# ChatGPT for business students: case studies, Excel and business plans

> AI for business students: case studies, Excel formulas and presentations without generic filler, plus a startup plan built on official Monsha'at tools.

![ChatGPT for business students: case studies, Excel and business plans](https://tiswa.app/assets/blog/ai-for-business-students/ai-for-business-students-cover-en.webp)

ChatGPT for business students has one well-known trap. Ask it for a SWOT of any company and you get points that fit every company: strong brand, intense competition. Your instructor recognises them from the first line. Students who get real value force the tool to work from the case facts and numbers, and use it for the tasks that eat time: formulas, formatting, slides and rehearsing for class discussion.

## Case studies: the method that avoids generic answers

1. **Read the case yourself first**: Identify the decision, who has to make it and by when. That part should never be outsourced.
2. **Pull out the numbers**: Paste the case exhibits and ask the tool to turn them into ratios: revenue growth, margins, product mix. Check at least two calculations by hand.
3. **Ask for a framework tied to the case**: Request SWOT, Porter or PESTEL on the condition that every point links to a sentence or figure in the case.
4. **Generate alternatives**: Ask for three decision options, each with its cost, risk and the resources it needs.
5. **Defend your recommendation**: Pick the recommendation yourself, then ask the tool to attack it the way your instructor will in class.

![5-step flow: Read the case yourself first / Pull out the numbers / Ask for a framework tied to the case / Generate alternatives / Defend your recommen](https://tiswa.app/assets/blog/ai-for-business-students/ai-for-business-students-inline-1-en.webp)


A SWOT tied to the case:

```
I am a business administration student. Here is a case study: [text]. Write a SWOT in which every point is backed by a short quote or figure from the case in brackets. Drop any point you cannot support from the text. Then tell me which quadrant has the weakest evidence.
```

Rehearse the cold call:

```
My recommendation for this case is [recommendation] because [reasons]. Act as a professor running a case discussion. Ask me five questions in a row that press on my weakest assumption, one at a time, and wait for my answer before the next one.
```

## Excel: the skill every course asks for

From managerial accounting to operations management, most assignments in the major run through a spreadsheet. The tool is excellent at formulas if you describe the sheet exactly: column names, where the data starts and what result you want.

An Excel formula from a sheet description:

```
I have an Excel sheet: column A is order date, B is region, C is product, D is quantity, E is unit price. Data runs from row 2 to row 500. I want total sales per region per month. Give me both ways: a SUMIFS formula and the steps for a pivot table. Explain why SUMIFS can return wrong totals if the dates are stored as text.
```

A simple sensitivity analysis:

```
These are the assumptions in a sales plan: [assumptions]. Design an Excel sensitivity sheet that moves price and volume up and down by 10% to 30%. Give me the formulas cell by cell and show me how to build a two-variable data table.
```

If you do not have Office yet, read [Office free for students](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/office-for-students/), and for the basics step by step see [Excel for students](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/excel-for-students/).

## A startup plan built on official sources

In entrepreneurship courses, the strongest plan knows the real support landscape in Saudi Arabia. The [Monshaat](https://www.monshaat.gov.sa/) website (the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority) has material you can build on directly:

- A guide to business analysis models and tools, a reference for the frameworks your plan needs.
- A guide to support programmes and services, so you know which support fits your stage.
- The university startups programme and the university startup accelerators programme.
- A programme to encourage women entrepreneurs.
- The business atlas, consulting and mentoring, and SME support centres.

A business plan from scratch:

```
I am a business student in Saudi Arabia preparing a business plan for my entrepreneurship course. The idea: [idea]. The target customer: [customer]. Help me build a nine-block business model canvas, and under each block write one question I can only answer by interviewing a real customer. Do not invent market sizes or statistics; leave those blank for me to fill from an official source.
```

> **Tip**: Never accept a market size or growth rate the tool writes. Ask it to leave the cell blank and fill it from an official source you cite.

## Example: a SWOT analysis that is not generic

Most generated SWOT analyses say "strong competition" and "digital opportunities" about any company. Make yours specific: pick a café in your neighbourhood, and write your own notes on prices, busy hours, nearby competitors and how people order. Then ask the tool to sort your notes into the matrix and to ask you, for each point, what the evidence is. A point with no evidence is either removed or sent back for a source. That way the analysis is yours and the tool only organises it.

Review a group report before submission:

```
This is our group report for [course]. Do not rewrite it.
- Mark sections that repeat the same idea.
- Mark any claim with no number or source.
- Suggest a clearer order of headings.
- Write three questions the professor might ask in the presentation.

[paste the report]
```

## Mistakes business students make

- Market figures from the tool with no source: tools can invent convincing statistics. Take numbers from official bodies and cite them.
- One template for every course: professors spot copied analysis quickly, and marks go to analysis tied to the case.
- Ignoring local context: tie examples to the Saudi market and to businesses you see around you.
- Putting off practice: [co-op training](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/coop-training/) is where you test what you learned on a real company.

Canva Pro is free through Canva for Campus for your pitch decks, and Google AI Plus is free for university students in Saudi Arabia. Open both from [tiswa study tools](https://tiswa.app/en/deals/study/). [Join tiswa](https://tiswa.app/en/join/)

## Marketing courses: personas and surveys

In principles of marketing or consumer behaviour, ask the tool for a draft of a short survey for your target customer, then ask it to review each question: is it leading, does it ask two things at once? Once you have real responses from classmates or the market, paste the results and ask it to build a persona from them only. A persona built on real answers, even twenty of them, scores better than a perfect one the tool invents from nothing.

## Presentations and group projects

- Write the content yourself, then ask the tool to cut each slide down to one headline and one number.
- Ask for the questions the panel is likely to ask after you present, and split them across the team.
- Use Canva to lay out the slides, and see [presentation tips](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/presentation-tips/) for the design rules.
- In group work, ask the tool to split tasks by course requirement and each member skill, then put them on a shared Notion board.

## Internships and your first job

The same tool prepares you for life after class: turning course projects into CV achievements and rehearsing interview questions for graduate programmes. Start with [a CV for students with no experience](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/cv-for-students/) and [job interview questions](https://tiswa.app/en/blog/job-interview-questions/).

## Questions

### How do I use AI for a case study without generic answers?

Require every point to be backed by a quote or figure from the case text, and ask it to drop any point without evidence.

### Does ChatGPT write Excel formulas correctly?

Usually, if you describe the sheet exactly: columns, data range and the result you want. Test the formula on a few rows where you know the answer before applying it to everything.

### Should I use market figures the tool gives me in a business plan?

No. Leave the figures blank and fill them from official sources that you cite.

### Where can I find support programmes for student startups in Saudi Arabia?

The Monshaat website lists the university startups programme, the university startup accelerators programme and a guide to support programmes and services.

### What is the best tool for business presentations?

Canva Pro is free through Canva for Campus, and you can open it from the tiswa app once you are verified.


## Sources

[^1]: monshaat.gov.sa, https://www.monshaat.gov.sa/