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An article by Professor Edward G. Wertheim, College of Business Administration, Northeastern University

Table of Contents:
I. Why We Use the Case Approach
II. Your Responsibilities
III. The Six Steps for Problem Analysis
1. Comprehend the Case Situation: Data Collection, identify relevant facts
2. Defining the Problem
3. Identify the causes of the problem
4. Generate Alternative Solutions
5. Decision
6. Taking Action
IV. General Reminders / Check List
V. Writing Tips
VI. Final Comments

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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The purpose of this workshop is to introduce students to learning with cases. The workshop covers background issues regarding business cases and the case method, the typical anatomy of a business case, and an accepted method for structuring a case analysis.

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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The poster company for the new economy not only failed to anticipate the economic downturn, its much-heralded forecasting software and outsourcing infrastructure may have even made things worse.

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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Harley-Davidson has been able to build a community of enthusiasts around its brand that includes members from very diverse groups, and with almost no advertising. How does the king of heavyweight motorcycling keep its fans so loyal? It gives them a reason to "belong."

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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Capital One has built a credit-card empire by testing and testing and testing, then testing some more.

Note: Business 2.0 is now part of CNNmoney and some older articles are no longer available

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Nissan, Japan's third-largest automaker, was stodgy, insular, debt-ridden. It was exhibit A in what was wrong with Japanese corporations. Then it brought in an irrepressible French Lebanese guy named Carlos Ghosn.

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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Written off as just another ill-conceived megamerger, Hewlett-Packard has exceeded all its goals. Here's why the union has worked -- so far -- and what must come next.

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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Enron's popularity as a business-school "success story" raises tough questions about how case studies are prepared.

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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How did a small Seattle company turn itself into a global synonym for java and joe? The answer, we believe, lies with an ingredient as central to Starbucks's business as the premium coffee beans it roasts: Relationships.

Starbucks is not the only company that firmly believes that an emphasis on relationships should be more than simply management rhetoric. Nor is it the only company that has profitably put this belief into practice. Our research indicates that relationships are indeed central to the sustained, superior performance of many of the world's most successful companies. In late 2001, researchers at Booz Allen Hamilton and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management surveyed 113 executives at a representative sample of Fortune 1000 companies and found that winning companies define and deploy relationships in a consistent, specific, multifaceted manner. Although some companies will dub any concluded business deal a relationship, top-performing companies focus extraordinary, enterprise-wide energy on moving beyond a transactional mind-set as they develop trust-based, mutually beneficial, and long-term associations, specifically with four key constituencies: customers, suppliers, alliance partners, and their own employees. Starbucks, we believe, exemplifies this new model of the relationship-centric organization.

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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Dangdang.com claims 800,000 unique visitors and takes up to 4,000 orders a day, more than half these days for DVDs and CDs. The firm's founder monitors Amazon for new ideas, which she then pinches--and encourages her employees to order from the American firm's site to get hints for customising her own.

Editor's Note: this is a topical article without long-lasting business take-aways, but the inside snapshot it offers of current infrastructure in China relative to the West is, for this ugly American, quite interesting.

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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Bain has been an early adopter of knowledge management (KM) and demonstrated strong KM leadership. It is clear that the deployment of Bain's corporate portals (CP) significantly improved the speed and accuracy of knowledge flow in the firm. Most importantly, three of Bain's core explicit values are clearly revealed in the design and practices related to the deployment of BVU and GXC: a continuous learning environment, one firm, and focus on client services and results.

Editor's Note: this article is generally useful for those with an interest in KM but is even more so for those who have a general interest in management consulting and/or a specific interest in Bain.

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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Value-driven competitors have changed the expectations of consumers about the trade-off between quality and price. This shift is gathering momentum, placing a new premium on-and adding new twists to-the old imperatives of differentiation and execution.

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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This site presents a moderately structured framework. The authors divide the discussion into four sections. First, they describe the importance of understanding the skills active learners can acquire through effective use of the case analysis method. In the second section, they provide you with a process-oriented framework. This framework can be of value in your efforts to analyze cases and then present the results of your work. Using this framework in a classroom setting yields valuable experiences that can, in turn, help you successfully complete assignments that you will receive from your employer. In the third section they describe briefly what you can expect to occur during in-class case discussions. In the final section, the authors present a moderately structured framework that can help you prepare effective oral and written presentations.

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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Facing massive brain drain from the retirement of a third of its workforce, Tennessee Valley Authority generated a knowledge-retention network to conserve its intellectual capital.

For a searchable repository of business cases check out our Case Study Center

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Dave Robinson, a marketing professor at Haas, offers some notes on performing case analysis and also offers his "Six C's model" of Business Situation Analysis.