Melissa MontesinosFinance deals with leverage, banking or

Melissa Montesinos
Finance deals with leverage, banking or debt, capital markets,
investments and money. It is used
in describing the general management of funds and the
processes of acquiring funds. Finance is
categorized into major areas such as corporate finance,
investments, financial institutions and
international finance.
The paper aims at outlining each of the outlined areas of finance
and describes the relevant skills
required in becoming an effective professional in the field.
Also, there is a comprehensive
description of the impact of technology, the economy and the
persistent pandemic on careers in
the respective field of finance.
Corporate finance
This is the branch of finance that deals with how corporations
deal with funding sources,
investment decisions and capital structuring. The aim of
corporate finance in the operations of

organizations is maximization of shareholder’s value through
short-term and long-term planning
and implementation of strategies. Corporate finance is mainly
focused on specific areas such as
cost of capital, invested capital, operating flows and return on
invested capital. In ensuring that
one understands the requirements of each of the areas outlined
in corporate finance, there are
skills that are necessary for the corporate finance professional.
One of the skills is a formal
accounting qualification which is highly applied in determining
the appropriate cost of capital
that an organization or a company should use in its capital
structure. Also, the professional
should have the skills to develop a budget for an organization
based on projections or past data.
This is enhanced by the presence of interrelated skills such as
financial reporting skills which
enable the professional to prepare statements based on the
relevant financial and accounting
standards (Booth et al, 2020).
Investments

This refers to the area of finance that deals with allocation of
resources with the expectations of
getting a return after some time in terms of profits or interests.
In most cases the resources used
in investments include money and financial instruments. An
investment is basically an asset that
is purchased with the hope that there will be generation of
income or appreciation in value at
some point in future. Professionals in this field are normally the
financial analysts. In enhancing
one’s effectiveness in the investment field, there are various
skills that one should at equipping
themselves. One of the skills is information technology
expertise in terms of computer literacy
among other areas. Also, one should have analytical skills
which relate to the ability to collect
and analyze information and use the information in solving a
problem at hand. Also, one should
have research skills as investments require one to have all the
necessary data in making a certain
decision (Brown, 2021).
Financial Institutions
This field of finance deals with the entities or institutions where
finance and related activities are

carried out. There are various financial institutions that are
covered in finance. Among the
institutions include Central Banks which are the largest or most
powerful banks in jurisdictions
or economies. Also, there are commercial banks, investment
banks, brokerage firms, credit
unions among others. In becoming an effective professional in
any financial effective, there are
common skills that one should focus on. One of the skills is
numeracy skills which deal with the
ability to use, make interpretations and communicate
mathematical information in solving
real-world problems. Organization and time management skills
are also important skills as
financial institutions are based on compliance to schedules. In
addition to the necessary skills is
team management as financial institutions are composed of
teams from different fields in finance
(Murray, 2020).
International finance
This is one of the complex fields in finance which refers to the
study of monetary interactions

that are carried out between two or more countries. Among the
areas that are dealt with in
international finance include: foreign currency exchange rate
and foreign direct investment. It is
an important field particularly with the increased globalization.
There are various key skills
which are important in international finance. Among the skills
include risk analysis where a
professional should have a great understanding of the economic
and currency risks which are
mostly dealt with in comparing opportunities from different
jurisdictions or countries. Also,
foreign exchange knowledge is necessary as international
finance deals with more than one
currency (Booth et al, 2020).
Impact of technology on careers in finance
Technology has resulted into introduction of computerized
financial modeling thus requiring
finance professionals to expand the IT skills and understand
how to make corporate finance
models using information systems in finance. Technology has
also contributed into development
of new careers in finance such as business information

technology which deals with various
issues in finance which are operated through the information
technology systems. Technology
has enhanced globalization which in turn has increased the
demand for international finance
experts (Lohr, 2019).
Impact of economy on careers in finance
The careers in corporate finance are also affected by changes in
the economy in that the economy
has a direct effect on the corporate entities. For instance,
recessions in the economy result into
downsizing of corporations and financial institutions which
forces the management to layoffs
some of the members of staff such as corporate finance officers.
Impact of Persistent pandemic on careers in finance
When a pandemic is persistent, the governments establish
measures to reduce the spread of the
pandemic. One of the measures includes reducing overcrowding
in financial institutions by both
the professionals as well as the customers. This results into the
finance professionals changing

