GROUP ASSIGNMENT 1
Cut and pasted from the syllabus:
“Group Assignment 1: Each t
GROUP ASSIGNMENT 1
Cut and pasted from the syllabus:
“Group Assignment 1: Each team needs to analyze the Curled Metal Inc. case and submit a 12-minute video of your
group’s presentation by February 25 (Sunday). More details will be available inside the miscellaneous tab on the Course
Menu panel on the left. This assignment will prepare you well for your case competition presentation; see below…”
Minor change in the due date/time: Due date/time has been extended by 12 hours (not 24 hours). See the details below.
The video that you will upload as Group Assignment 1 is worth 5% of the course grade. [I will set up a separate
mechanism so that you can give anonymous, developmental feedback to your peers by March 3. Giving this feedback is
listed as Individual Assignment 1 in the syllabus.]
MOST IMPORTANT: YOU ARE NOT ANALYZING THE SCHOOL-WIDE CASE COMPETITION CASE
[ON] AS PART OF GROUP ASSIGNMENT 1.
Please upload your team’s 12-minute recorded presentation, in MP4 video format, in TWO places between 6:00 am and
noon on February 26, 2024 (Monday). Yes, you will be uploading on the 26th during this six-hour window. Even if you
finish early, please upload it on the 26th
.
Who should upload and how? One person in the group should upload your group’s video on behalf of the group in TWO
places.
Place 1: Upload as an MP4 video format file to Miscellaneous > Group Assignment 1 > Group Assignment 1 Video
Upload. Link to a presentation will not be accepted. Do not embed your video. [The file name for your video file should
simply be your group’s four-character name (e.g., DL1F). Do not use Group Assignment 1 DL1F or Curled Metal DL1F
or DL1F Curled Metal Presentation or Curled Metal followed by names of team members or BUS 498-DL1F or Section 1
DL1F or Spring 2024 Curled Metal or any other combination. I hope this file name-related guideline is very clear to
everyone; not following this guideline will cost you 1 point out of 100.]
Place 2: Embed your video to Discussion Board > Group Assignment 1 Videos. Link to a presentation will not be
accepted. Only one person from your group should access this discussion board between 6:00 am and noon on Feb 26
(Monday) to upload the video. As part of this uploading process, the person uploading is not allowed to watch videos that
may have already been uploaded by other teams. [The person uploading will have to create a thread. Use your group’s
four-character name (e.g., DL1F) in the subject line. Do not enter anything else in the subject line. I hope this subjectrelated guideline is very clear to everyone; not following this guideline will cost you 1 point out of 100.]
How to embed your video in Place 2? https://its.gmu.edu/knowledge-base/how-to-upload-a…
As an aside, please note I would like you to appear on camera, appropriately, in your recorded presentation.
There is no question/prompt assigned for Group Assignment 1 from my side. Based on your reading of the case, you
will have to identify the problem(s).
Pretty much everything below this line is reproduced – hence the quotation marks – from the case competition guidelines
that have been available inside the miscellaneous tab in Blackboard for a while. Any adaptation or slight modification for
Group Assignment 1 appears in red font below.
“Purpose of the Case Competition: To judge the ability among students to distill a case situation (including data) into
actionable creative recommendations that are supported logically with the use of reasonable assumption (if the data are
not complete) as well as appropriate application of strategic methods covered in BUS 498. The main focus will be on the
team’s ability to offer creative solutions based on the case scenario and to justify these solutions with rigorous analysis.
The case that typically gets assigned has plenty of data and has open-ended possible solutions. A standard evaluation
form, available at the Case Competition website, will be used to judge the in-class and the college-wide case-competition
presentations.
Student team perspective: You are acting in the role as consultants or advisers to the company described in the case.
Please select a name (maximum 30 characters with spaces) for your fictitious consulting company.
Presentation details: Imagine that you are presenting to the top management team of the company. You will have 12
minutes for your presentation with some flexibility to finish. Make sure anything that is salient is presented in these 12
minutes; flexibility is just to give you an opportunity to wrap up (instead of cutting you off on the dot at 12:00). It is
strongly recommended that your presentation not exceed 12 minutes and 30 seconds. In short, think of 30 seconds
as the flexibility available to you in both the in-class and the college-wide competitions. Do not use a skit format (e.g.,
acting out a meeting-in-progress between the company’s top management team and the consulting team) during your
presentation. All team members should take part in presenting, but teams can rely more on stronger speakers.
Use of external data: Do not do any additional outside research for Group Assignment 1. Limit to the data available in the
Curled Metal case only. There is no need to cite the Curled Metal case or your textbook. Soliciting solution or help from
unauthorized sources and online websites is considered cheating.
Additional advice related to presentation style from BUS 498 faculty:
1) As part of your recorded video or live presentation, you may “screen share” your presentation slides. But we would
like you to appear on camera in virtual presentations appropriately (both recorded and live presentations).
2) Do not simply read the contents of your presentation slides from the computer screen in front of you. Try to achieve
good eye contact.
3) Do make the most of your presentation time; try not to wind up your presentation in less than 10 minutes. This is less
likely to happen if you rehearse your presentation.
