The document outlines the case study approach in management education, emphasizing its role in teaching decision-making and problem-solving skills through real-life scenarios. It discusses the benefits of using case studies, including enhancing student engagement and providing practical experience, and outlines the steps involved in writing and analyzing a case study. Additionally, it highlights the significance of comprehensive analysis and collaborative discussions in understanding complex organizational issues.

1. CASE APPROACH OF STUDY IN MANAGEMENTCASE APPROACH OF STUDY IN MANAGEMENT
BYBY
C P RIJAL, PHD IN LEADERSHIPC P RIJAL, PHD IN LEADERSHIP
ASSOCIATE PROFESSORASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
MID-WESTERN UNIVERSITYMID-WESTERN UNIVERSITY
SURKHET, NEPALSURKHET, NEPAL
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2. WHAT IS A CASE STUDY?WHAT IS A CASE STUDY?
 A case study presents real lifereal life accounts of
what happened to an individual, group, firm
or any component of society over time.
 Case-based approach of teaching learning in
business studies is applied to understand
various situations the managers are
expected to deal with, or have already dealt.
 For example, changes in competitive
environment leads to the change in
managers' response, which usually involves
changing the corporate, business, product or
service-level strategies.
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3. CASE STUDY, WHAT IT ISCASE STUDY, WHAT IT IS
 Most of the cases are written in such a way
that the reader assumes for self in the place
of the manager whose responsibility is to
make rational decision to solve the problem
explained in the case situation.
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4. CASE STUDY, WHAT IT ISCASE STUDY, WHAT IT IS
 The case method is a teaching learning
philosophy that combines knowledge
acquisition with significant student
involvement.
 In the words of Alfred North WhiteheadAlfred North Whitehead,
the case method rejects the doctrine that
students first learn passively, and then
apply the knowledge.
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5. CASE STUDY, WHAT IT DOES …CASE STUDY, WHAT IT DOES …
 If it is developed and presented effectively
with rich and interesting details, case
method brings reality into the classroom.
 Cases keep conceptual discussions grounded
in the reality.
 Experience shows that simple fictional
accounts of situations and collections of
actual organizational data and articles from
public sources are not as effective for
learning as are fully developed cases.
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6. CASE STUDY, WHAT IT DOES …CASE STUDY, WHAT IT DOES …
 A comprehensive case approach helps you
have a practical clinical study of a real-life
situation faced by a manager.
 A case presented in a narrative form
provides motivations for the involvement
with and analyses of specific situation.
 By framing alternative strategic actions and
by confronting the complexity and ambiguity
of the practical world, case analyses provide
extraordinary power for your involvement
with a personal learning experience. 6

7. CASE STUDY, WHAT IT REQUIRESCASE STUDY, WHAT IT REQUIRES
1. It requires students to practice important
managerial skills--diagnosing, making decisions,
observing, listening, and persuading--while
preparing for a case discussion.
2. Cases require students to relate analyses and
action to develop realistic and concrete actions
despite the complexity and partial knowledge of the
situation being studied.
3. Students face intractability of the reality--complete
in absence of needed information, imbalance
between needs and available resources, and conflict
among competing objectives.
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8. HOW DO THE STUDENTS PERFORM …HOW DO THE STUDENTS PERFORM …
 Assigned cases are first prepared by students, and this
preparation forms the basis for class discussion under the
direction of the instructor.
 Students learn, often unconsciously, how to evaluate a
problem, how to make decisions, and how to orally argue a
view point.
 Using this method, they also learn how to think in terms of
problems faced by an administrator.
 In course works, a significant part of student's evaluation
may rest with classroom participation on case discussions,
with another substantial portion resting on written case
analyses.
 Due to these reasons, using a case method tends to be very
intensive for both students and instructor. 8

9. CASE METHOD: WHERE IS IT USED…CASE METHOD: WHERE IS IT USED…
 Case studies are used extensively throughout most of the
programs at the university level, business administration
classes with no exception.
 You will be using case studies in many of the lectures in my
classroom proceedings in Leadership, Organizational
Psychology, Strategic Management, Business Management,
Human Resource Management, Organizational Design and
Change, Research and Innovation, and so on …
 You must be ready for your life-term learning, for that I may
have a bag full of collection of cases which may be directly
applicable in your business dealing even.
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10. REASONS OF THE USE OF CASE METHODREASONS OF THE USE OF CASE METHOD
1. It provides you with the experience of
organizational problems that you probably
have not had the opportunity to experience
before.
2. It illustrates what you have learnt.
3. It provides you with the opportunity to
participate in class and to gain experience in
presenting your ideas to others.
4. If you are a working executive, it will help
you reach back to nature. Do you know, what
‘back to nature’ is all about? 10

