Case Method
The case method is a teaching approach that presents the students with a case and puts them in the role of a decision maker facing a problem (Hammond 1976). The case method overlaps with the case study method, but the two are not identical. "Case studies recount real life business or management situations that present business executives with a dilemma or uncertain outcome. The case describes the scenario in the context of the events, people and factors that influence it and enables students to identify closely with those involved. " — European Case Clearing House, Case studies. "
Business Case Discussion
A lot can be learned from the contents of a business case.
Typically, information is presented about a business firm's products, markets, competition, financial structure, sales volumes, management, employees, and other factors affecting the firm's success. The length of a business case study can range from two or three pages to 30 pages or more.
Business schools often obtain case studies published by the Harvard Business School, INSEAD, the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, the Darden School at the University of Virginia, IESE, other academic institutions, or case clearing houses (such as European Case Clearing House). Harvard's most popular case studies include Lincoln Electric Co. and Google, Inc.
Students are expected to scrutinize the case study and prepare to discuss strategies and tactics that the firm should employ in the future. Three different methods have been used in business case teaching:
- Prepared case-specific questions to be answered by the student. This is used with short cases intended for undergraduate students. The underlying concept is that such students need specific guidance to be able to analyze case studies.
- Problem-solving analysis. This method, initiated by the Harvard Business School is by far the most widely used method in MBA and executive development programs. The underlying concept is that with enough practice (that is, hundreds of case analyses) students develop intuitive skills for analyzing and resolving complex business situations. Successful implementation of this method depends heavily on the skills of the discussion leader.
- A generally applicable strategic planning approach. This third method does not require students to analyze hundreds of cases. A strategic planning model is provided, and students are instructed to apply the steps of the model to between six and twelve cases during a semester. This is sufficient to develop their ability to analyze a complex situation, generate a variety of possible strategies, and select the best ones. In effect, students learn a generally applicable approach to analyzing cases studies and real situations. This approach does not make any extraordinary demands on the artistic and dramatic talents of the teacher. Consequently, most professors are capable of supervising application of this method.
History of Business Cases
When Harvard Business School was founded, the faculty realized that there were no textbooks suitable to a graduate program in business. Their first solution to this problem was to interview leading practitioners of business and to write detailed accounts of what these managers were doing. Of course, the professors could not present these cases as practices to be emulated because there were no criteria available for determining what would succeed and what would not succeed. So the professors instructed their students to read the cases and to come to class prepared to discuss the cases and to offer recommendations for appropriate courses of action. The basic outlines of this method are still present in business school curricula today.