even if help  
service? performance  is  only increased to  peer  levels guiding  the  
audience  

Executive Insights Solution Impact Summary

Slide  writing  
commandments  

•Synthesis:  Synthesize  many  analyses  into  one  story  

•Accuracy:  Use  precise,  clear  communication  with  no  ambiguity
•Transparency:  Transparent  logic  and  connection  between  data  and  conclusion
•Impact:  Highlight  key  implications  and  explain  the  insights
Design  principles   •Context.  Tell  the  story  that  addresses  your  audience's  concerns,  not  your  story

•Show  it,  don't  tell  it  – a  figure  is  worth  a  thousand  bullets
•Less  is  more  – design  your  slides  for  quick  reading
•Keep  focus  on  what  is  important  -­ avoid  excessive  use  of  colors
•Focus  on  one  key  message  per  slide
Text  or  graphs?  

•Qualitative  information  è Text  slide  with  supporting  visuals

•Quantitative  information  or  relationship  è Graph
•When  details  are  demanded  èTable  or  matrices
•Clear  graphics  to  support  conclusion,  explicit  text  to  explain  insight

15
Presentation  Techniques

Presenting  your  solution

When communicating your findings it is essential that you capture your audience and convince them
through a compelling story. Our experience tells us that a great story and an okay idea is more likely to
win than a great idea and an okay story. One way to engage in storytelling is to start out with a short 30
second story that is highly related to the main point of your solution, then present the solution, and
finish off by synthesizing the conclusion back into the story to wrap up.

In terms of presenting your solution, what you verbally communicate and what is on the slides should
be able to stand alone. You need to have prepared your presentation enough for you to be able to tell
your story while looking the judges in the eyes – only looking at the presentation if strictly needed.
Furthermore, your team should agree on how you want to stand and in which order. Practice how you
will switch from person to person and how you will stand so you look professional both during the
presentation and the Q&A. You should always aim to practice your complete presentation as a team
three times. Great the judges when entering and exciting the stage.

In terms of your body language, try to come across as a professional, but friendly & open, consultant.
You are there to give you recommendations on an issue, and you should step into this role-­playing
scenario. When practicing, help each other become aware of highly distracting habits so that they don’t
take attention away from the message you a trying to deliver.

The  Q&A  session

When you have finished building your main deck, you send it off to your slide master who will spend an
hour aligning the layout and fixing slides. This gives the team an opportunity to identify question that
will most likely be asked – the main holes in your solution – and therefore you should prepare answers
for these. This is where back-­up slides come in. Remember to make an overview of your solution and
an appendix that will allow you to jump directly to a slide in the Q&A session (make short-­cut in your
logo to bring you to the overview slide). Align on who will navigate the slides on the computer in the
Q&A session. Notice how you can strategically plan for the Q&A session by for example incorporating
something into your presentation where you invite the judges to ask about it in the Q&A, or leave out
something in your presentation that you are sure they will ask about. This way you can partly control
the uncertainty of the Q&A session. Make sure to align on how you split the Q&A questions.

The following is a list of tips we have created for the Q&A session:
How  to  answer Things  not  to  do
• Make  sure  to  answer  the  question  being  asked • Never  interrupt  or  add  to  your  teammates  
• Have  a  very  polite  attitude answers  unless  they  are  completely  wrong
• Adjust  your  language  style  to  the  audience:   • Don’t  end  every  answer  with,  “I  hope  that  
etc.  SME  versus  large  corporation answers  your  question”
• If  you  have  no  idea  what  to  answer,  then  tell   • Never  say  “I”  when  presenting  – there  is  no  “I”  
them  that  you  don’t  know  in  a  confident  way in  a  solution  – you  are  a  team
• Never  become  offensive  towards  the  judges

16
A  few  tips  on  productive  teamwork

Everybody  should  be  aligned  at  all  times

A key criteria for having a productive team is that everybody knows what to do at all times. Wasting time
on doing the wrong task or simply not knowing what to do about a certain slide or analysis is detrimental
to the whole team and should therefore be avoided. By doing the Dot-­Dash and storyboard you will
already be a long way towards avoiding waste. The tools create a clear structure and provide everything
needed for slide production. However, something unexpected might come up after deeper analysis which
changes the plan you have made. In this case, the individual team member should notify the others so
that the team can find a solution together and change the Dot-­Dash and storyboard accordingly. If
individual team members start making changes without involving the others, you cannot ensure that the
slides fit together in a coherent storyline in the end.

Establish  rules  for  conflicts  beforehand

Avoiding conflicts is of course preferable, but due to the extreme time pressure and high stakes, conflicts
often take place while case cracking. Therefore, it is important that you mitigate the negative impact it
can have by setting up rules for handling such situations beforehand. For example, it is common that
team members have different views on which solution to go with. If three team members want solution A,
but the last team member firmly believe solution B is the the right way, then a rule could be to give the
person 5 minutes to present her arguments. If the team member is not able to convince at least one of
the other team members, then the solution is voted out and must not be brought up again. Such simple
rules can avoid conflicts and save time during the case cracking.

