Case Study

 

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Rebecca Jansing stared out her office window at the lazy curves and lush, green, flower-lined banks of the Yampa River. She had grown up near here and she envisioned the day her children would enjoy the river as she had as a child. But now her own company might make that a risky proposition.

 Rebecca is a key product developer at IniTech Corporation, an industry leader. Despite its competitive position, IniTech has experienced several quarters of dismal financial performance. Rebecca and her team have developed a new lubricant product that the company sees as the turning point in its declining fortunes. Top executives are thrilled that they can produce the new product at a significant cost savings because of recent changes in environmental regulations. Regulatory agencies have loosened requirements on reducing and recycling wastes, which means that IniTech can now release waste directly into the Yampa River.

Rebecca is as eager as anyone to see IniTech survive this economic downturn, but she doesn’ t think this is the way to do it. She has expressed her opposition regarding waste dumping to both the plant manager and her direct supervisor, Martin Feldman. Martin has always supported Rebecca, but this time was different. The plant manager also turned a deaf ear. â€œ We’re meeting government standards,” he said. â€œIt’s up to them to protect the water. It’s up to us to make a profit and stay in business.”

Frustrated, Rebecca turned away from the window, her prime office view mocking her inability to protect the river she loved. She knew the manufacturing vice president was visiting the plant next week. Maybe if she talked with her, she would agree that the decision to dump waste materials into the river was ethically and socially irresponsible. But if she didn’t, her job might be in jeopardy. Her supervisor had already accused her of not being a team player. Maybe she should just be a passive bystander – after all, the company isn’t breaking any laws.

QUESTION: What would you do? reference section and citations in the body of your paper.

• Situation Analysis – Describe the situation that is defined by the case. 
• Assumption / Missing information – What do you need to assume (because there is information not provided)?  
• Problem Statement – What is the problem described by the case? 
• Development of alternatives – There may be several alternative solutions – what are these?
• Evaluation of alternatives – Assess each alternative – pros and cons – and determine which approach you recommend and why.
• Implementation – What are the steps required to implement your proposed solution?
• Evaluation and Control – How will you measure the success of the proposed solution?

The purpose of a case study is not necessarily to get the “right answer” – there is no perfect answer.  The point is demonstrate that you can apply the concepts that you have learned so far in this course to solve an open-ended problem.  Be sure to refer to content you’ve read in your text and leverage additional sources.  The approach you take and the logic you follow in your paper is more important than the “answer.”