their places of work and they start working remotely other than
their normal offices. Also, with
pandemic, financial institutions reduce their operations
resulting into some finance professionals
being laid off (Ackerman, 2020).
Reference
Ackerman Andrew (2020). Fed Says Coronavirus Remains a Top
U.S Financial Risk.
The Wall Street Journal.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-says-coronavirus-remains-a-
top-u-s-financial-risk-1160
4955856
Booth, L., Cleary, W. S., & Rakita, I. (2020). Introduction to
corporate finance. John
Wiley & Sons.
Brown B. Paul (2021). Investing Made Simpler for Beginners
and Everyone Else. The
New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/business/investing-made-
simple-for-beginners-and
-everyone-else.html

Lohr Steve (2019). It Started with a Jolt. How new York
Became a Tech Town. The New
York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/22/technology/nyc-tech-
startups.html
Murray Seb (2020). Graduate with Tech and Finance Skills in
High demand. Financial
Times. https://www.ft.com/content/6c7001ec-70e3-11e9-bf5c-
6eeb837566c5
simple-for-beginners-and-everyone-else.html
simple-for-beginners-and-everyone-else.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/22/technology/nyc-tech-
startups.html
https://www.ft.com/content/6c7001ec-70e3-11e9-bf5c-
6eeb837566c5
IBM 4801.01
March 2021
TikTok’s Rise To Global Markets
I. Analyzing a Decision Scenario Case

What is the decision that needs to be made in the case?
- The decision that TikTok needs to make is whether to have
their Musicaly.ly
continue to be its own platform or the company itself be
replaced by the TikTok
brand.
What are the major decision options?
- The continuation of Musicaly.ly, because they had achieved a
good reputation and
garner millions of users.
- The discontinuation of Musicaly.ly in order to create a global
brand under
TikTok.
What questions will help you decide which decision option is
best?
- Has Musicaly.ly upgraded its platform in recent years to adapt
to changing competitors?
- How much of the market does Musicaly.ly garner in the
industry?
- Is there a similar application like TikTok, in the US, that
might overtake the industry?
- Does Musicaly.ly offer the same features as TikTok does in
the US?
What concepts and frameworks might help answer your
questions?
- Data and analysis of Musicaly.ly in the past couple of months
- An industry analysis of the short-video app industry (social
media) in the US
- Data about the competition in the US
- Feature analysis on Musicaly.ly being compared to TikTok

- Popularity and regulations of the application amongst various
countries.
Possible Criterion 1: Globalization Strategy
Facts/Evidence What the evidence
indicates about the
decision options
Short-term steps Long-term steps
The company’s
globalization
strategy convey’s
TikTok, a localized
strategy, offers
various hashtags
Introduce special
effects and filters
that accommodate
Expand platform to
encourage their
users to create
SA
MP
LE
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ad
d p
oin
ts
of
ev

ide
nc
e.
What decision do you recommend?
- Musical.ly should be replaced to create a global app under the
TikTok brand.
What are the major reasons that support your recommendation?
contents that are of
a global product but
with localized
materials or content
and stickers that
accommodate their
local festivals that
feature special
effects and filters
the surrounding
target market to
their festivities and
locations
content by
incorporating trends
by other users
Possible Criterion 2: Challenges Within the Industry

indicates about the
decision options
The popularity and
success of TikTok
caught the
attention/concern of
tech companies
creating
competition
Facebook, being
one of many,
launched a similar
short-video sharing
app, called Lasso,
to compete with
TikTok
Continue with the
localization strategy
to better
differentiate the
company from its
competitors
Promote TikTok
with various means
to garner a loyal
consumer base
Possible Criterion 3: Campaigns and Promotions

