Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies

School of Business

BUSINESS STUDIES AND A LANGUAGE DEGREE PROGRAMME

SENIOR SOPHISTER CASE WRITING GUIDELINES 2014-15

The submission of a Case Study is a formal requirement of TCD for all BBS (Language) candidates. IT IS A NON-COMPENSATABLE COMPONENT OF YOUR DEGREE.

The project requires that you conduct in-depth research on a firm and its environment and use the data, which you collect during the JS and SS years, to complete a major case writing project in the target language. The firm, which you select, will be based in the country of your target language. This project will be linked to and supported by the Senior Sophister Strategic Management module BU4501, which you are required to take. This module will provide the core business academic support for both case writing and analysis. At the beginning of the academic year a number of case writing seminars will be run by Dr Padraic Regan with a view to developing case writing skills.

The material covered in BU4501 will direct and facilitate the structure and content of the case writing project. An assessment link between the case and the BU4501 course will be achieved through an oral presentation of the case in English.

THE PURPOSE OF CASE-WRITING IS:- TO CONNECT THEORY WITH APPLICATION AND TO TEST

YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THEORY: the case study gives you an opportunity to relate the theory that you have learned on the course to a specific business or management setting in the practical world, to demonstrate your ability to evaluate the existing literature in a critical way and to relate this knowledge to ‘real world’ unstructured situations;

- TO PROVIDE EXPERIENCE OF STUDYING A REAL LIVE BUSINESS ORGANISATION with a view to understanding its strategic situation;

- TO DEVELOP DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYTIC SKILLS: the case study gives you hands-on experience of identifying/sourcing, gathering and making sense of data about a firm and its strategic situation, its macro-environment and industry environment;

- TO PROVIDE EXPERIENCE OF WRITING UP RESEARCH DATA in a coherent, analytic and focused manner and draw conclusions within the framework of a significant business project in your target language.

- TO DEMONSTRATE THAT YOU CAN DERIVE CONCLUSIONS THAT ARE RELEVANT TO THE BROADER BUSINESS CONTEXT, thus showing your ability to analyse more generally business and management problems.

LENGTH AND LANGUAGE

i. The final complete case in the target language should not exceed 10,000 words, not including the bibliography, footnotes, exhibits and/or appendices (See PRESENTATION below). This will comprise two elements: the case study/narrative (7,500 words) and a thematically-driven case analysis (2,500 words).Students who do not adhere to these word limits by more than 10% will be penalized at the discretion of the examiners.

Students are also required to write a 500-word abstract in the target language. This will not be included in the word count.

NOTE: Students should write their case directly in the foreign language and avoid translating from English into the target language.

ii. Oral Presentation of the Case in English. This will comprise a 10-minute PowerPoint presentation on your case study followed by up to 15 minutes of questions. The presentation should contain a synopsis of the case narrative and provide a thematic analysis of your case. It should limit its focus to the material contained in the thematic analysis.

iii. Strategic Analysis of the written case in English, which should not exceed 3,000 words. This forms part of the assessment for Strategic Management: BU4501.

PRESENTATION

Students must follow the Clear Print guidelines available at http://www.tcd.ie/disability/accessibility/accessible_info/clear_print.php

The target-language case should comprise the following elements:

Title-page: Giving title, name of author, name of supervisor and year of submission.

Table of Contents: Listing introduction, chapter and section headings and bibliography, appendices with the page numbers on which each starts.

Abstract: Setting out briefly (no more than 500 words) the objectives and scope of the case.

Text: This will comprise 2 elements: a case study/narrative (7,500 words) and a thematically driven case analysis (2,500 words) and will be set out in chapters and sections using titles and subtitles, divided as most appropriate to the material being used and the challenges being presented. These must be listed in the Table of Contents. Footnotes should be used where appropriate. If exhibits are included, they must be linked and referenced clearly to the main text. Tables and charts should be clear and, where possible, integrated in the text.

