Posted: May 9th, 2015

Decision Criteria for the Video Business Case Report

Decision Criteria for the Video Business Case Report
Students often struggle to understand what is meant by “D) Decision Criteria” when
critiquing the Video Business Case Report.
Defining Decision Criteria
Decision Criteria for the Video Business Case Report can be defined in many ways,
including:
 Guidelines by which to judge the Alternatives.
 How to decide which is the best solution among the Alternatives.
 How uncertainty and doubt are reduced so that a reasonable choice can be made
among Alternatives.
 A standard, rule, or test on which a judgement or decision can be based.
 The basis for comparison among Alternatives.
 The ideal circumstances in terms of which something can be judged.
 Specific measures used to determine the best choice among Alternatives.
 A gauge, norm or yardstick.
Key Decision Criteria should be:
 Be related to the Issues and Alternatives.
 Important to the organisation making the decision.
 Brief, preferably in point form.
 Measurable, at least to the point of comparison, such as Alternative X will reduce
expenses more than Alternative Y.
For the purposes of the Video Business Case Report students are expected to develop and
use Decision Criteria to justify the choices among the Alternative courses of action.
Common Qualitative and Quantitative Descriptors of Decision Criteria
Qualitative: competitive advantage, customer satisfaction, employee morale, corporate
image, ease of implementation, synergy, ethics, visibility, safety, visual appeal,
obsolescence, cultural sensitivity, motivation, goodwill, environmental impact, flexibility,
within present resources and capabilities, consistent with corporate strategy, successful,
efficient, new, coherent.
Quantitative: profit, cost, return on investment, market share, capacity, delivery time, risk,
cash flow, inventory turnover, productivity, staff turnover, quality, growth rate quantity.
For further ideas on developing Decision Criteria refer to Harris, Mark (2012), Criteria for
Evaluating a Creative Solution, Virtual Salt. Available: http://virtualsalt.com/creative.htm.
Access February 24, 2013.
As Outlined in the Business Capstone Unit Outline
C) Alternatives
From the Decision Criteria, develop a range of realistic Alternatives to address the
Issues identified.
D) Decision Criteria
As decision makers students will be expected to develop and use Decision Criteria
to justify the choices among the alternative courses of action.
E) Solutions
Decide on a solution to the Issues derived from the Alternatives. For each
Alternative, provide a justification for the Solutions chosen or rejected.
F) Implications
Provide realistic suggestions on how these Solutions could be implemented in the
organisation concerned within the industry context being scrutinised.
Suggested Headings C–F for the Video Business Case Report follow a logical order–D should
not be done before C, E cannot be done before D, etc. Often, students will work through
Decision Criteria in other assessments, decisions and choices they make within their life.
However, the problem often lies in that they never write it down and often it is done
subconsciously (tacit knowledge).
Therefore when working through a case it is important to emphasise that they are a
consultant working for the company, so it is their job to review the problems from parts A
and B and how these are important and will lead them to highlight the most important
Alternatives for the company.
Tutorial exercise
Generating expected benefits that would be achieved by resolving the Issue at hand is one
way to create selection criteria. The expected benefits are then grouped based on
underlying themes.
Give students a few minutes to write down all the Decision Criteria that were important to
them in choosing to come to Curtin University. Provoke students by asking why they chose
Curtin over other local Universities or other locations, within Australia or outside Australia.
Conduct a discussion in pairs, teams, then with the whole class to compare and contrast
how their Decision Criteria varied. Get students to rate and rank their Decision Criteria.
Students are likely to come up with some of the following Decision Criteria:
 Reputation  Proximity to home
 Location  Better educational opportunities
 Personal Safety  Qualification recognition
 Friends attending same University  Multicultural society
 Quality assurance  Possibility of scholarships
 Research opportunities  Good beaches
 Climate and weather  Good chance of getting a good job
 Potential future Permanent Residency  Cheap cars (relative to country–cheap
to Singapore, expensive to USA)
Research findings into the factors influencing international students to study in Australia.
Compare the student findings with what the research has found into the factors influencing
international students to study in Australia (Mazzarol and Soutar, 2002, p 89)
 An institution’s reputation for quality.
 An institution’s links or alliances with other institutions familiar to the student.
 An institution’s reputation for having high-quality staff.
 An institution’s alumni base and-word-of-mouth referral process.
 The number of students enrolled at the institution.
 Whether an institution is willing to recognise students’ qualifications
(Mazzarol, T.W., and G. N. Soutar. 2002. “Push-pull” factors influencing
international student destination choice, International Journal of Education
Management, 16(2): 82-90).
References
Tillman, F. A. and D. T. Cassone (2012). Chapter 1.10 Developing Decision Criteria and
Metrics. A Professional’s Guide to Decision Science and Problem Solving: Define the
Objectives and Identify Metrics. FT Press
(ftpress.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1807181&seqNum=10).