What You'll Learn in This Article

  • The difference between frameworks explicitly named in exam questions and those you should use even when they aren't mentioned
  • A quick-reference table of "primary frameworks" and "supporting frameworks" for each of Cases I–IV
  • How to train yourself to use frameworks as a tool for sorting through the case text

In Part 1, we looked at data from 230 questions across the past 10 years to figure out where to focus your energy. Part 2 breaks down how to use frameworks (FWs) for each case type.

First, a premise I can't stress enough:

Frameworks are tools — they help you organize the case text and pick up every relevant point in a way that makes sense to the grader. Writing the framework's name in your answer is not the goal.

Just because you used SWOT doesn't mean you need to write "as a result of SWOT analysis." What matters is whether you've captured the case text without gaps, using the lenses of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Two Types of Frameworks

Analyzing the past 10 years of questions, frameworks fall into two broad categories:

  1. Frameworks explicitly named in the question (SWOT, 3C, 4P) — phrased like "describe from a SWOT perspective," meaning you're required to answer using that structure. When these appear, you want to nail them.
  2. Frameworks not named but recommended for use (STP, growth strategy, QCD, etc.) — the question doesn't mention them by name, but applying them as a skeleton for your answer prevents you from missing anything.

Let's start with ①.

① Frameworks Explicitly Named in Questions

SWOT Analysis — The Most Frequently Tested

A staple of Case II Question 1, and in recent years it's appeared in Case I as well (2025).

  • Structure: Strength / Weakness / Opportunity / Threat
  • When to use: Current-state analysis. The format "write 30–40 characters per element in the answer box" comes up often.

The biggest pitfall is mixing up internal and external environments.

  • Strengths & Weaknesses = internal environment (things the company can change)
  • Opportunities & Threats = external environment (things the company cannot change)

Getting these crossed will cost you serious points. Also, an "opportunity" isn't just any external change — the trick is to pick external changes that your company can actually leverage.

3C Analysis — Appears in Case II Question 1 Roughly Every Other Year

This current-state analysis framework alternates with SWOT in the exam rotation.

  • Structure: Customer (customers/market) / Competitor / Company
  • Tip: Write about all three elements in roughly equal depth — don't lean too heavily on any one.

3C and SWOT share a lot of raw material. Understanding that Company's strengths and weaknesses map to SWOT's S and W, while Customer and Competitor analysis feeds into O and T, lets you handle both formats with ease.

4P (Marketing Mix) — Your Checklist for Covering All Tactics

This is your go-to checklist when advising on "what initiatives should be taken" in Case II.

  • Structure: Product / Price / Place (distribution) / Promotion
  • Tip: Tread carefully with Price. Reflexive price cuts are generally a no-go — think about pricing that reflects the value being offered.

② Frameworks Not Named but Worth Using

STP — Lock Down "Who" Before Jumping to Tactics

  • Structure: Segmentation → Targeting → Positioning
  • When to use: Clarify your target before answering with tactics. In Case II advisory questions, writing in "target → tactics" order keeps things tidy. For SMEs, narrowing the target is the standard play.

Competitive Strategy — SMEs Go for "Differentiation & Focus"

  • Structure: Cost leadership / Differentiation / Focus
  • When to use: Because SMEs are outgunned on scale, the textbook move is to avoid price competition (cost leadership) and instead differentiate using their strengths or concentrate on a specific market.

Growth Strategy (Ansoff Matrix) — Increasingly Relevant for New Business Topics

  • Structure: Market penetration / New product development / New market development / Diversification
  • When to use: As we saw in Part 1, new business questions have increased in the latter five years. Advise with an eye on which growth direction is being taken, while highlighting synergies with existing strengths.

QCD — Sorting Through Case III Production Management

  • Structure: Quality / Cost / Delivery
  • When to use: For Case III's "identify production management issues and propose countermeasures" questions, pinpointing which QCD element the case text is pointing to ensures you don't miss anything.

