The Business School Case Method

1
The Business SchoolCase Method
Susan S. Harmeling
An Introduction to Researching, Writing and
Teaching Case Studies
Central European University Budapest, Hungary
October 2003
2
The Business School Case Method

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Overview
• 3 Attributes
• 4 Contents
• 5 Process
• 6 Case Solution
• 7 Teaching Notes
• 8 Summary

3
The Business School Case Method

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Overview
• 3 Attributes
• 4 Contents
• 5 Process
• 6 Case Solution
• 7 Teaching Notes
• 8 Summary

4
2. Overview

• Brief History of the Case Method
• Why Cases?
• Teaching vs. Researching and Writing
• An Article vs. a Case

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2. Overview

• Brief History of the Case Method

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2. Overview

• Brief History of the Case Method
• Pioneered at Harvard Law School by Dean Langdell
  in the late 1800s
• Langdell believed cases were a better way to
  teach law than textbooks
• Textbooks explicitly state the rule of law and
  explain why it exists. . . Cases, however, are
  the stuff of real life.

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2. Overview

• Brief History of the Case Method (cont)
• By synthesizing each cases lessons into a
  larger body of law, the first law students
  learned not only the rules but also the process
  of legal reasoning
• When cases are brilliantly written, they can be
  as enjoyable as a good piece of fiction.
  Theres drama, conflict, resolution, even humor.

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2. Overview

• Brief History of the Case Method (cont)
• But Langdell did not invent the case method on
  his own he resuscitated it from ancient Chinese
  philosophy
• In the 5th century B.C, the philosopher Lao-tzu
  wrote, If you tell me, I will listen. If you
  show me, I will see. But if you let me
  experience, I will learn.

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2. Overview

• Brief History of the Case Method (cont)
• The case method has been so successful at Harvard
  Law School, it is still used today, nearly 120
  years later, in almost the exact same form
• It has been adopted at Harvard Business School
  and many other institutions of higher learning
  around the world

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2. Overview

• Why Cases?

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2. Overview

• Why Cases?
• Business is a practical, hands-on discipline
• It should not be taught as a set of facts to
  absorb but rather as a way of behaving and of
  making decisions given a complex set of
  conditions
• Nothing in the classroom really simulates the
  real world, but cases come the closest to on the
  job training,e.g. to the real experience Lao-tzu
  referred to

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2. Overview

• Learning vs. Research Writing

vs.

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2. Overview

• Learning vs. Research Writing
• Cases are very different to read and discuss in
  class than to research and write
• The difference is what do I think is important
  to talk about vs. what do I think this case
  should get people talking about?
• This translates to, what lessons do I want the
  reader to come away with after a discussion of
  this case?

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2. Overview

• An Article vs. a Case
• Think about writing an article--you interview
  someone (the subject of the article) and you hear
  them say things you think are interesting. You
  put this down on paper. . .
• With a case, these ideas/thoughts must be
  organized so that specific lessons come across to
  the reader/student
• That is the difference between an article and a
  case

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2. Overview

• An Article vs. a Case (cont.)
• But what is the same is that both an article and
  a case are written well, use lots of quotes,
  come alive to the reader. . .
• If not, then the lessons of the case will be lost
  because it will be boring to read
• I guess that means that a case is like a
  well-written magazine article (with drama,
  conflict, etc as Langdell wrote), with exhibits,
  but arranged so as to make the lessons stand out

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2. Overview

• Questions?

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The Business School Case Method

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Overview
• 3 Attributes
• 4 Contents
• 5 Process
• 6 Case Solution
• 7 Teaching Notes
• 8 Summary

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3. Attributes of a Case Study
Realistic
Creative
Interactive
Dynamic
A Good Case Study
Repetitive
Active
Analytical
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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Realistic
• Creative
• Repetitive
• Analytical
• Active
• Interactive
• Dynamic

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Realistic

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Realistic
• Actual real-life situations that
• Provide a laboratory for testing how you would
  respond
• Show the actual factors involved/data available
  to the decision maker
• When studying a practical discipline like
  business, this approach clearly makes sense