indicates about the
decision options
The usage of the
internet celebrity to
garner attraction to
the company by
advertising the
celebrity usage of
the app
In both the
Southeast Asian
and Japanese
market the usage of
local internet
celebrities and
special event
created mass
attraction to the
target market
Campaign events to
attract local
celebrities to help
promote the app
Have the creators
from the app create
content to promote
local customs for
their location, also
continue the
gathering of local

celebrities to help
share their
experience SA
MP
LE
- The globalization strategy, more specifically their localization
strategy, will
garner more users for they accommodate their location by
incorporating features
that are custom to their lifestyles
- We saw big tech companies, such as Facebook and Snapchat,
create similar apps
that rival TikTok. That goes to show those big corporation
companies view
TikTok as a competitor in the social media industry
What are the major risks of your recommended decision?
- Musicaly.ly niche market might not be accommodating to the
new changes and/or
the shutdown of their app
- TikTok might not be able to establish themselves in the market
because of their
competition
- The failure of the application in the US industry
II. Writing about a Decision Scenario Case
Recommended decision Musical.ly to be replaced to create a
global application brand

under TikTok.
Summary of major reasons for a
recommended decision
Due to the high-end transition to globalization, utilizing a
localization strategy will accumulate users to enjoy features
based on the demographics. By creating a global application,
this will provide both companies to have a dominant stance in
the industry as other applications like Facebook and Snapchat
produce features similar to both Musical.ly and TikTok.
Evidence Proving Recommended Decision
Criterion 1 Globalization Strategy
a. The TikTok application offers hashtags and filters that
accommodate a user’s location based on special events or
national holidays from their localization strategy.
b. TikTok has more than 500 million MAUs globally in over
150
markets and 75 languages (Page 4).
c. One of ByteDance’s competitors, Kuaishou, began its global
expansion. Musical.ly also showed dominance in the US and
Europe, causing them to expand into China to try to capture the
market (Page 3).
Criterion 2 Challenges Within the Industry
a. Bigger companies such as Facebook have made similar
SA
MP

LE
Action Plan
Identify the high-level goals for your action plan. In other
words, how do you want
the action plan to change the situation in the case?
- To determine which option will generate the most profitability
and be sustainable
within the competitive industry. The plan should maximize the
efforts of
benefiting both applications in the industry to dominate their
competitive market
as one (TikTok brand).
Short term
- Have insight to the application’s release in various countries
and analyze which
areas the app is popular and neglected.
- Filter through user’s accounts to determine if any rules or
guidelines are broken
and take action on taking down explicit content.
- Check how effective monetization is through the app to make
adjustments as
follows.
- Determine which name is more respondent in certain areas.
short-video sharing apps that distinguish similar features (Page
7).

b. Some of TikTok’s competitors, such as Kuaishou, are boosted
to join the overseas market from other Chinese tech giants.
TikTok would need to find other firms in the market to do the
same or a way to gain support (Page 7).
c. Due to the company not expanding globally, its competitors
have taken advantage of this to gain an edge on producing
profitability and a wider audience.
Criterion 3 Campaigns and Promotions
a. ByteDance has arranged offline launch parties that attract
celebrities and influencers to attend and use their application.
Thus, this persuades more people to download the app or watch
videos (Page 4).
b. TikTok received attraction from a Japanese TV network,
which
was featured for 15 minutes in the morning show called
“Sukkiri!” (Page 6).
c. TikTok established a campaign at Shibuya’s busiest
intersections in Japan, which received more than 68,000 videos
and 300 million views (Page 6).
SA
MP
LE
Great set up with using citations in your Study Guide. Make
certain to
continue citing in your write up.
Su
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ort
ea
ch
st
ate
me
nt
wi
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wi
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ev
ide
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th
e c
ase
.
Long term
- Provide a timeline of updates implicated to notify users of
certain changes and
differences from factors affecting usage of the application.
- Create a positioning for the merged platform that uses
elements from the
applications as individuals. As a result, the global brand can
identify areas it
needs to improve on and can implement these criterias through
updates.
- Take into account any criticism from the user base to maintain
users from
switching to a different platform and differentiate their app
from observing its
competitors.
Major risks: Identify the most important one or two risks
associated with your
action plan.
- Failure from merging the two applications as one in the
industry.
- Vulnerability from other competitors to gain control of the
market.
- Deterioration on the positioning of both platforms and drop on