The case narrative presents the strategically interesting themes and events which the company has faced/is facing and places these within their internal and external context.

The thematic analysis should address the following points:

1. What are the key strategic themes that emerge in the case (these may relate to environmental and industry context, competition, markets, or be intra-organisational relating to resources and competencies)?

2. How might the company respond to the strategic challenges presented?

The thematic analysis should make use of the data presented in the case narrative, but it must adopt an evaluative and analytic approach. It should not simply repeat information presented in the case narrative. It must draw on theoretical models presented in BU4501.

Summation and questions posed: Summarising the events and end state of the case and the challenges posed. Developing a series of questions that reflect the strategic challenge(s) posed by the case.

Bibliography: Listing all primary and secondary sources consulted. It should follow the conventions used in the target language.

The case should be typed, preferably using a word-processing package, with 1.5 spacing on one side only of good white paper (A4). The work should have a 4cm left hand margin and a minimum of 2cm should be used for top, bottom and right. The typing should be reasonably consistent in the length of line and the number of lines per page. The pages should be numbered consecutively. A binding (e.g., spiral plastic) is required. However good the typist, significant errors may occur, especially in a foreign language. It is the responsibility of the candidate to proof-read the final draft and the final case study, paying special attention to the transcription and referencing of quotations. It follows that arrangements for typing should not be left to the last minute.

Quotations: Layout of quotations differs according to length and target language conventions.• Short quotations (less than about 40 words) should be enclosed within quotation marks and run on with the main text.• Longer quotations should be indented and single spaced, starting on a new line, without quotation marks.

Quotations should be in their original language and, where necessary, a translation or paraphrase in the target language (French, German, Russian, Polish or Spanish) should be given in a footnote.ALL QUOTATIONS, EITHER DIRECT OR INDIRECT, MUST BE FULLY REFERENCED.

APPROACHING THE WORK ON CASE WRITING

The following framework may act as a guide:

A. During the Junior Sophister year, from January onwards Select a business/commercial organisation whose origin lies in

the country of your target language. This should be done during the second half of the Junior Sophister year. The firm concerned should be substantive enough and have sufficient profile to provide data for case writing purposes;NB. Companies featuring in the attached list can only be chosen after a period of 3 years has elapsed.

• Engage in an initial process of data collection on the company, its industry and its macro environment (e.g., statistics from official and professional bodies, academic journals, trade journals, databases, business and economic press, annual reports of the company). Much of this data will ideally be in the target language;

• Define the issues that you wish to examine in terms of a question or questions;

Submit the report form on or before the agreed deadline Prepare a progress report to be submitted to the relevant

language department by the first teaching day of your Senior Sophister year.

B. During the Senior Sophister year

For the case narrative:• Ensure that you have a clearly defined focus in the narrative Review your data (primary and secondary sources of data) and

engage, if necessary, in further data collection in order to deal fully with the topic/questions to be investigated

• Finalise the structure of your case narrative

For the thematic analysis Identify the academic literature that relates to the topic and

analyse it in order to identify what it has to say about the

question/s that you wish to answer. Consider contrasting viewpoints adopted by different theorists and drawing on different (relevant) models to explain your findings, e.g., Pestel.

• Analyse the data or information in order to reveal what it has to say about the issues being examined;

• Draw conclusions by linking the analysis with the theory. How does your own analysis explain events when compared with the explanations in the literature? Does it confirm the literature or is it at variance with it? Have you discovered anything not revealed or covered by the literature?

Don’t forget to make recommendations.

Assessment of Case

The case is assessed on four dimensions:

Content (target language version): 25%; Language 50%; MT Oral Presentation: 10%; English Language Presentation: 15%.