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Creative

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Creative
• You have to be a creative thinker in order to do
  this
• No one is going to tell you what the right answer
  is
• You can imagine all the possibilities, and maybe
  some no one else has ever imagined

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Creative (continued)
• Lets see if we can think of other methods of
  teaching where this is true
• Lets say we are studying medicine--the
  instructor is teaching us facts about a certain
  part of the body, lets say the stomach--pure
  memorization
• What if, instead of that, we write a case about a
  patient complaining of stomach pain

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Creative (continued)
• Now, we really need to think why why why--we are
  getting to the bottom of a real problem
• Its not that we dont need to know all about the
  physiological details of the stomach (or of
  accounting, or finance), it is that we now need
  to take all the parts together and solve the
  problem

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Repetitive

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Repetitive
• Once you do something often, you start to get
  good at it
• The constant iterations of case study after case
  study in a course or an entire curriculum lead to
  the practice makes perfect syndrome
• Look at 500 patients complaining of stomach pain,
  and you learn to ask the right questions

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Analytical

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Analytical
• Helps you develop your problem solving ability in
  a way that lecture/exam learning does not
• You are the problem solver--no one else will give
  you the answer
• Once again, you are analyzing, not memorizing

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Active
• Not passive
• When you are being lectured to, you tend to fall
  asleep unless the lecture is really, really good
  
• In fact ...

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Interactive

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Interactive
• You learn not only from the person leading the
  case discussion but...
• ...You also learn from your interaction with
  the case and your classmates
• You discuss with each other the case issues,
  problems, etc.
• This leads to a group interaction that would not
  be possible with traditional classroom learning

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Interactive (Continued)
• In fact, in an ideal case discussion, the
  instructor has a lesser role and the students
  discussion is in the forefront
• The role of the instructor should be to guide the
  discussion, not to control or dominate it
• You should learn as much if not more from the
  discussion itself as you do from the instructor

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Dynamic

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Dynamic
• Always changing, never static, once again, like
  the real world
• You might also call this messy (like the way
  things really are!)
• But, that said, a good case should stand the
  test of time

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Dynamic
• The RR case is 15 years old and still has
  relevance today
• With the exception of some e-commerce or other
  technology-oriented cases, some of the classics
  last for years and their lessons bend with the
  changes in the environment
• Lets look at the RR case a bit again in this
  context

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Dynamic
• The numbers seem small by todays standards in
  the U.S, but. . .
• The creativity Bob used to assemble the various
  elements he needed to do the deal,
• The industry elements, dynamics, etc, and
• The cases major lessons
• ALL STAND THE TEST OF TIME

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3. Attributes of a Case Study

• Questions?

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The Business School Case Method

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Overview
• 3 Attributes
• 4 Contents
• 5 Process
• 6 Case Solution
• 7 Teaching Notes
• 8 Summary

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4. Contents of a Case Study
Background
Introduction
Industry/ Competition
Business Elements
Protagonist
Team
The Business Case Study Puzzle
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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Introduction
• Background
• Protagonist
• Team
• Industry/Competition
• Business Elements
• Note on Structure

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Introduction

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Introduction
• Starts at a particular point in time a date
• Introduces the reader to the central case issue,
  or hook
• Introduces the reader to the case protagonist
• Should not be any longer than 2 paragraphs or so

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Background

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Background
• Tells the story of the business or idea up until
  the time the case is set
• Usually includes some details that are directly
  relevant to the problem posed in the case, may
  exclude some less relevant details

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Protagonist

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Protagonist
• Background of the protagonist this would be
  particularly important in a case about an
  entrepreneur starting a businessdoes he/she have
  the right experience? The right business
  contacts?

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Team

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Team
• The rest of the people at the executive level of
  the company background, etc.
• Might include relevant details about the
  relationships between team members

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Industry/
• Competition

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Industry/Competition
• This is almost always relevant in some form
  (unless there is truly no one else trying to do
  this and that should also be stated)
• Are there organizations trying to do exactly the
  same thing? Something similar?
• What are the key differences between the concepts?

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Industry/Competition (cont.)
• Are there external factors--public sector,
  international competition, etc, that will affect
  the business?
• When others in the past have tried a similar
  concept, what has gone wrong? Why? Can this be
  corrected here? How?