Practice,  practice,  practice

No team will learn how to work productively without practicing together a few times. While practicing,
your team’s weak spots will clearly show and this will give you the chance to fix it before the real
competition. We recommended that you make a practice run where you go through the whole process so
that everybody is familiar with it.

Have  fun!  
It is an advantage also to have fun while doing the case cracking. It makes the process more enjoyable,
but it is also important to allow for creative brainstorming, which is critical for your final product. A really
good idea can get you a long way towards winning a competition, therefore this should not be
overlooked. We recommend that you do some social activities before you start case cracking if you do
not know each other well beforehand. This will improve your team dynamics.

17
Seven  guiding  principles  on  how  
to  win  a  case  competition

1 Don't  boil  the  ocean  

When solving a case, it is easy to identify an
insurmountable number of analyses, which
could be relevant. A guiding principle that
enables teams to develop insightful analyses,
while balancing time and effort is the concept of
the 80/20 rule -­ also known as the Pareto rule. It
states that 80% of the answer lies in 20% of the
data. In other words, if you need a cup of boiled
water, you can either boil the ocean, or you can
take a cup of water and then boil it.

2 Don't  be  afraid  to  make  assumptions  

Don't be afraid to make assumptions: Remember that the teams have 24 hours to solve the case,
make the slide decks and write the executive summary. It is important to avoid being caught up in the
details that exactly makes your financial impact estimate reach that last decimal point. However, while
it is highly recommended to make assumptions, it is just as important to explicitly state the
assumptions, be able to defend them, and to explain how you reach your conclusions.

3 Make  a  compelling  story  

The biggest difficulty of a solid case solution is to convert the analysis, recommendations and impact
into a compelling story. There are different ways to make a compelling story where the teams take the
audience on a journey, so creativity is an important factor. Generally, a good story has three
characteristics. First, it is logical, meaning that the structure and sequence of slides should be united
by a logical thread. Second, it is compelling, meaning that it explores a topic rather than walks the
audience through a set of analyses. Third, it should be audience appropriate, meaning that its length,
level of detail and content should be tailored to the audience.

4 Remember  your  audience

Keep in mind throughout the whole process that the judges will consist of representatives from the
case company as well as the other partner companies. It is valuable to consider what they will be
looking for in the winning solution. While this can be hard to predict, it can give some insights. For
example, it is unlikely that the case company is looking for business as usual. Often they see a case
competition as a source of inspiration and is looking for new good ideas. Also, remember that the
judges are regular people. It matters whether they find your presenting style trustful and convincing.
Furthermore, if you know which company they are representing, you can tailor your Q&A answers
towards their expertise. 18
Seven  guiding  principles  on  how  
to  win  a  case  competition

5 Have  the  winning  criteria  in  mind  

With only 24 hours to solve the case, you want to ensure that you always
have the winning criteria in mind. Overall you are evaluated both on the
content of your solution and the presentation of it. On the content side,
things such as creativity, realism, applicability, strategic fit, risks, and return
on investment counts. On the presentation side, focus is on both the design
and structure of the slides and on the oral presentation where evaluation
criteria contains e.g. body language, voice, eye contact and appearance.

6 Set  SMART  goals  and  ask  SMART  questions

When solving a case, you will almost always need to set goals and define problem statements. These
all need to put focus towards the company’s needs, reflect the main challenges and point towards the
necessary analyses. A way to ensure this is by using the criteria of the SMART framework: Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-­bound. If a goal or problem statement does not live up to
these criteria, it probably suffers from irrelevance or ambiguity. The SMART framework is often used
in a business or management setting, but applies to problem solving in general.

Not  SMART  Problem  Statement/goal SMART  Problem  Statement/goal

Business  
setting

How  can  Pandora  increase  revenues  in  

What  should  Pandora  do  in  Latin   Latin  America by  15%  annually  between  
America? 2016  and  2018,  while  retaining  current  
profit  margins?
Everyday  
setting

Complete  the  BRM  exam  before  January  

Do  well  in  school.
2019  and  receive  at  least  a  7  grade.

7 Stand  out  from  the  crowd  

When competing in case competitions against some of the brightest minds you will find, you have to
stand out from the crowd. You can do this in one of four ways. First, you can help your audience
believe in your story, which can be achieved through the use of such things as inspirational quotes.
Second, you want the audience to remember you, which can be achieved through e.g. the use of
humor, catchy punch lines or a sticky metaphor. Thirdly, you want to interact with your audience which
can be done though rhetorical or provocative questions. Fourth and finally, you want to move your
audience, which is most easily done through e.g. the use of personal anecdotes or feelings.

19
 Authored  by
Ricco  Hansen

Created  in  collaboration  with  

Building  on  previous  work  by  Christoffer Breum Nielsen  &  Jakob  Lyngsø Jørgensen
Thanks  to  Sophus  Rosendahl  for  feedback  and  editing