CONTENT (TARGET LANGUAGE VERSION) (25%)

The content of the case narrative and thematic analysis will include assessment of:

The quality and originality of the case study; The general breadth and depth of the reading and research

underlying the case; The analytical challenge presented to the reader:

o How well does the case test the reader with respect to the key question(s), decision(s) or issue(s) posed by the case?

o How well does the case make use of qualitative, quantitative and graphical data in creating the analytical challenge?

The conceptual challenge presented by the case; The presentational challenge presented to the reader:

o How well does the writer structure the information? o How creative and appropriate are headings/subtitles used

to guide the reader?o How creative and effective is the use of tables, figures,

charts and graphs?

• LANGUAGE (50%)

The following aspects will be taken into account:

• grammatical accuracy, • lexis, • style and register, • structure and transitions.

• MICHAELMAS TERM ORAL PRESENTATION (10%)

A 10-minute presentation will be made to the target language supervisor(s) during week 10 of MT and will be centred on the following issues:

1. Company profile and reasons for choosing the company;2. Progress in data collection and organisation of

materials/information; 3. Overview of data analysis;4. Assessment of your progress to date.

Marks will be awarded for content, presentation skills and quality of the language used.

• ENGLISH LANGUAGE PRESENTATION (15%)PowerPoint presentation of 10-minutes’ duration in English. Students will present a synopsis of their case narrative and the thematic analysis. The presentation will be assessed by Dr Regan and the language supervisor. Presentations will take place during Week 1 of the Revision Period (i.e., the week immediately following the end of Hilary Term).

MANDATORY DEADLINES

Deadlines must be adhered to by all students. Permission for extensions will only be granted in exceptional circumstances and following a meeting with the student concerned (and their tutor if they so wish). Penalties will be applied for not meeting the mandatory deadlines and this will affect your process mark (see below). 1 DAY 1 OF MICHAELMAS TERM 2014 (Monday, 22 September

2014): Progress report in the target language to language supervisor

This will consist of a work content and timeline plan for Michaelmas term along with details of preliminary work undertaken during the JS year (1,000 words).

2 WEEK TEN OF MICHAELMAS TERM 2014: A. Presentation in the target language to supervisor (10-minute PowerPoint presentation) centred on the following issues:

1. Company profile and reasons for choosing the company2. Progress in data collection and organisation 3. Overview of data analysis 4. Assessment of your progress to date

3 FRIDAY OF WEEK 12 OF MT Submission of a draft version of a section of the case narrative (1,000 to 1,500 words). 3 FRIDAY OF WEEK 8 OF HILARY TERM 2015 BY 12 NOON

(Friday, 6 March 2015)Submission of the case in the target language – 2 copies to the relevant language department (and an additional one for yourself). You must also submit an electronic version of the case using an anti-plagiarism package to be specified by the language coordinator.

4 MONDAY OF WEEK 11 OF HILARY TERM 2015 BY 12 NOON(Monday, 23 March 2015)Submission of the strategic analysis of the case (written in English). This will account for 20% of the assessment on the strategic management course BU4501. Two copies to be handed in to the Business School. Further details on length from Dr Regan.

**SUBMISSION DATE**:

FRIDAY IN WEEK 8 OF HILARY TERM 2015 by 12 noon• Final version of case in target language

Two copies must be submitted to the Department of Germanic Studies/French/Russian & Slavonic Studies/Spanish, including a

signed declaration of authorship, and you should retain a third one for yourself. You must also submit an electronic version of the case to the

language supervisor via a plagiarism detection package. Further information will be provided.

MONDAY OF WEEK 11 OF HILARY TERM 2015 BY 12 Noon

Strategic Analysis in English

Two copies should be submitted to the School of Business Studies

PENALTIES FOR LATE SUBMISSION

Final Case Study The final case must be submitted according to the Submission Procedures of the respective language departments and, in the case of the Strategic Analysis, of the School of Business (See Handbooks).

Penalties for late submission of the written case: Up to one week’s lateness will incur a penalty of 10 marks. Cases submitted after one week will not be marked.