number of users.
Mitigation of risks: How would you eliminate or reduce the
risks?
- Review data and analyze possibilities of making a smooth
transition between the
merge of both applications to avoid any legal and ethical
dilemmas.
- Analyze and identify components from other competitors to
maintain a
competitive advantage.
SA
MP
LE
Write-up: Decision Case Scenario
Case: TikTok Rise To Global Markets
Question:
- What should TikTok do in regards to entering the US market
from the acquisition of
Musicaly.ly?
ByteDance and TikTok must make a decision on whether to
merge Musical.ly with their app or
keep them separate. Their options are:
1. The continuation of Musicaly.ly in the US industry
2. The discontinuation of Musicaly.ly for the purpose of

creating a global brand under
TikTok
ByteDance should recommend replacing Musical.ly to create a
global brand for TikTok because
of the company’s globalization strategy, mitigating challenges
within the industry and creating
more opportunities for campaigns and promotions.
The four criteria for the decision are:
- Globalization Strategy
- Challenges within the industry
- Campaigns and promotions
Globalization Strategy
Replacing Musical.ly as one whole app with TikTok will benefit
the company due to how
rapid globalization is changing the market. One advantage of
merging this app with TikTok is
that one already has hashtags and filters that users can use
based on their location or special
occasions. Other companies such as Snapchat and Facebook
have used similar short-video
applications that carry the same features as TikTok and
Musical.ly. In addition, Tiktok had more
than 500 million MAUs globally in over 150 markets and 75
languages as of 2018. One of
ByteDance’s competitors, Kuaishou, began its global expansion.
Musical.ly also showed
dominance in the US and Europe, causing them to expand into
China to try to capture the
market. TikTok can benefit from becoming one app and
gradually expand on a global scale as its
competitors have done. TikTok can introduce special effects and
filters that accommodate the

surrounding target market to their festivities and locations
worldwide. To differentiate
themselves, they can add on a feature that enables users to
create custom filters and features that
others can use or search for in the search bar.
Challenges Within The Industry
TikTok should acknowledge that bigger companies such as
Facebook have made similar
short-video sharing apps that distinguish similar features. By
doing so, they can mitigate the
SA
MP
LE
reduction of dealing with any potential legal action that can
occur or ethical dilemmas. TikTok
would need to find supporters who can aid them in expanding
overseas entirely so that users can
see that other companies approve of their move. Some of
TikTok’s competitors, such as
Kuaishou, are boosted to make the move from other Chinese
tech giants and have support in case
things go poorly. TikTok will need to find a way to enter the
market differently since most of its
competitors have already gone global. This will make the
company’s drive on sustaining in the
market difficult.
Campaigns and Promotions
ByteDance has arranged offline launch parties that attract

celebrities and influencers to
attend and use their application. Thus, this persuades more
people to download the app or watch
videos. Both Facebook and Snapchat use their platforms on
promoting celebrities or influencers
by having them appear on a user’s feed labeled as “suggested
posts”. Furthermore, Tiktok
received attraction from a Japanese TV network, which was
featured for 15 minutes in the
morning show called “Sukkiri!” TikTok advertisements also
appear on Twitter, where it shows
what’s trending or who has become “TikTok famous.” The
company should continue to develop
and promote their users on wanting more reasons to remain
loyal to the app and persuade others
on downloading it.Tiktok established a campaign at Shibuya’s
busiest intersections in Japan,
which received more than 68,000 videos and 300 million views.
This can be expanded to
high-populated areas across the countr y, such as in the United
States or Europe. TikTok can
continue to campaign events to attract celebrities who live in
local areas as a way to promote the
app. Afterwards, they can focus on creating content for locals to
promote their own businesses,
parties or share their experience with users who are around the
area.
Risks
There are some risks to be noted on merging Musical.ly with
TikTok. As stated,
maintaining two different platforms for each app to target their
designated demographics has
been successful. There is the possibility that when merging both