11. APPROACHAPPROACH
 A business case study is a powerful decision-
making tool in business management studies
due to a variety of reasons:
1.It forces the decision maker to follow a
predetermined process or format to ensure all
factors have been considered.
2.It insists the user to determine the risk
factors and other major success factors.
3.It allows multiple parties to review the case
and its assumptions.
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12. PROCEDURALASPECTS OF A CASE STUDYPROCEDURALASPECTS OF A CASE STUDY
1. Develop the company profile
2. Identify the company's internal strengths
and weaknesses
3. Assess the external environment
surrounding the company
4. Perform a SWOT analysis
5. Review the company strategies, level-wise
6. Analyze the company’s structural-functional
systems
7. Recommend with corrective measures
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13. WRITING A CASE STUDYWRITING A CASE STUDY
1. Introductory partIntroductory part: Briefly outline what the company
does, how it developed historically, what problems
it is experiencing, and how you are going to
approach the issues in the case write-up.
2. Develop strategic-analysesDevelop strategic-analyses: Use all possible tools
and techniques of internal and external analysis;
requires the analyses of at least 6 components.
Assess the company strengths and weaknesses by
using possible financial analyses.
3. Solutions and recommendationsSolutions and recommendations: Be comprehensive,
make sure they are in line with the previous
analyses so that the recommendations fit with the
context. 13

14. MAJOR FINANCIALANALYSES TO BE
USEDUSED
11. Profit ratiosProfit ratios: Gross profit margin, net profit margin,
return on total assets, net income, and return on
stakeholders’ equity.
2.2. Liquidity ratiosLiquidity ratios: Current ratio, and quick ratio.
3.3. Activity ratios:Activity ratios: inventory turnover, cost of goods
sold, day’s sales outstanding, accounts receivable.
4. Leverage ratios:4. Leverage ratios: Debt-to-assets ratio, debt-to-equity
ratio, and times-covered ratio.
5. Shareholder return ratios:5. Shareholder return ratios: Total shareholder
returns, price-earnings ratio, market-to-book value,
dividends yield, and market price per share.
6.6. Analysis of cash flowscash flows is the most instrumental.14

15. POINTS TO LEARN…POINTS TO LEARN…
Before the class discussion:
1. Read the reading assignments (if any)
2. Use the Short Cycle Process to familiarize
yourself with the case.
3. Use the Long Cycle Process to analyze the
case
4. Usually there will be group meetings to
discuss your ideas.
5. Write up the case (if required)
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16. POINTS TO LEARN…POINTS TO LEARN…
During the class discussion:
6. Someone will start the discussion, usually
at the prompting of the Instructor.
7. Listen carefully and take notes. Pay close
attention to assumptions. Insist that they
are clearly stated.
8. Take part in the discussion. Your
contribution is important, and is likely a
part of your evaluation for the course.
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17. POINTS TO LEARN…POINTS TO LEARN…
After the class discussion:
9. Review as soon as possible after the class.
Note what the key concept was and how the
case fits into the course.
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18. SHORT CYCLE PROCESS IS ALWAYS
PREFERREDPREFERRED
1. Quickly read the case.
2. Answer the following questions:
Who is the decision maker in this case, and what is their
position and responsibilities?
What appears to be the issue (of concern, problem, challenge,
or opportunity) and its significance for the organization?
Why has the issue arisen and why is the decision maker
involved now?
When does the decision maker have to decide, resolve, act or
dispose of the issue? What is the urgency to the situation?
3. Take a look at the Exhibits to see the numbers.
4. Review the case subtitles to see what areas are covered in
more depth.
5. Review the case questions if they have been provided.
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19. JOURNEYJOURNEY
Step 1 – Be familiarStep 1 – Be familiar
a. In general--determine who, what, how, where and
when (the critical facts in a case).
b. In detail--identify the places, persons, activities, and
contexts of the situation.
Step 2 – Recognize the symptomsStep 2 – Recognize the symptoms
a. List all indicators (including stated "problems") that
something is not as expected or as desired
b. Ensure that symptoms are not assumed to be the
problem (symptoms should lead to identification of
the problem). 19

20. JOURNEYJOURNEY
Step 3 – Identify the goalsStep 3 – Identify the goals
a.Identify critical statements by major parties
(people, groups, the work unit, etc.).
b.List all goals of the major parties that exist or
can be reasonably inferred.
Step 4 – Conduct the analysisStep 4 – Conduct the analysis
a.Decide which ideas, models, and theories
seem useful.
b.Apply these conceptual tools to the situation.
c. As new information is revealed, cycle back to
sub-steps ‘a’ and ‘b’.
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21. JOURNEYJOURNEY
Step 5 – Make diagnosisStep 5 – Make diagnosis
a. Identify predicaments (goal inconsistencies).
b. Identify problems (discrepancies between goals and
performance).
c. Prioritize predicaments/problems regarding timing,
importance, etc.
Step 6 – Do the action planningStep 6 – Do the action planning
a. Specify and prioritize the criteria used to choose action
alternatives.
b. Discover or invent feasible action alternatives
c. Examine the probable consequences of action alternatives.
d. Select a course of action.
e. Design the implementation plan of action.
f. Create a plan for assessing the action results.
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22. ANY QUESTIONS ?ANY QUESTIONS ?
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23. THANK YOU !THANK YOU !
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