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Business
• Elements

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Business Elements
• May re-visit the problem(s) in greater depthgive
  data relevant to the problem
• Similar to Industry/Competition section, but more
  internally focused
• Often will deal with operations or implementation
  issues

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Note on Structure
• As you can see, cases have a very formulaic
  structure
• That said, learning to write cases is a little
  like learning to walk before you learn to run
• What this means is that once you have the basic
  structure down, you can mix it up, add new
  elements as necessary, etc.

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Note on Structure
• The above structure is like a road map from which
  you can deviate once the basic elements are there
• The RR case is actually a good example of an
  atypical structure

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4. Contents of a Case Study

• Questions?

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The Business School Case Method

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Overview
• 3 Attributes
• 4 Contents
• 5 Process
• 6 Case Solution
• 7 Teaching Notes
• 8 Summary

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5. Process for a Case Study
Case Study
Review
Case Study Road Map
Choose
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5. Process for a Case Study

• Choosing a Subject
• Interviewing
• Writing a Draft
• Editing and Completion
• Review and Release

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5. Process for a Case Study
Choose
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5. Process for a Case Study

• Choosing a Subject
• Makes the point you wish to make (according to
  the teaching points/course outline)
• Committed to the case process
• No anticipated problems with case release

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5. Process for a Case Study
Case Study
Chosen
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5. Process for a Case Study
Case Study!
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5. Process for a Case Study

• Interviewing
• During the interview, always keep the case
  outline (Contents) in mind Case Hook,
  Background, Competition, Data Collection, etc.
• VIDEO My interview with Chic Thompson An
  examination of the interview process

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5. Process for a Case Study
Case Study
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5. Process for a Case Study

• Writing a Draft
• Best to start early, leave holes and fill in
  later
• The more iterations, the better
• Have a few different people read it and tell you
  where they are confused, what questions they
  have, what additional data they would like to
  see, etc.

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5. Process for a Case Study
Case Study
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5. Process for a Case Study

• Editing and Completion
• Often, the final edits are not made until the
  document has already been reviewed many times by
  you, by colleagues and by the company
• The editing and completion process can take up to
  2-3 months (lag time between each iteration, etc)

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5. Process for a Case Study
Case Study
Review
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5. Process for a Case Study

• Review and Release
• The best way to get a case released is to leave
  no surprises for the person with release
  authority
• This means showing drafts all the way along if
  possible
• Release needs to be in writing to avoid problems
  later

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5. Process for a Case Study
Case Study DONE!
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5. Process for a Case Study

• Questions?

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The Business School Case Method

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Overview
• 3 Attributes
• 4 Contents
• 5 Process
• 6 Case Solution
• 7 Teaching Notes
• 8 Summary

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6. Case Solution
Case Study
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6. Case Solution

• Why Was the TV Guide Game a Success?
• How Did Bob Achieve those Things?
• Why Did Everybody Follow Him?
• Why Is the Whole Thing Economically Feasible?
• Summary of Lessons Learned from the Case

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6. Case Solution

• Why Was the TV Guide Game a Success?
• Timing
• Publicity and promotion
• Distribution
• Topic
• Pricing
• Advertising

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6. Case Solution

• How Did Bob Achieve These Things?
• Very good knowledge of market
• How to sell it
• Ability to obtain the relationships he needed to
  succeed with TV Guide, with Ira, with suppliers,
  with buyers of major chains, with the media

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6. Case Solution

• Why Did Everybody Follow Him?
• The way the deal was structured, no one could
  lose
• All costs were variable
• No one had a risk of greater than 25,000 the
  risk-adjusted payoff is impressive

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6. Case Solution

• Why Is the Whole Thing Economically Feasible?
• Would not have been worth it to a large company
• They would need to make several million, invest
  millions in advertising, promotions, etc.
• Decisions take much longer

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6. Case Solution

• Summary of Lessons Learned from the Case
• How to spot opportunities pattern recognition
• Driving pursuit for entrepreneur is opportunity,
  even if resources not under entrepreneurs direct
  control
• Importance of relationships
• Importance of attention to detail

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6. Case Solution

• Summary of lessons learned from the case (cont.)
  