4) Do not let one person dominate the presentation and the question-and-answer session.
5) Sometimes too much information is presented, and the audience gets “lost.” This is especially the case when there is
little integration from slide to slide. Try to tell a good “story.”
Additional advice related to presentation content from BUS 498 faculty:
1) The evaluation form is a good way to plan your content because judges will have copies of this form as they evaluate
your presentations. Spend little time simply restating what is already available in the case. Spend most of your time on the
value you are adding. Show clearly how your conclusions/solutions have solved the problem identified at the beginning of
your presentation. Make sure there are no inconsistencies in your presentation (e.g., figures, dates, etc.).
2) Your conclusions/solutions must focus on execution as appropriate for the assigned case: timeline, analysis of
additional resources needed, financial analysis to assess the sources and uses of funds, etc.
3) If you considered several alternatives but finally selected only one or two, tell the audience why.
4) If possible, identify the numerical impact of your proposed conclusions/solutions as appropriate (e.g., return on
investment, cost, revenue, market share, profits, income statement, balance sheet, financial ratios, etc.). Overall,
strengthen your presentation with “increased emphasis on quantitative data.”
5) If your group is chosen for the college-wide Case Competition, you may refine or alter your in-class presentation
contents further. As mentioned before, instructors will not provide any feedback. But you may use feedback, if any,
received from your peers after your in-class presentation.
6) Keep in mind that outside judges at the Case Competition have not read your textbook. If you use complicated
technical jargon and framework from your textbook without much explanation, they may not understand its purpose.
7) Do not use course theory/course concepts/frameworks superficially. Their application should clearly help you in terms
of problem identification, analysis, conclusion/solutions, and choosing between alternatives. For example, many times
Porter’s five forces framework is used for no reason!
8) Consider a presentation that is structured as follows: First Slide – Problem identification, In-between Slides – Analysis,
and Last Slide – Conclusions/Solutions. The primary problem with such a presentation would be lack of details with your
conclusions/solutions. The audience would like to know more details as appropriate (see the earlier comment about
execution).
9) You may prepare several presentation slides in anticipation of the most-likely questions. These may not be used in your
12-minute presentation. But you may use these during the Q & A session if some of these slides have answers to the
judges’ questions (perhaps some details you deliberately left out).
10) Many times, a case author will clearly identify key problems faced by the protagonist/company. These typically
appear at the beginning and/or the end of the case. You do not have to restrict your analysis to these problems. In the
extreme scenario, if you interpret the case from an entirely different perspective and if the problems listed in the case do
not seem relevant at all, feel free to raise (and answer) an entirely different set of problems. Along similar lines, case
description and subjects, listed earlier in this note, are provided by the case author to guide your overall case analysis. The
case author’s perspective on these things need not constrain your overall analysis.
11) Please do not identify your specific faculty member during your presentation (applies to both recorded and live
presentations). Do not include their name on your slides or do not call out their name during your presentation. Why?
Some of the outside judges may have been former students of a faculty member. Your cooperation will help maintain the
integrity of the Case Competition.
12) Your instructor may not cover every chapter in your text before the in-class Case Competition begins. If you feel later
chapters are important for your case, please study and use that material on your own.
Finally, here is some developmental feedback given by past judge panels. Please note the case used in the past
competitions was different from the one that you are analyzing this semester. Occasionally, judges may refer to some
specific aspect of the case at the time that you are not familiar with (e.g., whiskey market or ACT process mentioned by
Panel G). The judge-panels that will evaluate your presentations this semester may have an entirely new set of judges.
Despite these differences and limitations, you will find the feedback below extremely useful not only for the upcoming
case competition, but also for your future career.
Panel A: There were several areas the judges felt the teams could improve on to create more effective presentations. The
presentations in general lacked an easy-to-follow narrative including a concise problem statement, analysis section, and
definitive statement of conclusions/recommendations. The judges encourage the participants to emphasize “storytelling”
narratives when presenting rather than reading the contents of slides. This requires a more personal touch, and we
encourage the participants in the future to introduce the team, appear on camera in virtual presentations, and raise the
overall energy level. While the teams’ analysis sections were judged to be good, in general the problem statements and
conclusions lacked emphasis, clarity, and “punch.” A more in-depth examination of the story, and the relationships
between the players, would have afforded greater insight towards more creative solutions. Additionally, the judges felt the
presentations could be strengthened with increased emphasis on quantitative data (data crunching) and deeper dive into
the solutions.
Panel B: The presentations themselves lacked fluidity and enthusiasm. When presenting, it is important to know your
audience and bring energy. No team presented to the company, but rather to the judges or some other larger audience.
This resulted in a choppy, lackluster delivery. In the future, it may help to role play and imagine yourselves in front of
company management, whether in person or virtually.
PowerPoint slides should be used as a teaser or quick reference. The slides were full of text. Keep all the text in the notes
section and leave a graphic or one-to-three words on the actual slide. Also, do not read from the slides. Check Carmine
Gallo’s The Presentation–Secrets of Steve Jobs for detailed pointers. Finally, within your team, give each other kind and
direct feedback as you work on your presentations. This will help elevate everyone’s performance.
