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MBA PRESENTATION
This is a generic business case study
presentation template for business students
By Guinevere Orvis
Twitter: @guin
Agenda
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Problem & solution
Executive summary
Brief history
Industry analysis
Company analysis
Alternatives
Implementation
Problem & Solution
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Frame the “problem statement” as a question.
Put your recommended solution on this slide.
You’ll sometimes see the solution presented at the end of a
presentation, but at the beginning is better. Why?
Putting the solution right after the problem makes you
confirm that your solution actually addresses the problem at
hand.
No surprises. If the audience knows your solution off the
top, the rest of the deck should walk through how you came
to that decision; it’s easier for them to follow your line of
reasoning.
Executive Summary
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The executive summary is a single slide that contains the key
points from the rest of the presentation. The idea is an executive
who doesn’t have time to sit through your whole presentation
can look at this, understand the problem, what’s driving the
problem, your solution and why it will work. Do this slide last,
always.
Problem facing your company, our proposed solution
Market data backs up our solution (cite briefly)
Competitors are all doing X
This is because the industry is doing Y
We need to catch up to X, we need to excel at Y
If we do this, we can expect this outcome
5 BRIEF HISTORY
Business Key Points
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This is a “state of current affairs” slide. It sets up how the
company has been doing. The next slide (key challenge)
highlights why this needs to change.
Bullet points on this slide highlight key points about the
company that are relevant to the business challenge at hand.
Don’t fill with irrelevant information. Remember in most MBA
case scenarios, you are the consultant, and you’re presenting to
the board. You don’t need to tell the board what they know about
their business.
Key Challenge
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This slide should show a major challenge the company is facing.
Use a chart to show the key challenge, which could be many
things. Examples:
That they’re underperforming compared to competitors
They’re losing market share
Industry is consolidating
The market has changed because of X
There are many things which could be a key challenge. Pick the
main one, then communicate the challenge succinctly.
8 INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
This Section
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The industry analysis section should highlight trends in the
industry that:
Put pressure on the company in question
Have created the challenge you’re solving
Are disrupting or sustaining the industry
Use standard industry analysis frameworks (PEST, strategy
canvas, Porter’s five forces and generic strategies, etc.)
whichever are relevant to your case.
Use also charts, graphs and quotes
Examples on the next two slides can be used, or other
frameworks, as needed for your specific case.
Delete this slide for your actual work
Macro-Environmental
Porter’s five forces
Analysis
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Financial Performance
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A simple-to-read slide (or two) with how the company is
performing against its competitors (remember this is the
industry section)
Use industry benchmarks
Can get information from company reports or Reuters, Google
Finance, etc.
Don’t overwhelm them with numbers– only put numbers in
that you’ll speak about and that matter to the challenge
Use graphs and charts to bring order and increase readability
12 COMPANY ANALYSIS
This Section
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The company analysis section should show where the company
is setup to meet the challenge and where they’re not.
Use standard industry analysis frameworks that apply to your
situation (SWOT, product life cycle, value chain, resources
and capabilities, financial ratios, Ansoff Matrix, etc.)
Use also charts, graphs and quotes
I’ve included some examples on the next few slides of
frameworks you could use, but there are many many more.
Use what makes sense for the case you’re doing.
Again, delete this slide for your actual work
Key Success Factors
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This is a simple framework from the book Contemporary Strategy
Analysis by Robert M. Grant. You don’t need to use it, but it’s one
way to show key success factors in the problem you’re solving.
The data in the cells are example only to illustrate how the
framework can be used. Replace the information for your own case.
CUSTOMERS WANT COMPETITION KEY SUCCESS
PROVIDES FACTORS
Feature How other competitors are What needs to be place for
fulfilling feature that feature to happen
Smartphones at reasonable Partner with carriers to Carrier deals in multiple
prices offset handset costs markets
Products that are easy to Good Interface / User testing, UX
use touchscreen technology professionals, prototyping
SWOT
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Favourable Unfavourable
Internal Strengths Weaknesses
• Internal company strength • An internal company weakness
External Opportunities Threats
• An industry opportunity that • An industry trend that the company
the company can take can’t take advantage of
advantage of • An industry trend that could threaten
the company
16 ALTERNATIVES (OPTIONS)
This section
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The alternatives section should demonstrate you did your
homework. You looked at three (always three!) possible
solutions and you picked the best one.
