Business School Case Studies

Get the Basics

Business school case studies are usually written specifically for instructional use. Harvard, Stanford, IIMs and
many other business schools use the case study method within their curriculum.
What are Case Studies?
Case studies are written summaries of real-life business situations based upon data and research. In reading a
case study a picture of what has happened to a company over a period of time can be gained. These could include
events such as organisational change and strategy decisions within an organisation as well as outside factors and
influences. A case study can be a shortened, second hand version of a real-life situation. It enables students to
appreciate and analyse real problems and events faced by people in business. Case studies are also used to
illustrate theory studied in class and allow that theory to be applied.
Why Case Studies
Business Schools use case studies to teach students how to assess business situations and make decisions
based upon those assessments. Students may work with as many as 800 case studies during a two-year MBA
program.
Analysing a Case Study.
When analysing a case the key issues need to be identified and appropriate strategies suggested to solve the
problems of the 'case'. Case study analysis requires thinking through the issues, considering a range of strategies
and actions and recommending a "solution" to the case issues.
Steps for case study analysis:
1. Read the case carefully more than once
2. Analyse the company's development from the information provided.
3. If appropriate, undertake a SWOT analysis. (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats)
4. Identify the problems
5. Evaluate the options of possible solutions.
6. Recommend solutions.
Remember there is often no 'correct' answer to a case study.
Analysing a Strategy Case Study - Some Tips
Give yourself time to assimilate a case
The longer that a case study is given to “sink in” to your subconscious, the deeper the understanding you will get
and the better your answers will be. Read the case material for the first time as soon as you have been allocated it
as an assignment or seminar example. Get a general impression:
• Which organisations and industries does it relate to?
• Is the organisation doing well or badly now, and how has it performed in the past? Is it a company that has an
unbroken record of success? Or a successful company that has fallen on hard times?
• What are the main issues and choices confronting the company? Is it in an expanding industry, or a maturing
one? Are customer needs changing? Does the firm confront a variety of opportunities? Or is there a particular
business decision which the case is oriented towards?
• What information is there in the case, as tables and annexes?
Analyse thoroughly, and use what you have been learning
Put the case aside for a few days before reading it a second time. Then, start to analyse it seriously:
• Look at the development of the organisation over time. What strategies has it pursued? Which have
succeeded and which have failed? Which are the types of environment where it has been able to succeed, and
in which types has it had problems?
• Use the tools and techniques of strategic management theory, to see what insights they give you. What is the
nature of the competitive environment? What kind of strategic resources does the organisation have – and
which does it lack? How successful has the organisation been – and how do you know?
• Look carefully at all the tables, annexes and appendices. Why are they there? What information is the case
writer trying to get you to get out of them?
• If there are numerical data in the case – analyse them. What trends over time do they show? What ratios can
you use to analyse performance in areas that are important to the organisation?
Then, if you have time, put the case aside again for a day or two, and let all this sink in. You may at this stage like
to use SWOT analysis as a framework for a preliminary analysis of your thinking. But beware – SWOT analysis is
not sufficiently precise to feature in a good final report.
Relate your analysis to the question
Now start to relate the analysis to the task or question you have been set.
• What elements of the strategic analysis do you require to carry out the task, and how do they relate to it?
• Is there further information or analysis that you need?
Be logical and critical
Think hard about your conclusions and recommendations.
• Have you really demonstrated them, backing up your reasoning with hard evidence (events and results) from
the case study?
• Have you allowed yourself to be swayed by the opinions of the organisation’s own managers? They have a
vested interest in showing their actions in the best possible light. You do not have to agree. Do the facts
support their claims of success, or their excuses for failure?
• Beware of being taken in by the rhetoric of the case writer. Sometimes they may genuinely believe that this is a
wonderful company, sometimes they may just be trying to mislead you.
We can read what they think – we want to know what you think! Dare to be different – if you can
marshal the evidence to support what you say.
Make sure it is clear what you are recommending...
If you are asked for a particular decision or recommendation, make sure that it is clearly stated (i.e. not just
implied) in the report. You may have come up with fifteen good reasons why the company should enter the
market in Utopia, but unless you clearly state that that is what you recommend, you will lose marks.
...and why
Make sure that, in developing recommendations:
• You have considered the alternatives. There is hardly ever just one, single “obvious” response to a
strategic problem. And bear in mind that, if there is, all the company’s competitors will have thought of it,
too!
• You have made it clear why the recommendation you have chosen is the best of the available
alternatives. That means showing what is wrong with the others!
• You have looked at the downside of your proposals. Try to avoid proposals that would bankrupt the
company if they failed, or which can be easily copied by the competition.