platforms, some users may
become annoyed with the new application since they are already
accustomed to the one in their
respective region. As a result, competitors in the industry can
use this to their advantage on
gaining new users and offering them features that they like. To
reduce this from occurring,
ByteDance must study the competitive market’s strategy and
make a smooth transition on the
mergance between the two apps. The company must use data
and analysis to determine which
features should remain and what improvements they can add so
users remain on using the
updated application.
Action Plan
The goal of the action plan is to successfully merge Musical.ly
and TikTok as one global
application by maximizing sustainability and profitability in the
competitive market.
Short Term:
SA
MP
LE
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Elaborate more within the 'Action Plan' section.
Work on formatting your sections;
making sure that headings are on the
same page as the content.
● Have insight to the application’s release in various countries
and analyze which areas the
app is popular and neglected.

● Filter through user’s accounts to determine if any rules or
guidelines are broken and take
action on taking down explicit content.
● Check how effective monetization is through the app to make
adjustments as follows.
● Determine which name is more respondent in certain areas.
Long Term:
● Provide a timeline of updates implicated to notify users of
certain changes and
differences from factors affecting usage of the application.
● Create a positioning for the merged platform that uses
elements from the applications as
individuals. As a result, the global brand can identify areas it
needs to improve on and
can implement these criterias through updates.
● Take into account any criticism from the user base to
maintain users from switching to a
different platform and differentiate their app from observing its
competitors.
SA
MP
LE
Im
pr
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by
s
up
po
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What is the decision that needs to be made in the case?
· Airbnb needs to decide how they will move forward with
entering the Chinese market
What are the major decision options?
· When deciding on how Airbnb will enter the Chinese market,
should they go alone or partner up with existing/similar
companies? After deciding, should they use their established
formula or localize?
Exploring the Decision Options
What questions will help you decide which decision option is
best?
· Are there any cultural differences with the established formula
that could hinder entering the market?
· What are some possible repercussions if Airbnb partners with
similar companies?
· Can Airbnb come up with effective localization methods to
successfully enter the market without having to partner with

other companies?
What concepts and frameworks might help answer your
questions?
· Market entry strategies
· Tourism
· Accomodation
Criterion
Possible Criterion:
Facts/evidence
What the evidence indicates about the decision options
Short-term steps
Long-term steps
Growing economy
China’s sharing market is growing by 40%
Will eventually be 10% of China’s overall GDP (Page 3-4)
Enter the market and create awareness.
Establish themselves in the market and gain a competitive
advantage.
Growing number of customers
Travel industry is growing in China by (Page 3)
Domestic travel grew by 10%
Airbnb needs to take advantage of the growing domestic travel
market and offer its services in the Chinese market.
Continue with the disruptive innovation and offer affordable
accommodation to its customers.
Cultural differences
Chinese customers struggle to trust non-traditional stays (page
5)
Create awareness about the non-traditional stays.
Guarantee the Chinese customers about their safety in the non-

traditional stays.
What decision do you recommend?
· I recommend that Airbnb enters the market on their own with a
new localized business strategy that will accommodate new
customers well due to cultural differences.
What are the major reasons that support your recommendation?
· Airbnb has a growing economy/sharing market to work with
· This can facilitate entering the market for Airbnb
· They will have a head start to the growth that will be seen in
the coming years with the sharing market in China (Page 3-4)
· More customers are traveling, (domestic) travel industry is
growing (Page 3)
· The target market is larger so there are more opportunities for
growth
What are the major risks of your recommended decision?
· There have been other foreign countries that have attempted to
enter the Chinese sharing market and have failed. This can be
an outcome for Airbnb as well. (Page 6)
· Will Airbnb be able to execute the localized formula? (Page 6)
· This will be a different way of working for the company so
there will be some complications in the process.
Writing about a Decision Scenario Case
Recommended decision
I recommend that Airbnb enters the market on its own with a
new localized business strategy that will accommodate new
customers well due to cultural differences
Summary of significant reasons for a
recommended decision

