Professional Practice

Working with Case Studies in Business

Aims of the session

To be able to understand the issues in an organisation

through the analysis of a case study.

To be able identify and use specific models to investigate

& analyse a case study

To relate the analysis of a case study to assessment

criteria

The Use of Case Studies

What is a case study

A description that relates to an organisation or

departments in that organisation.

A thorough study of that organisation It may relate to a group of people, an incident, a project,

a problem solving activity

A collection of detailed information

What is a case study

Looks intensely at a group Provides evidence of the activities undertaken in an

organisation
Can contain archival material related to charts, budgets,

surveys.
Could contain documents such as letters progress

reports, agendas
Could contain research activity data from interviews,

observations or questionnaires

The Use of case studies

To build critical thinking skills for management and

business practices.
To identify real world information inside a controlled

environment of a classroom whereby a range of discussions and activities could take place.
Understand the decision making process and their

intended outcomes.
We will discuss the methods and approach you should

take to Case Study Research

The use of case studies

To build theory about management themes.
Case studies can provide Framework for discussion. Test theory/Generate theory

The Use of case studies

To illustrate alternative managerial choices.
To allow groups to discuss complex problems through a

simulated example when they do not have shared experiences of the processes.

The use of case studies

Case studies facilitate the teaching of business issues.
When cases are generated out of participants

experiences, the content is focused and specific to their settings

Cases allow participants to process material and

experiences with groups of peers.

Case Study Research

Provides a rich understanding of a real life

context.
Uses and triangulates multiple sources of data. Uses a systematic process

Your systematic case study Conclude process

Discuss Report Investigate
Gee/Moon/Johnstone Pyramid of the Case Study Process

Investigate search multiple sources Approaches can include

Printed sources Searching tertiary literature sources Obtaining relevant literature Scanning and browsing secondary literature

Investigate search multiple sources

Using the Internet
Databases Scanning and browsing online

Searching online
Saunders et al. (2009)