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Article Excerpt
Certainly there is no one best way to teach strategic management, the capstone business administration course at almost all four year colleges and universities. Professors who teach this course supplement lectures with simulations, guest speakers, experiential exercises, class projects, and outside readings. Case analysis, however, is typically the backbone of the learning process in most strategic management courses. This course is sometimes called business policy, but case analysis is almost always an integral part of the class.
Analyzing strategic management cases gives students the opportunity to work in teams to evaluate the internal operations and external issues facing various organizations and to craft strategies that can lead to success. Working in teams gives students practical experience solving problems as part of a group. In the business world, important decisions are generally made within groups; strategic management students learn to deal with overly aggressive group members and also timid, noncontributing group members. This experience is valuable, for strategic management students near graduation and soon enter the working world full-time.
Students can improve their oral and written communication skills as well as their analytical and interpersonal skills by proposing and defending particular courses of action for the case companies. Analyzing cases allows students to view a company, its competitors, and its industry concurrently, thus simulating the complex business world. Through case analysis, students learn how to apply concepts, evaluate situations, formulate strategies, and resolve implementation problems. Instructors typically ask students to prepare a three-year strategic plan for the firm. Analyzing a strategic management case requires students to apply concepts learned across their entire business curriculum. Students gain experience dealing with a wide range of organizational problems that impact all the business functions.
Given the importance of cases as a pedagogical tool, it is necessary to have fresh, new, high-quality cases written and available for coverage in class. Without a continuous stream of up-to-date cases, the strategic management course and discipline would lose much of its energy and excitement. Case writing, therefore, is an important scholarly activity among business faculty. Individuals who develop or write cases for organizations such as the North American Case Research Association, the Midwest Society for Case Research, the Case Research Journal, the European Case Research Association, or Harvard Case Services are vitally important for continued progress in the field of strategic management. Writing a case for publication in a mainstream textbook or business journal should (and at most institutions does) "count" as faculty research. A strategic management case requires extensive research to structure the information in a way that exposes strategic issues, decisions, and behavior.
Table 1 provides a list of strategic management case publication outlets. Although not exhaustive, Table 1 includes 10 mainstream strategic management textbooks, seven journals that publish strategic management cases, and 13 societies that also review and publish cases. Table 2 provides a proposed "reviewer checklist for evaluating a strategic management case." The evaluative criteria included in Table 2 are discussed here.
This paper provides suggestions for writing a case based on the 20 years experience of a mainstream strategic management textbook author who has written and reviewed hundreds of cases. The objective of this article is to provide suggestions for writing and publishing a strategic management case as well as impetus for increased case writing.
Writing A Case
* Select an Appropriate Organization
In selecting an organization to focus on in writing a strategic management case, the following points should be considered. First, select a real organization in a real industry. Include real names and real places. "Undisguised" cases are more interesting and relevant and allow students to research the firm and find updated information. Fictitious cases are generally considered less interesting and effective, and are less often used for class analysis.
Second, in selecting an organization, consider a company undergoing strategic change. Firms that are expanding, diversifying, retrenching, downsizing, or merging make excellent cases as students have specific issues to evaluate and consider. Also, poorly performing companies tend to make better cases for analysis than excellent performing organizations due to the urgent need for strategic improvements. However, strongly performing firms in stable industries can certainly make excellent strategic management cases because...
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