Reading a case — role, task, exhibits, planted issues

◈ 5 cards

The Kestrel Outdoor Co. case in full — the CFO’s brief, the five-supplier exhibit, the merchandising manager’s shortlist note — and what a first read must catch before a word is written: the reader, the one-sentence task, the numbers in the exhibit, and the issues the case planted, the ethical one included.

Where the marks hide

A full case is a brief, one or more exhibits, and a handful of things the writer planted for you to find. Students lose marks in the first ten minutes, before writing anything, by reading the brief and skipping the exhibit — where the quantitative criteria live — and by answering a task the case did not set. Seven things to read for, in order: your role; the reader; the task in one sentence; the deadline and form; every exhibit, with the columns that will become criteria; the planted issues (a number that does not fit, a small sample, a note that changes a fact); and the ethical issue, which every AFM 111 case carries.

The case — Kestrel Outdoor Co.

The brief. Kestrel Outdoor Co. sells outdoor apparel and equipment from three stores in Kitchener–Waterloo and online. You are a junior analyst in the finance team. On 2 February the CFO, Daniel Okafor, asks you for a memo by 27 February — before the fall-season orders are placed in March — recommending which one of five apparel suppliers to drop. Each supplier relationship costs about $22,000 a year in buying, receiving and accounts-payable administration, and consolidating to four should also earn volume discounts from the survivors. Merchandising manager Lena Bramwell submitted the shortlist and, in a covering note, recommends dropping Grey Jay Outfitters: "smallest volume, lowest margin, we can live without them."

Exhibit 1 (the figure below): for each supplier, last year's purchases, the gross margin Kestrel earns on its goods, the defect rate, the on-time delivery rate, the grade from the third-party labour and sustainability audit Kestrel requires, and a note.

Lena's shortlist note, in full: "All five reviewed. Grey Jay is the obvious drop — smallest account and the lowest margin. Cedar & Co. is small too but they are flexible on terms and I have a good relationship there. Tundra Line's audit issue is being fixed. Recommend Grey Jay."

What a first read catches

Role and reader. You are the analyst; the reader is the CFO, not Lena — the memo goes to Daniel Okafor, and it will be read by the CFO's standards: margin dollars, risk, defensibility. Task. Recommend which one of five apparel suppliers to drop — one supplier, a recommendation, not a ranking of five. Deadline and form. 27 February; a memo. The exhibit. Six columns, five of which map onto criteria the CFO will expect: purchases and margin (money), defect rate (quality), on-time (reliability), audit grade (sustainability and ethical risk); the note column is where the qualitative facts are. Planted issues. Sable Peak's 3.8 % defect rate spiked on one shipment — a small-numbers trap: one bad lot in a year is not a rate. Tundra Line's D — a failed labour audit with remediation "pending", which is the largest account and the highest margin; a memo that ignores the D has ignored the CFO's reputational exposure. Grey Jay's note — an exclusive Canadian-made line that customers ask for by name: a fit fact the margin column cannot see. The ethical issue. Cedar & Co. is owned by Lena Bramwell's sister. The person who wrote the shortlist and recommended the drop has a personal interest in one of the five not being dropped — a conflict of interest, and her note nudges Cedar & Co. off the table with "flexible on terms". Lena's recommendation is now an opinion from a conflicted source, to be tested against the criteria like any other.

Read a second short case for the same seven

A university club treasurer is asked by the executive to recommend one of three accounting-software subscriptions by Friday; the exhibit gives price, users, and a "set-up help" column; one vendor's price is quoted per month and the other two per year; the president's roommate works for one vendor. Role: treasurer. Reader: the executive. Task: recommend one subscription. Deadline and form: Friday; a short memo. Exhibit: price (normalise to a year), users, set-up help. Planted: the per-month price. Ethical: the roommate — disclose, and score the vendor on the same criteria.

Type the checklist cold

The snippet is the seven-line checklist. Type it until the first ten minutes of every case are spent filling it in.

Exhibit 1 as the case gives it. Five of the six columns become criteria; the note column holds the planted issues — a one-shipment spike, a failed audit, an exclusive line, and a conflict of interest.