Alternatives should follow the mutually exclusive and
collectively exhaustive (MECE) principle.
Always list the solution that you came up with third, as it will
then be top of mind when you present your implementation plan.
Key Issues / Decision Criteria
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Recap the key challenge
List additional key issues that fall under this challenge
The key issues become your decision criteria (otherwise
you’re not solving the issues)
Option #1: Name of option
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A brief description of what this option is.
Pros
Key issue this option solves
Cons
What key issues it doesn’t solve
What gaps the company has in its ability to execute on this
option
Option #2: Name of option
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A brief description of what this option is.
Pros
Key issue this option solves
Another key issue it solves
Cons
What key issues it doesn’t solve
What gaps the company has in its ability to execute on this
option
Option #3: Name of option
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A brief description of what this option is. This option will be the same as
the solution you presented at the beginning of your presentation
Pros
Key issue this option solves
As this is option #3, it should be your recommendation. It should also
have more pros than cons. If it doesn’t, maybe you’ve picked the wrong
solution.
Cons
What key issues it doesn’t solve
What gaps the company has in its ability to execute on this option
Key Issues and Related Solutions
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A chart with checkmarks shows at-a-glace which option best
solves the key issues / decision criteria.
Key issue Key issue Key issue Key Timing in Market
/decision /decision /decision issue Entry Key issue
criteria #1 criteria #2 criteria #3 /decision /decision criteria
criteria #4 #5
✓ ✓
Option #1: title
✓ ✓ ✓
Option #2: title
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Option #3: title
Recommendation
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Option #3, addressed most of the key issues and solves the
problem of X.
24 IMPLEMENTATION
This section
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The implementation section should cover:
Risks to your plan and also plans to mitigate those risks
High level timeline to implement the plan
A communications priority plan. I use a matrix, but you don’t
need to. So long as you show which groups you’re going to
keep informed of your plan and how much effort it will take.
Delete this slide in your actual presentation
Risks & Mitigation
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List the challenges that would prevent the company from
successfully executing your proposed solution
List risk mitigation strategies for every challenge.
Don’t skip obvious risks if you don’t have a way to mitigate
the risk, it’ll make it seem like you missed the obvious. Think
of a way you could mitigate every risk, even if that means the
mitigation plan is further research and study to understand
how to overcome it.
Don’t list superfluous risks– just ones that matter.
Implementation Timeline
SHORT
MEDIUM LONG 2015-2020
TERM
Phase I: Phase II: Phase III:
Project to complete Project to complete Project to complete
Strategic goals
Requirements to Requirements to Requirements to achieved,
complete project complete project complete project analyze, revisit
Communication Plan
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High Keep satisfied: Engage closely, influence actively:
• Partners and suppliers • Customers
• Government and regulators • Owners
• Employees
• Investors and creditors
POWER
Monitor (minimal effort): Keep informed:
• NGOs • Companies being analyzed
• Professional associations • Standards bodies (GRI, CDP,
• Media ISO 26000)
• Competitors
Low
Low High
INTEREST
29 Recap
Use this slide to quickly recap your solution–
don’t go over the problem again. Highlighting
the positive outcomes is good as you just talked
about risks, so reinforcing why your solution is
the best one is a good tactic at this point.
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End your presentation with a thank you slide. Leave it up while
you answer questions. You want this slide to be plain so the
attention is on you for question period and not the presentation.
The frameworks in this template belong to their respective owners, none
were created by this document owner. Frameworks are derived from various
pieces of business literature.
A good quick reference for lots of business frameworks can be found at
quickmba.com
This template was created by @guin
Do feel free to take it and repurpose it for your own b-school case study.
THANK YOU
Questions?