Any application for an extension must be made via the student’s College tutor.

Presentations Students who do not submit their slides for the Michaelmas term presentation (Week 10, MT) in the target language by the specified deadline will receive a 5-mark penalty.

Students who do not submit their slides for the English-language presentation (Revision Week 1) by the specified deadline will be penalised as follows:

2 marks will be deducted for submission up to 24 hours late.4 marks will be deducted for submission up to 48 hours late.6 marks will be deducted for submission up to 72 hours late.8 marks will be deducted for submission up to 96 hours late.

Any application for an extension must be made via the student’s College tutor.

SUPERVISION

The case writing assignment will be supported by both the relevant language department and the Business School. Language supervision will be provided through engagement with students during their Senior Sophister year. The language supervisor provides guidance on conventions regarding presentation, referencing, and on language (stylistic and structural issues). The language supervisor will also support students in refining their data collection and in progressing through the data analysis and write-up stages. Business content input will be provided through the Strategic Management Module BU4501 and also through the provision of a number of special case writing seminars by the School of Business.

MEETING YOUR LANGUAGE SUPERVISOR

The precise modalities of supervision will be defined by each language department. In general, language supervisors should expect to meet with each student on 1 occasion during each term. Additional meetings can take place subject to agreement with the student that such meetings would be necessary and fruitful. The onus is on students to attend these meetings and to keep their work on schedule. The initial meeting should focus primarily on the research process and expectations regarding the nature of the case study. Group meetings may be appropriate. In addition, there may be a joint supervision session between the language supervisor, the BU4501 lecturer, and the student.

WARNING The language and content of the case must be the student’s own work. Editing and/or re-writing by a native speaker is strictly prohibited.

Any discrepancy between the standard of the language in the case and of other submitted work will be investigated and, following consultation with the external examiner, may be taken into account in determining the final grade. The student may also be invited to a viva voce with the external examiner and the supervisor.

Copying from a book, article, website or any other source, extensive paraphrasing of a single work are not acceptable practices. Plagiarism (i.e., dishonestly representing an author’s view as your own) is a disciplinary offence against College regulations and carries severe penalties. Short quotations are acceptable, even desirable, but must be acknowledged by means of appropriate reference giving author, title of work and page number. Similarly, all paraphrasing must be acknowledged in the text and appropriately referenced in the bibliography.

The following declaration must be included and signed when submitting your case study:

“I declare that this case study, either in whole or in part, has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at this or any other university.I declare that this case study is entirely my own work except where duly acknowledged. I further declare that any materials directly cited as quotations/extracts from other works have been fully referenced in the text of the work and that all sources used in the preparation of this work have been listed in the Bibliography.I have read the statement on plagiarism in the Undergraduate Handbook of the Department of Germanic Studies/French/Russian and Slavonic Studies/Spanish and understand that it is an offence that may result in expulsion from the University.I agree that the libraries of the Departments of Germanic Studies, French, Russian and Slavonic Studies, Spanish and of the School of Business Studies library may lend or copy this case study upon request. “

Signed : ........

Date : .........

GRADING CRITERIA

The aim of these guidelines is to capture the main features of performance at different degree class levels. These descriptions should be taken as indicative rather than prescriptive: assessment of degree classes is multi-dimensional and excellence in one dimension can compensate for weakness in another. Submitted work that is poorly presented or inadequately referenced is likely to be penalised by (at least) a class unless defects are outweighed by exceptional quality.

The content of the case narrative and thematic analysis is assessed on the basis of the following:

originality and creativity in choice of target and topic(s) quality of data gathered and presented comprehensiveness and accuracy of narrative derived from the

data integration of a range of materials leveraging of the design opportunities presented by the data and

literatures evidence of wide reading insight into the theoretical opportunities and issues presented by

the case originality of overall exposition or treatment.