Panel C:
• Know your audience well. Study who you will be addressing your solution to. Research them and figure out what is
important to them. No different than getting ready for a job interview.
• Look and be professional in every way. You are consultants presenting to senior leaders of the company. Be
confident but not arrogant. Be conversational – talk/present to them not about them. Be critical but don’t criticize or be
judgmental. (Particularly when ethics and other indiscretions are involved)
• Details matter. They really do. Details can mean winning a consulting gig or a job. Everything matters…from slang
being used in a business setting, to the look and feel of the presentation deck. When in doubt, always overdress
for a presentation. Never assume casual unless you are specifically told so.
• Address the challenges and follow the directions for what the customer is looking. Think in terms of responding
to a Request for Proposal (RFP) rather than just sharing what you think may work. (Note: Be careful not to introduce
data outside the case study parameters)
• Address problems with supported solutions. Make recommendations that enable the customer to make informed
decisions based on valid data, not just opinion. (Note: Even Case Competition recommendations must be relevant and
valid to the problem/challenge, not just clever.)
• Know the cause and effects, and the urgency. If you recommend an action, you better know and purposefully justify
why it needs to be made, when it needs to be made and what will result.
• Be clear and succinct on the problem statement…don’t use too much time stating the problem, reciting company
history, educating on Porter’s, etc. Keep in mind as consultants your customer is leveraging your credibility and
expertise to get them immediate results. 99% of the time you are there to present your recommendations. Use
Porter’s and others as the paths to your own enlightenment in understanding and interpreting their data, determining the
causes and effects, and developing courses of action.
• Make sure presentations flow well. This requires dry runs and tweaking much like actors doing joint readings
of a script before filming. This is a must, especially with the added difficulties in a COVID world.
Panel D: All of the presentations could have used more quantitative analysis throughout to support the overall problem
and recommended solution. It would have also been beneficial to incorporate the benefits received into the overall
solution as well. Recommend bringing more energy and enthusiasm to the presentations and do not read directly from the
slides. Incorporate less information on the slides and address it as talking points instead. Think through and articulate any
potential risks and challenges for the solution proposed.
Panel E: All teams could have done a better job in their presentations. None of the judges felt that the presentations came
to the level that is expected in a corporate setting. The teams should ask themselves questions like what problem are we
trying to solve, why is this important, and are recommendations justified.
Panel F: Spell out acronyms at first use (for example VRIO) – you can do this on the charts and/or in the voice-over.
Don’t forget about the financial impact and timeline in your analysis and recommendation. Your recommendations should
tie to your analysis. Be mindful to allocate the time and do use the time that you have available.
Panel G: A couple of points to all of the consulting groups that we reviewed: First, the consulting teams need to remember
that they are presenting to the client corporate leaders/board members who are VERY familiar with their innovative
process and the state of the basic whiskey market. Therefore, the consultants need not spend time rehashing these topics
areas – the clients already know that information – they developed the ACT process. Presentation time should be spent on
the thought process and rationale used for options and most importantly on the chosen option along with detailed
data/rationale on why your approach is best for the company. Second, given that this is a presentation to corporate
leadership, treat it as a professional presentation. The consultants all should be introduced, should be on camera and
engaged in the presentation even when another member is presenting. Also, the consultants should look/dress as they
would for a corporate meeting – the use of ZOOM/TEAMS should not influence presenters to be lax, casual, and
monotone in the presentation of their approach and information. There should be a requirement to use graphics in a
presentation in combination with text. Remember, you are there to set the stage and present a compelling approach that
needs to be supported by the look, feel and enthusiasm/interest of professional consultants.
Panel H:
• Those who demonstrated their analysis, picked key points, and laid them out in a logical manner as if telling a story
were more successful
• It was clear who had the best teamwork as the presentation was cohesive and showed contributions from everyone
• It was clear who had practiced because they didn’t trip over their words or sound like they were just reading words,
but rather that they were comfortable with the ideas they were conveying
• Those in professional attire garnered more respect
• Teams should avoid distractions by not moving around and keeping backgrounds clean and simple or using the blur
function
• The PowerPoint slides themselves were most successful when they demonstrated a mastery of the technology with
the videos and animations but also kept the content concise with only the key points on the slide
Panel I:
Presentation: Practice what you will present, so the tone becomes a dialogue rather than sounding as if you are reading
from notes. Persuading your client comes from presenting the information as a story and conversation. This means
knowing your material is critical so you can place tonal inflections to draw attention to highlights. Proper and brief
introduction and “why you’re here” statements are always good to start a presentation of this type. Proper and brief
summary of your recommendation and thank you are always a good way to close a presentation of this type.
Slide Content: Slides need to balance with the oral presentation. While some people may be auditory learners, others are
visual learners. Balance the images to depict the message with text to highlight the content discussed.
Analysis: There are numerous analysis tools at your disposal. By explaining the reason the tool(s) was selected, you
demonstrate your knowledge to use the right tool to build a conclusion that can be trusted