Preface

Series Preface

This series of manuals represents an attempt to capture and organise more than 20 years of experience coaching case-solving teams at regional, national, and international competitions.

Over those two decades, I have had the opportunity to coach hundreds of teams, work with students from a wide range of programs and backgrounds and observe what separates teams that simply solve a case from those that solve it exceptionally well. I have also learned a great deal through teaching in the classroom, judging competitions, mentoring students, and, perhaps most importantly, watching teams succeed, struggle, recover, and improve.

Much of what I have learned over those years originally existed in different forms: lecture materials, coaching notes, presentation slides, Excel models, examples, exercises, competition experiences, and conversations with students. These manuals bring those resources together into a more organised and accessible system.

I have used ChatGPT as a tool to help compile, organise, refine, and structure many of the resources I have developed over the years. The ideas, examples, frameworks, approaches, and experiences reflected in these manuals are grounded in that accumulated body of work and in the lessons I have learned through coaching and teaching. The result is a series of five manuals designed to support the development of case-solving skills from the fundamentals through more advanced applications.

The First Two Manuals: Getting Started

The first two manuals are designed to provide a relatively quick introduction to the case-solving process. Their purpose is to help students and new teams get up and running.

The first manual introduces the overall case-solving process from deciphering the case and understanding the problem through analysis, alternatives, recommendations, and implementation.

The second manual focuses on communicating that analysis. A great solution is only valuable if a team can communicate it clearly and persuasively. This manual therefore explores the skills required to turn analysis into a compelling presentation and deliver the presentation effectively. These first two manuals provide the foundation. They are designed to answer the question:

"What do we need to know to start solving and presenting cases effectively?"

The Last Three Manuals: Going Deeper

The final three manuals take a deeper dive into the case-solving process. Rather than simply introducing the steps, they explore the tools, techniques, and specialised skills that can strengthen the quality of the analysis and the decisions that emerge from it.

The third manual expands the toolkit to cover additional analytical and case-solving topics. It offers a deeper exploration of various thinking tools and approaches to help teams understand organisations, industries, markets, customers, stakeholders, and strategic choices. This progression helps teams move from insights to solutions and effectively turn their strategies into actionable steps. Additionally, it addresses the skills necessary to engage and persuade the audience to win the room.

The fourth manual focuses on financial analysis and Excel mastery. It explores how financial information can be used to understand the current situation, evaluate alternatives, model recommendations, assess investments, test assumptions, and turn numbers into meaningful insights.

The fifth manual moves beyond the traditional business case into special topics and more complex decision environments. It explores areas where financial and strategic analysis alone may not tell the whole story, including sustainability, ethics, stakeholder considerations, social enterprises, not-for-profits, implicit bias, and complex trade-offs.

Together, these final three manuals are intended to answer a different question:

"How can we develop the depth of analysis and judgment required to solve more complex cases?"

More Than a Collection of Frameworks

One of the lessons I have learned through coaching is that successful case solving is not about knowing all the frameworks. It is about knowing which questions need to be answered and which tools can help answer them.

A framework is useful when it helps a team see something it might otherwise miss.

A financial model is useful when it helps a team determine whether a recommendation is viable.

A stakeholder analysis is useful when it reveals an important conflict or implementation risk.

A valuation model is useful when it helps determine an opportunity's worth.

A sensitivity analysis is useful when it shows whether a recommendation remains attractive when assumptions change.

The objective is therefore not to use every tool available. It is to develop the judgment to know when a tool is useful and when it is not. Throughout these manuals, that principle is fundamental:

The goal is not to collect tools. The goal is to develop judgment.

A Record of What I Have Learned

These manuals are also personal in an important way. They represent the lessons I have accumulated through more than two decades of coaching and working with case-solving teams. Some lessons came from podium finishes and successful competitions. Others came from teams that struggled. Some came from seeing a particular approach work exceptionally well. Others came from watching a team make a mistake and realising that there was a better way. That is one of the things I value most about case competitions. Every case, every team, every judge, and every competition provides another opportunity to learn.

The manuals are an attempt to capture some of those lessons so that they can be shared more broadly. I hope that they will help students avoid some of the mistakes I have seen over the years, develop better habits more quickly, and ultimately become more confident and capable case solvers.

How to Use the Series

The five manuals are designed to work together, but they do not have to be read from beginning to end every time.

Use the first two manuals to understand the overall process.

Use the final three manuals as deeper reference guides when you need to strengthen a particular skill, explore a specific analytical tool, or prepare for a more complex case.

Return to individual chapters when you are practising.

Use the examples when you need to see how a concept can be applied.

Use the checklists when you are preparing for competition.

Most importantly, take the ideas into your practice environment and test them.

Case solving is a skill. Like any skill, it improves through repetition, reflection, feedback, and deliberate practice. These manuals are intended to support that process.

Finally

I have learned an enormous amount from the students and teams I have had the privilege of coaching over the past 20-plus years.

Their questions have challenged my thinking.

Their mistakes have taught me what needs to be explained differently.

Their successes have shown me what is possible.

Their persistence has reinforced one of the most important lessons of case competitions:

You don't become a great case solver by knowing everything. You become one by learning how to think, how to adapt, and how to make good decisions when you don't have all the answers. That is ultimately what these manuals are designed to help you do.