First Class Honours I (70–100)

This grade indicates work of exceptional quality. A first-class case study will demonstrate some, though not necessarily all, of the following:

Content Case Narrative Excellent knowledge of the subject matter and intelligent

comprehensive understanding of the topic’s wider implications Clear evidence of ability to leverage the opportunities presented by

the data Independent thought of high quality reflected in an original and

imaginative handling of the subject matter

Clear evidence of thorough original research Excellent knowledge and ability to assess the relevance of the

information from primary and secondary sources Rigorous, entirely relevant, excellent structure and organisation with

a very high degree of coherence and cohesion throughout (Near-)flawless formulation and persuasively communicated

throughout Original choice of topic; original angle on topic Comprehensive and accurate narrative derived from the data

throughout

Thematic Analysis Incisive analytic ability Excellent critical focus on the question/s raised by the case

narrative Independent critical response to the primary and secondary sources Excellent handling of relevant primary and secondary sources to

support argument Rigorous, entirely relevant, excellent structure and organisation with

a very high degree of coherence and cohesion throughout

Language• Rich, complex and idiomatic language, employing a wide range of appropriate lexis correctly • Tone, register and style wholly suited to the chosen task • Virtually free from grammatical error • Showing a very high degree of command of the structures of the language Second Class First Division II.1 (60 - 69)

This grade indicates a very competent standard of work. A case study in this range will demonstrate some, though not necessarily all, of the following:

ContentCase Narrative Very good understanding and thorough knowledge of the subject

matter Convincing attempt at independent thought reflected in intelligent

approach to the subject matter Coherent and clearly focused within a carefully planned framework,

dealing with all aspects of the question

Convincing attempt to leverage the opportunities presented by the data

Convincing attempt at thorough original research Generally well organised and structured, but some lack of cohesion

in places Generally persuasively communicated throughout, with only minor

flaws in formulation and presentation Convincing choice of topic; intelligent approach to topic Generally comprehensive and accurate narrative derived from the

data

Thematic Analysis Evidence of analytic ability Sustained critical focus on the question/s raised by the case

narrative Evidence of ability to respond critically to the primary and secondary

sources Competent handling of relevant primary and secondary sources to

support argument Generally well organised and structured, but some lack of cohesion

in places

Language• Convincing attempt to use complex and idiomatic language and to employ a wide range of appropriate lexis with minor errors only • Tone and register consistently suited to the task • Some grammatical errors, mostly of a minor nature • Showing a good degree of command of the structures of the language with the occasional lapse

Second Class Second Division II.2 (50 - 59)

This grade indicates work of acceptable competence. The case study will demonstrate some or all of the following:

Content

Case Narrative Shows good knowledge of the subject matter, but may be narrow in

frame of reference or superficial

Generally aware of implications of the subject matter, discusses some, but not all of the points raised by it; unimaginative approach

Reliance on limited range of primary and secondary sources Limited ability to leverage opportunities presented by data Satisfactory organisation and clear presentation of material, but may

omit some material of relevance or contain some which is irrelevant Development of ideas effective but uneven, maintains focus on

subject matter, but not always precisely May lack rigour; some contradiction and repetition; some

unsupported or inadequately explained points Readable, but occasional significant flaws in formulation and/or

presentation Suitable choice of topic; conventional approach to topic Narrative derived from the data is limited in comprehensiveness and

not always accurate

Thematic Analysis Reluctant to engage critically with primary and secondary sources Tendency to be narrative or descriptive, rather than analytical Limited critical focus on the question/s raised by the case narrative Uneven handling of relevant primary and secondary sources to

support argument Satisfactory organisation, cohesion and coherence May lack rigour; some contradiction and repetition; some

unsupported or inadequately explained points

Language • Language at an acceptable level of complexity with an adequate but predictable range of lexis, and with a number of significant lexical errors • Makes a number of major grammatical errors, but without impairing comprehension and communication significantly • Tone and register not always suited to the task • Showing some confidence in the command of the language, but with quite frequent lapses • Some anglicisms

Third Class III (40 - 49)

A case study in this grade will demonstrate some limited though acceptable knowledge of the subject matter, but will be too simplistic or brief, or contain other major weaknesses.

