PART IV: From Insights To Solution

PART IV: From Insights To Solution

"Analysis tells you what matters. Strategy tells you what to do about it."

The purpose of case analysis is not to produce an impressive collection of facts, frameworks, charts, and observations. The purpose is to build a better decision.

At this point in the case-solving process, your team should have developed a reasonably strong understanding of:

• the organisation;
• the business model;
• the customers and stakeholders;
• the external environment;
• the competitive environment;
• the organisation's capabilities;
• the central problem;
• the underlying causes;
• the opportunities and constraints.

Now comes the difficult part. What should the organisation actually do? This is where many teams lose the connection between analysis and recommendation. They generate a few ideas. They choose one. Then they try to justify it.

Strong teams work differently. They allow the analysis to generate the alternatives. They establish criteria for evaluating those alternatives. They test the alternatives against the evidence. They consider the customer and stakeholder experience. They examine financial and strategic implications. And then they make a decision. This is the transition from: Understanding the case to Solving the case.