· Airbnb has a growing economy/sharing market to work with
· More customers are traveling; the (domestic) travel industry
is growing (Page 3)
Evidence Proving Recommended Decision
Criterion 1
Growing economy
a.
China’s sharing market is growing by 40%
Will eventually be 10% of China’s overall GDP (Page 3-4)
b.
Airbnb has a growing economy/sharing market to work with
Criterion 2
A growing number of customers
a.
The travel industry is growing in China by (Page 3)
Domestic travel grew by 10%
b.
More customers are traveling; the (domestic) travel industry is
growing (Page 3)
Criterion 3
Cultural differences
a.
Chinese customers struggle to trust non-traditional stays (page
5)
Action Plan
· Airbnb enters the market on its own with a new localized
business strategy that will accommodate new customers well
due to cultural differences
Short term
· Identify the specific customer needs in the Chinese Markets.
· Create awareness to overcome the barrier of cultural
differences.
Long term

· Get established in the Chinese market
· Gain a competitive advantage since Airbnb is a disruptive
innovation
· Grow revenue through partnering with local and international
tourist agencies.
Major risks.
· The cultural difference is a significant risk for Airbnb in the
Chinese market
· Disruption to tourism activities.
Risk Mitigation
· Creating awareness about the safety and efficiency of Airbnb
to encourage the local Chinese tourists to use the
accommodation services.
· Creating a business continuity plan to be used in case there is
tourism disruption.
W20617
AIRBNB: HOME SHARING IN CHINA1
Paul W. Beamish and Zoe Yang wrote this case solely to
provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend
to illustrate
either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial
situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and
other identifying
information to protect confidentiality.
This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized,
or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without

the
permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this
material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction
rights
organization. To order copies or request permission to
reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business
School, Western
University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G 0N1; (t)
519.661.3208; (e) [email protected]; www.iveycases.com. Our
goal is to publish
materials of the highest quality; submit any errata to
[email protected] i1v2e5y5pubs
Copyright © 2020, Ivey Business School Foundation Version:
2020-07-31
The year 2015 was the start of many new opportunities for
Airbnb, Inc. (Airbnb). The company had become
the third most valuable privately-owned start-up in the world
after closing a large funding round in June
2015, raising a total of US$1.5 billion,2 which bumped its
valuation to $25.5 billion.3 This round of funding
saw the emergence of major Asian investors new to the home-
rental space, including Horizon Ventures,
Temasek Holdings, Hillhouse Capital Group, and China
Broadband Capital.4 With the support of this
massive round of capital, Airbnb was ready to double down on
its investments in Asia, particularly in the
lucrative Chinese market. In August 2015, the company
announced a strategic partnership with two of its
China-based investors, China Broadband Capital and Sequoia
China.5 The two firms had extensive
experience in the Chinese market that they could draw upon to
offer valuable insights and guidance to help

Airbnb navigate its expansion. China Broadband Capital
brought expertise from entrepreneur Edward Tian,
who was a pioneer in China’s Internet technology space.
Sequoia China’s team offered insights into the
Chinese tourism industry, with the support of Neil Shen, who
had founded the popular travel platform
Ctrip.com. With the help of these two venture capital firms,
Airbnb announced that its first priority for its
expansion into China would be to recruit a regional chief
executive officer (CEO).6
Now, in January 2016, the company was still searching for a
leader with local expertise in order to start
defining its expansion strategy. How should Airbnb best
position itself in the Chinese market to ensure a
successful expansion? Should it work with a local competitor,
and if so, who? If the company chose to
instead continue expanding alone, should it replicate its
established formula, or should it localize? If the
company pursued a localization strategy, what were the
different ways it could localize its operations?
COMPANY HISTORY
Airbnb started out as a few air mattresses on the floor of a San
Francisco loft. In October 2007, roommates and
future co-founders Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky were
struggling to pay their rent and looking for ways to
generate some extra income. They knew that a large design
conference would soon be held in San Francisco,
and identified an opportunity when the demand for local hotel
rooms exceeded the supply. The roommates
decided to use the extra space in their apartment to set up a few
air mattresses and open up their home to designers
attending the conference. They created a simple website,

