When you receive your backgrounder you will have 48 hours to do whatever you want with it. 48 hours seems like a lot but it is not so I think it is important to have a strategy for how to approach the backgrounder and what to do with it so that you do not get overwhelmed and forget to do something important in preparation for the case exam.
This was my approach to the backgrounder:
- Read the backgrounder
- Re-read the backgrounder
- Make note on the key individuals and get familiar with their names and roles
- Re-read backgrounder again and make notes/highlight key information
- Make sure I understand what the company does
- Read and re-read the SWOT to get familiar with all the points
- Tackle financials - crunch every single possible ratio that I can think of and make sure I know what each of the ratios mean as well as memorize the ratio formulas
- Review the resulting ratios and note anything that stands out
- Do a situational analysis for the backgrounder (SWOT - try to find additional points, stakeholder preferences, constraints, etc.)
Day 2
- Read the backgrounder and SWOT twice (the goal is to have all the backgrounder info so solidified and clear in your head so that you will reduce the number of times you may need to refer to the backgrounder copy during the case exam)
- Review the situational analysis created on Day 1 and note if anything needs to be added or modified
- Review financials I crunched on Day 1 to make sure you did not make any errors
- Study the ratios and what they are indicating about the company - choose a handful of ratios that are the most relevant and/or are showing something that needs to be noted and perhaps addressed (ie. debt to equity ratio is trending up)
- Review everything that I have done so far and study it as much as possible - by the end of this day the goal is for me to be VERY comfortable with everything in the backgrounder.
Share what your strategy on handling the backgrounder is so that other students can benefit and get good ideas.
