I've solved many profitability cases, and I always use the four step process: analyze financial data, find root cause, find solution, risk & next step. However, recently I have done two cases which only provides 1 year data of financial statement, and the focus is purely on the "solution side" (increase revenue or decrease cost). I am a bit confused because without finding a "root cause" or "specific problem", how could I come up with a solid solution to increase profitability? Here's my questions:
(1) For profitability cases, is it common to have no information about the change of revenue / cost / price / quantity?
(2) What information should I ask and how should I proceed with this case?