Has the Twitter Age Left the Case Method Behind?

Is the business case study method outmoded? James Heskett’s readers are divided on whether the case is ripe for replacement.

Use (and Misuse) of Business Case Studies

I am a huge fan of learning through cases, but I’ve also seen a lot of mis-learning through cases. In particular, learning through the presentation of business situations and discussion in order to uncover the many competing forces within a given decision is super helpful. The unique aspect of learning by the formal case method is captured in the discussion more than in the documented … [ Read more ]

MBA Tips: How to Prepare Harvard Business School Cases

While reading and preparing cases is a significant part of any business school experience, there isn’t always a concrete result to your work. You could easily invest hours preparing a case and have nothing to say about it during the class discussion. It’s because of this ambiguous return on investment that many people choose not to read the scheduled case before a class … [ Read more ]

Some Notes on Case Analysis

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.

Retaining Knowledge Capital

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.

Preparing an Effective Case Analysis

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 … [ Read more ]

When your competitor delivers more for less

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.

Realizing the Promise of Corporate Portals: Bain & Company

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 … [ Read more ]

The Barista Principle – Starbucks and the Rise of Relational Capital

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 … [ Read more ]

The Case Against Cases

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

Getting All the Credit

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

Learning with Cases Workshop

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.

A Model for Case Analysis and Problem Solving

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
… [ Read more ]