ContentCase Narrative Demonstrates some knowledge of the subject matter, but generally

narrow in frame of reference; Satisfactory engagement with the issues, but adopts mechanical

approach; fails to discuss many of the points raised by or see all implications of the data;

Some relevant points made, but not always supported by relevant evidence

Reliance on very limited range of primary and secondary sources Limited ability to organise material; structure lacks coherence and

cohesion Lacks rigour and clarity; tendency to unsupported assertions Limited ability to develop ideas Adequate presentation and capacity to articulate, but with serious

flaws Poor choice of topic; simplistic approach to topic Narrative derived from the data is very limited in

comprehensiveness and reveals many inaccuracies.

Thematic Analysis Descriptive with limited ability to develop ideas Inadequate critical engagement with the issues raised by the case

narrative Limited ability to organise material; structure lacks coherence and

cohesion Some relevant points made, but not always supported by relevant

evidence Very uneven handling of relevant primary and secondary sources to

support argument

Language• Language lacks complexity; some basic knowledge of lexis but lacks variety and contains frequent and significant errors• Tone and register frequently not suited to the task• Frequent and serious grammatical errors, which impede comprehension and communication• Limited ability to manipulate language resulting in simple ‘translated’ language which contains many anglicisms

Fail F1 (30 - 39)

This grade indicates insufficient evidence of serious academic study.

ContentCase Narrative Demonstrates minimal knowledge of the subject matter with little

reference beyond it Content largely irrelevant and disorganized Generally naive approach or serious misunderstanding of the

subject matter, misses important implications Little or no evidence of use of either primary or secondary sources; Structure almost wholly lacking in coherence and cohesion Very limited ability to develop ideas; either dogmatic assertion or

over-descriptive summary or both Clumsy style; poor articulation and presentation; poorly documented

sources Poor choice of topic; ill-conceived approach to topic Narrative derived from the data is extremely limited in

comprehensiveness and reveals a significant number of inaccuracies

Thematic Analysis Little or no evidence of reflection or engagement with data

presented in the case narrative Little or no evidence of use of either primary or secondary sources Structure almost wholly lacking in coherence and cohesion Content largely irrelevant and disorganized

Language• Language is simplistic with very limited knowledge of lexis and very high level of error frequency in choice and use of very basic words• Tone and register not suited to the task• Very frequent and serious grammatical errors, which seriously impede comprehension and communication• Very little command of language resulting in simple ‘translated’ language which consists largely of anglicisms

Fail F2 (0 - 29)Written work in the F2 range will reveal some or all of the weaknesses noted under F1, but to a greater, perhaps extreme, extent.

ContentCase Narrative Virtually no knowledge of the subject matter Fails to understand and to address the issues raised by the subject

matter Content irrelevant and disorganized No evidence of secondary reading or use of primary sources Lack of supporting material, sources not documented Structure is without cohesion and coherence No evidence of logical organization or ability to develop ideas Extremely poor articulation and presentation; formulation frequently

incomprehensible Very poor choice of topic; entirely uninformed approach to topic Narrative derived from the data is unacceptably limited and reveals

a very significant number of inaccuracies

Thematic Analysis Fails to understand and to address any relevant issues Content disorganized No evidence of secondary reading or use of primary sources Lack of supporting material, sources not documented Structure is without cohesion and coherence No evidence of logical organization or ability to develop ideas

Language• Knowledge and range of lexis so limited that no mark can be awarded; the level of error frequency in choice and use of even the most basic words is unacceptably high• Tone and register not suited to the task• Frequency and seriousness of grammatical errors mean that comprehension and communication are impossible• No command of the structures of the language