• Entrepreneur must have some competitive
  advantage. In this case, Bobs knowledge of the
  market, ability to gather necessary resources
• Opportunity is seldom waiting out there for
  entrepreneur to grab it. In this case, the real
  opportunity was created by Bob

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6. Case Solution

• Questions?

84
The Business School Case Method

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Overview
• 3 Attributes
• 4 Contents
• 5 Process
• 6 Case Solution
• 7 Teaching Notes
• 8 Summary

85
7. Teaching Notes
Case Study Teaching Notes
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7. Teaching Notes

• The Purpose of Teaching Notes
• What Teaching Notes Should Explain
• The Contents of Teaching Notes
• How to Prepare Teaching Notes
• Choreographing a Case Discussion

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7. Teaching Notes

• The Purpose of Teaching Notes
• Increase teaching effectiveness
• Save time
• Build confidence
• Guide casewriting
• Contribute intellectual capital

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7. Teaching Notes

• The Purpose of Teaching Notes (cont.)
• Increase teaching effectiveness
• Make the why, what and how of teaching more
  explicit
• Enhance capacity to lead learning discussions
• Increase the probability of classroom success
• Enhance the return on the investment made in
  developing the case study

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7. Teaching Notes

• The Purpose of Teaching Notes (cont.)
• Save time
• Not a surrogate for preparation, but greatly
  enhance the preparation process
• Provide instructor with a running start
• 6 hours of preparation would be double without a
  well-written teaching note

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7. Teaching Notes

• The Purpose of Teaching Notes (cont.)
• Build confidence
• Reduces the Unknown
• Lowers Risk
• Particularly helpful for teachers new to the case
  method

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7. Teaching Notes

• The Purpose of Teaching Notes (cont.)
• Guide casewriting
• Interactive process between case and note cases
  are prepared with the discussion dynamics in mind
• In other words, a case ought not to have been
  written without having its educational objectives
  and teaching plan clear

92
7. Teaching Notes

• The Purpose of Teaching Notes (cont.)
• Contribute intellectual capital
• Carriers of ideas and communicators of insights
  about both the subject matter and the pedagogy
  for disseminating it
• Notes, even more than case studies, reveal
  quality of thought, pedagogical creativity and
  communication skills
• Teaching notes constitute a valuable part of the
  individuals and the institutions intellectual
  capital

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7. Teaching Notes

• What teaching notes should explain
• What the case is about
• Where it fits in a course
• Why we are teaching it
• What we are going to teach
• How we can teach it

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7. Teaching Notes

• The Contents of Teaching Notes
• Synopsis
• Positioning
• Objectives
• Substantive analysis
• Teaching process

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7. Teaching Notes

• The Contents of Teaching Notes (cont.)
• Synopsis
• Introduction to the teaching note
• Half-page summary of the case and its major
  issues

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7. Teaching Notes

• The Contents of Teaching Notes (cont.)
• Positioning
• Position the case in a certain place in the
  overall course
• Positioning fundamentally affects what goes into
  the note--reader must understand this perspective
• Such transparency will allow instructor to make
  adjustments to the notes teaching suggestions to
  fit his or her needs

97
7. Teaching Notes

• The Contents of Teaching Notes (cont.)
• Objectives
• Educational objectives are the cornerstone of the
  teaching note
• 3 categories skill building, knowledge
  enhancement and attitudinal development
• Dont confuse issues with objectives, or what
  students will learn with what they will do
• Dont overload session

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7. Teaching Notes

• The Contents of Teaching Notes (cont.)
• Substantive analysis
• Lays out an analysis of the cases key issues
• May be together with teaching process or separate
• Should point out alternative paths of analysis
  and pros and cons of these
• May include data from case exhibits
• Should summarize intellectual takeaways from
  analysis

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7. Teaching Notes

• The Contents of Teaching Notes (cont.)
• Teaching process
• Teaching Strategy/Discussion Structure
• Question Plan
• Special Techniques
• Opening
• Transitions
• Closing
• Board Plan
• Audio-Visuals

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7. Teaching Notes

• How to Prepare Teaching Notes
• Integral part of writing cases
• Note should not be finalized until case is
  finished and thought--classroom experience
  informs the content of the note
• Teaching notes are ever-evolving and should be
  frequently updated
• Reference maps not drama scripts

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7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion
• Lecturing a case
• Theorizing a case
• Illustrating a case
• The learning process
• But what does this mean?
• Four sections to a good case class

102
7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion (cont.)
• Lecturing a case
• Leads the class through case analysis
• Follows the sequence the instructor feels most
  appropriate
• Student enthusiasm depends on power of instructor
• May go well, but HOW MUCH DO STUDENTS LEARN?

