Making linkages among case details is necessary toward solving the case. At this point you can take the notes that will set up your analysis. The most successful students project themselves into the position of the decision-maker because this perspective helps them link case details as well as develop a stand on the case problem. Financial and business strategies can be inferred from analysis of financial ratios and a sources and uses of funds statement. The larger point of this phase of your case preparation is to broaden your awareness of issues.
Awareness is an important attribute of successful managers.
A common trap for many executives is to assume that the issue at hand is the real problem most worthy of their time, rather than a symptom of some larger problem that really deserves their time. For instance, a lender is often asked to advance funds to help tide a firm over a cash shortfall. Careful study may reveal that the key problem is not a cash shortfall, but rather it is product obsolescence, unexpected competition, or careless cost management. Students who are new to the case method tend to focus narrowly in defining problems and often overlook the influence which the larger setting has on the problem. In doing this the student develops narrow specialist habits, never achieving the general manager perspective.