Case studies for undergraduate and postgraduate levels

1. How to Write
Business Case Studies
By
Maxwell Ranasinghe
Presentation made to
“Marketing Department ‘s Lecturer’s Forum”
University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
At Hotel Royal Park
29-07-2016

2. Outline of the presentation
 Types of Case studies
 Importance of case studies
 Undergraduate/ MBA level case studies
 Guideline for case study writing
 Developing a plot
 Where to get information
 How to get commitment from a company to write
a real case study
 Structure of a case study
 Q & A
 Comments of Harvard’s “Nike” case study
 Discussion

3.  We write assignments/case studies for
testing of knowledge and skills of
students
 We usually write two types of
scenarios as follows:
◦ 1. Find the answer through given facts
◦ ( analysis based assignments)
◦ 2. Request students to answer by
collecting further information from the
market place
◦ ( tasks based assignments)

4.  The first option where you provide
information in the case study itself and
let student answer it without referring to
any other material (but with logical
assumptions)
These case studies can be given in an
exam, where student write the answer on
his own
 The second option is a kind of
exploratory, observational or research
type of tasks. These case studies can be
given as individual or group
assignments.

5.  A business case study puts the student in
to real life scenario.
 It challenges student to apply theory he
or she has learnt in the class to a practical
situation.
 The case study should be a story that
changes the student’s view point to a
business manager’s

6.  Student should feel that he is the
principal character( protagonist-
ප්‍රෝටැ) who is given the responsibility
of solving the problem in the case.
 He should also feel that the body of
knowledge that he had acquired
through academic work and
experience can be used to handle
the case.

7. Therefore, a good case study
should be written to create a
real life kind of situation with a
well crafted story to intrigue
the student.

8. Undergraduate level case
studies
Case study writers who write
cases for undergraduate level or
diploma Level students should
bear in mind that the answer
expected could be provided well
with the level of knowledge and
experience that those students
posses.

9. Case study should not be
complicated and it should
have one central decision
point or dilemma ( bear in
mind that this is not an MBA
case)

10. MBA Level case studies
 These case studies may have one or
more core issues and could be
complicated.
 Therefore the case writer should be in a
position to describe a scenario that has
many facets to the problem
 Case writer has to mix different areas of
the problem to form a challenging
situation
 Individual related areas could be thought
separately and it has to be mixed
together by superimposing each other to
have a one single story. It is a challenge
!

11. Layers to be thought separately
and superimposed
 Internal layer( staff relations, resource
constraints and corporate culture etc.)
 Operational layer(Suppliers,
Intermediaries, Competitors- Direct
and Indirect ,Customers of a
business/marketer, Publics)
 External layer ( PESTEEL factors)
 It is important to note that they are not
written in sequence but throughout
the story

12. Lets start with undergraduate
case study to illustrate
 Case should have a proper
problem within the facts of the
case.
 Student should not feel that he
can answer the case study
without going through the facts of
the case but referring to the class
notes or any other material

13.  The nature of the situation should be
clearly apparent once the case is
read.
 Most importantly the case writer
should not write too much of
background details which may not
have much bearing on the problem.

14. In marketing case studies
Case writers should be careful
when making the plot of the
story not to end up in asking
the student to write a
marketing plan as it has
become a common feature of
many marketing case studies.

15.  There is no proper format for case
studies but it is always better to
have a logical format so that the
case writer will be directed to
include the main ingredients of a
case study.

16. Have you got to follow
Harvard, Princeton or Yale
University styles ? No
 Have your own style. Then
only you will get creative and
objective.
Can we have a simple
guideline in writing case
studies ? Yes

17. Guideline
1. Decide what you need to
test in students through the
case study.
2. Develop a plot
3. Structure the case
4. Find information and data to
fill the structure

18.  5. Provide symptoms of the
situation
 6. Let student analyse the
symptoms and find out the central
problem.
 7. Ask questions to provide
answers to the central problem or
problems

19. Decide what you need to test in
students through the case study.
 Most importantly the case writer
should know the level of
knowledge and experience that
the student posses
 At least the course content and
the syllabus should be known to
the case writer

20. Case writer should not write a
problem that he has to face in
his business which may not be
suitable to check on students
at this level or in the subject
that the case is given

21.  Case writer should know the
areas of studies done by the
student where the practical
application is very important
 Those are the areas that he
should test through a case study.
 Then the student will also
appreciate about the importance
of the case study

22. Developing a plot
 Here the case writers creativity comes to
play ( copying from other exam papers or
case books are not recommended….. be
creative ??????)
 He can have any kind of logical formats
(where the facts that he is going to relate
will have a bearing on finding the symptoms
of the problem that would finally pave the
way in finding the central problem)
 The plot should provide a “fine idea” “ big
idea” to be structured and developed

23. Where to get information
 Internet is a great source
 Newspaper articles
 Magazines
 Students’ assignments
 Your own experience
 Many other secondary sources

24. If you are indicating actual information of a
company, please take proper authority to
indicate them in your case study
 If a business case employs insider
information, written permission must be
obtained from the company to use,
publish, and market the case study.
 Organizations can be notoriously
frustrating to work with in this regard—
especially large, complex organizations
with sophisticated legal and marketing
departments.
 Once the case is complete, it can take
months (or longer) to obtain permission
and approvals. So many drafts may
have to be written

25.  It is best to let the organization know
up front that you are writing a case
study that will be used in teaching and
published for use in institutions of
higher learning.
 Assembling the right team of
advocates for the case study is a
critical task, and the team should
include representatives from the
company.

26. WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE
FEATURED ORGANIZATION?
 The role of the Featured Organization
is to provide information and data, to
check for accuracy/completeness,
and to assist in final review and
release of the case.
 Most importantly, the Featured
Organization must provide legal
permission to use the case for
educational purposes upon
completion of the case.

27. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BEING A
FEATURED ORGANIZATION?
 1. Being a Featured Organization is
both a practical and altruistic role.
The organization will play a
significant role in helping
tomorrow’s business leaders
become better prepared to face
complex decisions in the
constantly-changing world of
business.

28.  2. The organization will also gain
broad exposure to thousands of
future graduates who are likely to
seek out the organization for
employment.
 ( Students with diverse experience may
come out with fine answers)

29.  3. Many Featured Organizations use
the completed case study in their
internal training programs.
 4. Employees within the Featured
Organizations benefit from sharing
the importance of their roles and
tasks in the case study’s business
situation.

30. Structuring the case studies
 Title and introduction
 Company
 Industry
 Competitors
 Symptoms of the problem
 Challenges
 Problems to be answered

31. Structuring the case
studies….
Title and Introduction
 It is always better to have a creative
title so that the student will feel he is
not reading another note
 Even a journalistic title should create
interest in student to read
 In a case study written in English can
even have a title in your own mother
tongue

32. Introduction
 Within the first paragraph, identify the
protagonist. ( main character)
 Within the first few paragraphs,
present—from the protagonist’s point of
view—the decision point. Identify other
major players, if relevant.
 Provide the context for the situation.
Include the situation’s time frame,
location, the purpose of the company or
organization, relevant business factors,
and the goal of the protagonist.

33. Structuring the case studies…
Background
 Case writers often add extraneous
information in this section in a
deliberate effort to lead students
astray.
 Case writer should bear in mind that
he should provide the relevant
information only to set up the
foundation to build his story

34. Structuring the case studies…
 Company and products
A brief historical setting of the
company, its product lines,
brands, status in the market place,
market share etc.
Consider depicting the structure,
culture and resources of the of the
company or organization, if it has
any bearing on the story that you
are going to present

35.  - Industry
Brief introduction of the industry, size,
nature and the trends should be
provided depending on the problem
that you are going to write in the case
study
If any PESTEEL factor would be
relevant to your case you may write
about it too
.

36. Competitive environment-
Major competitors, market
share, products, challenges
posed and strategies
adopted can be discussed
depending on the case

37. Structuring the case studies…
 Symptoms and the problems
 The important part of the story begins
here
 Bear in mind that you are writing a story.
It should not be totally technical or
colloquial.
 A fine blend will make the case
interesting for the reader
 It is always better to bring the main
character here into play so that students
will read in his point of view

38. Structuring the case studies…
 Bit of his background, character and
the dilemma faced by him should be
introduced
 The writer should describe what has
happened to create an emotional
attachment by the reader to the
central character of the story

39. Structuring the case studies…
 Readers who have both an emotional
connection to the Central Character
of the story will be more motivated to
find actionable solutions to the
problems depicted in the case.
 Keep this section complex enough
that students cannot come to an easy
decision.

40. Structuring the case studies…
 Write the symptoms supported by
data, sales, profits, tables, graphs
to show the status where the
student can analyse and find out
the trend .
 ( should not be able to get the
trend or problem by just reading
the figures)

41. Structuring the case studies…
 Connect the background in this
section to the current situation,
including underlying causes and
current results.
• Deal more deeply into the context and
possible consequences of the decision
point, dilemma faced.
 Include the consequences for the
central character as well as for
company or organization.

42.  Tell what has the principal character
done in order to remedy the situation
and what is the status after such
action
 Clearly state the current status
 What finally matters in your story is to
provide information to the student to
analyse and find out the underlying
reason/reasons for the central
problem.

43. Structuring the case studies…
 Challenge
 Throw the challenge of finding the
underlying problem to the student on
behalf of the Central Character of the
case study
 Students should be looking at problems
from a systemic perspective and trying to
solve problems based on the
complexities of the environment,
resource constraints, availability of
information, and a general understanding
that the main characters situation is

44. Structuring the case studies…
Problem to be answered
 At the conclusion of this section,
include the degree of urgency involved
in the decision-making or the timeline
for the decision to be made
 Offer him the chance of suggesting
the proper course of action or task to
be done in order to remedy the
situation

45. Tables and Exhibits
 You could have tables such as market
share, financial information etc. in the
body of the case study or at the end
 Exhibits such as advertisements,
paper articles, reports etc. should
come at the end of the case study.
 Links to video clips, websites etc.

46.  Do not issue case studies
 Without going through you draft
several times to ensure it is in line with
your plot.
 Without checking spelling and
grammar
 Without developing your own answer
before it is issued to the students.
 Without being moderated by a Senior
Lecturer/ Professor/ practitioner

47.  The only way to learn is to commence
writing at least small case studies.
Then you will develop the art of writing
case studies
Good Luck
Email: maxran1@yahoo.com