Other Supporting Frameworks

  • Five Forces: Deep-diving into the competitive environment and threats (fleshes out the T in SWOT)
  • Value Chain: A mental map for identifying which part of the process a company's strengths lie in
  • Relationship Marketing: Building loyal repeat customers (getting renewed attention in recent Case II questions)

Quick-Reference Table: Frameworks by Case

Case Primary Frameworks Supporting Frameworks
Case I (Organization & HR) SWOT, Competitive Strategy, Growth Strategy Organizational Structure, Value Chain
Case II (Marketing & Distribution) 3C, SWOT, STP, 4P Relationship Marketing, Five Forces
Case III (Production & Technology) QCD, Growth Strategy Value Chain, Five Forces
Case IV (Finance & Accounting) 3 perspectives of management analysis (profitability, efficiency, safety) CVP, investment decisions (NPV) *calculation procedures are central

Case IV is less about frameworks per se and more about "3 perspectives of management analysis + calculation methods." The standard approach for Question 1's management analysis — selecting indicators from the three categories of profitability, efficiency, and safety — effectively functions as the framework here.

The Core Skill: Training Yourself to "Sort" the Case Text

The real value of frameworks kicks in when you can read the case text and automatically tag each piece of information — "this is a strength," "this is an opportunity." The most effective way to build that skill is to practice filling in a blank template (a fill-in sheet) with keywords from the case text.

For Case I, for example, you'd work through it like this:

0. Case notes (company overview, president's vision)
   ↓
SWOT (4 boxes for S/W/O/T + cross-SWOT)
   ↓
Competitive Strategy (source of differentiation / market to focus on)
   ↓
Growth Strategy (direction of growth / strengths to leverage / anticipated risks)
   ↓
Organizational Structure (current issues / ideal structure)

For Case II it's "3C → SWOT → STP → 4P," and for Case III it's "QCD → production improvements → growth strategy."

The key is to naturally connect current-state analysis (SWOT, 3C) to strategy and tactics (STP, 4P, growth strategy). "Leverage strengths (S / Company) against opportunities (O / Customer)" — this core logic runs through every single case.

You Can Make the Fill-In Sheet Yourself — But "Running" It Is the Hard Part

You're welcome to make this fill-in sheet yourself on paper or in Word. But once you actually try it, the switching cost of juggling the case text PDF, the fill-in sheet, and your draft is significant. Keeping up a cycle of "fill in with hints → hide hints and fill in from memory" on paper gets tedious fast.

📱 We turned this fill-in sheet into an iPad app

The app I developed, "Jirei Drill" (Case Drill) (iPad only), comes pre-loaded with the case-specific fill-in sheets introduced above — Case I: SWOT, Competitive Strategy, Growth Strategy, Organizational Structure / Case II: 3C, SWOT, STP, 4P / Case III: QCD, Production Improvements, Growth Strategy — complete with hints for each field.

  • Practice sorting with the case text (10 years of past exams included) and the fill-in sheet side by side in split view
  • Hints for each field can be toggled ON (fill in while reading) / OFF (fill in from memory) with a single tap — so you can start by learning the structure, then graduate to filling it in from scratch when you're ready
  • Also includes AI-generated framework answer examples for every year, so you can compare your sorting against them

▶ View "Jirei Drill" on the App Store

Tips for Mastering Frameworks (Summary)

  • When the question specifies a framework (①): Fill in your answer following that framework's labels. Four elements for SWOT, three for 3C — cover them evenly.
  • Even when no framework is named (②): Apply a framework mentally to make sure you're not missing any angle. Don't write the framework name in your answer.
  • Frameworks bridge analysis and tactics: Connect the strengths and opportunities surfaced in current-state analysis (common in Question 1) to the strategy proposals in later questions.
  • The core of every case is "leverage strengths against opportunities": Think S×O in SWOT, Company×Customer in 3C.

Next Up: How to Actually Practice with These Tools

Even once you can sort the case text using frameworks, turning that into a passing-level answer takes a different kind of training. Part 3 walks through a concrete 5-step study method combining generative AI with Fuzoroi no Goukaku Touanshu (a popular collection of real passing answers) — including a "3-way comparison" between your answer, the AI's answer, and the book's answers, plus a "2-stage answer method" for trimming your response to fit the word count. It's the most hands-on installment in the series, so stick around.

Series Index

The iPad app "Jirei Drill" — which lets you put the study flow from this series into practice — is now available (covers Cases I–III, one-time purchase, works offline).