103
7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion (cont.)
• Theorizing a case
• Instructor uses case as a vehicle to convey
  conceptual or theoretical knowledge
• Case may lend credence to one view and falsify
  another--instructor must reconcile
• Students may be impressed with how brilliant
  instructor is
• But HOW MUCH HAVE THEY LEARNED?

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7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion (cont.)
• Illustrating a case
• Often used by management consultants and speakers
  on the business circuit
• Success of class depends on how relevant story
  is to management issues at hand
• May be entertaining or may trivialize the case
• Even if entertaining, HOW MUCH HAVE STUDENTS
  LEARNED?

105
7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion (cont.)
• The learning process
• None of the above methods address the learning
  philosophy of case teaching
• A good case teacher relies on his or her students
  to learn inductively from the case data
• Everything is relevant to context, time
• This is why the most effective method is. . . . .
  . . . . . . . .

106
7. Teaching Notes

• . . . choreographing a case discussion!!!

107
7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion (cont.)
• But what does this mean?
• Lead students through key conceptual and decision
  issues in the case without pre-judging the
  correctness of students contributions
• Therefore, goes against typical authority
  relationship between teacher and student
• Students become their own teachers

108
7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion (cont.)
• But what does this mean? (cont.)
• This does not mean the instructor has no point of
  view--it just means that he/she doesnt
  pre-suppose that their point of view is the most
  accurate
• Wrong analyses should not be pardoned, but they
  are better explained through patient discussion
  rather than overt correction by the instructor

109
7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion (cont.)
• But what does this mean? (cont.)
• Risky business teacher has less control
• May end up like a traffic cop just deciding who
  should go next, recording arguments and providing
  little learning (or even entertainment)

110
7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion (cont.)
• Four sections to a good case class
• Decision orientation
• Themes/Analyses
• Structure
• Closing

111
7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion (cont.)
• Four sections to a good case class (cont.)
• Decision orientation
• Should always ask the question, What would you
  do if you were the case protagonist?
• Goal must be an Action Plan although the
  decision maker will never have enough time or
  data to get it all right, they must make a
  decision nonetheless

112
7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion (cont.)
• Four sections to a good case class (cont.)
• Themes/Analyses
• Should not go into class with more than 4-5
  thematic areas for discussion
• Instructor should show how themes are linked to
  each other

113
7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion (cont.)
• Four sections to a good case class (cont.)
• Structure
• Component 1 The amount of time that should be
  allotted to the major themes of the discussion
• Component 2 Using both verbal and visual cues
  for class to see how themes build and link to
  each other

114
7. Teaching Notes

• Choreographing a Case Discussion (cont.)
• Four sections to a good case class (cont.)
• Closing
• Important to repeat the major themes you have
  discussed
• Show linkages between themes
• Underscore arguments within the themes
• Show how these arguments finally hang together
• Show what kind of action planning judgments can
  be made

115
7. Teaching Notes

• Questions?

116
The Business School Case Method

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Overview
• 3 Attributes
• 4 Contents
• 5 Process
• 6 Case Solution
• 7 Teaching Notes
• 8 Summary

117
8. Summary

• Case Learning is
• Frustrating
• Difficult
• Uncertain
• Unpredictable
• BUT IT IS THE BEST WAY TO TEACH PRACTICAL
  BUSINESS SKILLS!!

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8. Summary

• Questions?

119
Thank you! Susan S. Harmeling

• Email harmelings_at_aol.com
• Phone [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• Address 4500 Davenport St. N.W.
• Washington, D.C. 20016