CASE DIAGNOSTICS

A FRAMEWORK
DIAGNOSTIC QUESTIONS
1. What is the case about?

2. Who are the actors & players?

3. What is the event?

4. What are the symptoms, problems, & issues?

5. What actions have been taken; what action need to be taken?

BACKGROUND
• Introduction needs to be very brief.
• Essentially, define the major businesses the company deals
with, specifically by strategic business units (SBU’s)
• Each SBU needs to be analysed separately.
• Alternatively, if you can isolate the core business of the
company:
You could carry out the diagnostics of the core business in the
first stage, and
Subsequently analyse the other businesses while evolving the
corporate strategy.
What is the case about?
• American Express card is the most popular consumer product/service
• Financial service company, deals with credit cards
• Green card, gold cards, platinum cards
• Accepted in 3 million establishments in 130 countries
• 34 million users
• Broaden its customer reach, maintaining prestige & exclusiveness
Who are the actors & players?

• New entrants: ?
• Rivalry: Discovery, Master card, Visa
• Substitutes: Cash
• Buyers: Consumers – Upper class, Middle & lower classes, students
• Customers: Merchant establishments
• Suppliers: ?

• Europe & Japan

PORTER’s 5-FORCES MODEL
New entrants
(New credit cards)

Suppliers Rivalry H Buyers

[Seer’s Discover cards, ( Merchant establishments;
Amex(Gold, Platinum, Optima) Consumers)
other credit cards]
H

Substitutes
(Cash)
What is the event?

• Discussion about addition in business should come in such a way that

card should be expensive enough to be exclusive; yet affordable for
appropriate segments?
• International market?
 What are the symptoms, problems, & issues?
• Symptoms:
• Sales stagnating
• Opportunities: middle & lower classes; international markets
• Problems:
• How do we retain our exclusive customers?
• How can we can make it affordable to a larger mass?
• What about international markets? Europe, Japan?
• Europe: Very high competition; “American”?
• Japan: Niche market (designer class); mass availability of application forms?
• Issues:
1. Keep existing upper class base of customers and spread across the globe
2. Introduce variants to appeal across segments; Premium, semi-premium, popular
3. Introduce another brand
Who are the actors & players?

• New entrants: ?
• Rivalry:
• Discover (Sears), Master Card, Visa,
• Substitutes:
• Cash
• Buyers:
• Consumers: Upper class, Lower classes, Students
• Suppliers:
 BACKGROUND
• Introduction needs to be very brief.
• Essentially, define the major businesses the company deals with, specifically
by strategic business units (SBU’s)
• Each SBU needs to be analysed separately (Credit Cards, Travel, etc.)
• What are the SBU’s of Amex Credit Cards:
USA
Paris
Tokyo
• You can isolate the core business of the company:
Diagnose the core business unit in the first stage first, and evolve its objectives
& strategy
Subsequently, analyse the other businesses when you move to corporate
strategy.
EXPLANATION
• Qn. 1: What is the case about?
• An. 1: Why has the author written this case?
What does he want the reader to do with it?
What conclusions can the reader draw?
• Qn. 2: Who are the actors & players?
• An. 2: Understanding the market dynamics. Porter’s 5-forces model
helps here.
• Qn. 3: What is the event?
• An. 3: What has triggered the author to write this case.
 EXPLANATION
• Qn. 4: What are the symptoms, problems, & issues?
• An. 4: These are:
Symptoms: A signal that there is a problem or an opportunity, which
can be sensed (verbal, written, visual).
Problems: What has caused this; a description of the
problem/opportunity
Issues: What could be the possible solutions: generate hypotheses
• Qn. 5: What actions have been taken; what action need to be
taken?
• An. 5: Listing actions already taken. Suggesting future actions to
test the hypotheses.
EXPLANATION
• The diagnostic questions aid in analysing the information
given in the case, without bringing in any external
information.
• Let us summarise the process.
• As a backgrounder, you need to define the major businesses
the company deals with, specifically by strategic business
units (SBU’s)
• Each SBU needs to be analysed separately.
Alternatively, if you can isolate the core business of the company,
you could carry out the diagnostics of the core business in the first
stage, and subsequently analyse the other businesses while
evolving the corporate strategy.
CONCLUSION
• This approach is not subject specific; it can be applied to a case
study in any subject.
• Essentially the objective is to:
Focus on the relevant information
Weed out irrelevant matter given in the case
Focus on the possible causes that need to be examined
Zero in on the key problems and possible solutions; stating them as
hypotheses
• After examining what information is already available, search
for additional information to find solutions to help evaluate the
hypotheses generated.
• Apply subject specific concepts at this stage