airbedandbreakfast.com, to advertise their newly
created accommodation space, charging $80 per night for a bed
and a complimentary homemade breakfast in
the morning. Through this website they were able to
successfully attract their first three renters.
For the exclusive use of y. wu, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by yanxing wu in Intl
Business Strategy - Spring 2021 taught by ERIC HUTCHINS,
California State Polytechnic University - Pomona from Jan 2021
to
May 2021.
Page 2 9B20M141
Gebbia and Chesky’s successful hosting experience inspired
them to team up with ex-roommate and
engineer Nathan Blecharczyk to build the idea into something
bigger. The concept was simple: locals would
earn income by opening their homes to visitors looking for
inexpensive and unique accommodations. The
platform would help facilitate the entire transaction in such a
way as to establish trust between hosts and
guests, generating revenues by taking a small percentage of the
payment.7 Throughout 2008,
airbedandbreakfast.com was launched several times, though
each launch was relatively unsuccessful. One
of the site’s initial launches was at the March 2008 South by
Southwest conference, where the team had
hoped to pursue the same strategy it had pursued initially and
capitalize on the excess demand that hotels
could not accommodate. Unfortunately, they were only able to

attract two bookings, one of them being for
Chesky. The team worked to improve the website, and later that
year they launched it again, this time during
the Democratic National Convention in August 2008. Although
they were able to successfully house around
80 visitors during the convention, the platform was back down
to zero users a week later.8
By this time, the team had spent an entire year working on the
website and was in desperate need of capital.
They reached out to seven potential investors, hoping to raise
$150,000 at a $1.5-million valuation. But
after numerous emails, five firms promptly rejected the
investment opportunity and two did not even reply. 9
Without the support of formal investors, the team needed to find
another source of income to continue
bootstrapping their venture. Gebbia and Chesky decided to
leverage their design backgrounds to take
advantage of the upcoming US presidential election. They
created election-themed cereal boxes customized
with illustrations of the two candidates and put them on sale for
$40 each. These souvenir cereals were
incredibly popular at convention parties and at the Democratic
National Convention, and the team was able
to sell 800 boxes generating a profit of over $30,000 to be
invested back into the company. The campaign
also drew some attention to the company; however, it di d not
raise as much awareness as the team had
hoped, and airbedandbreakfast.com was only generating a few
hundred dollars weekly. After the election
period, the team was once again strapped for cash and had to
resort to living off the leftover cereal they had
not sold. With thousands of dollars in credit card debt, the
founders were left questioning the long-term
viability of their venture.

In early 2009, investor Paul Graham invited them to join Y-
Combinator, a highly regarded start-up
accelerator program with an impressive list of alumni
companies. This was the company’s first big break;
the team was provided with training, mentorship, and $20,000 in
funding through the program. In March,
the company decided to rebrand its website to encapsulate a
wider variety of accommodation
name to Airbnb. Soon after, the team
successfully secured $600,000 in seed funding from Sequoia
Capital and spent the summer travelling to
meet hosts in New York City, where rentals were not
performing as well. To solve this problem, they
personally stayed at different Airbnbs across the city and rented
a camera to help hosts professionally
photograph their properties, successfully doubling revenues
from these listings as a result. This photography
program was later offered to hosts all over the world through
contracted freelance photographers.10 With
the support of Y-Combinator and its other investors, Airbnb
grew to over 21,000 guests in more than 100
countries by the end of 2009.11
Subsequently, the company raised $7.2 million in a Series A
round and $112 million in a Series B round,
at a valuation of over $1 billion, classifying it as a “unicorn
start-up” in Silicon Valley. But this tremendous
growth was accompanied by numerous obstacles and regulatory
challenges that the company had to
overcome as it aggressively expanded across the world. In 2011,
Airbnb launched Host Guarantee, a
property damage protection program, staying true to its values
of creating a quality experience for not only
guests but also hosts on the platform. The company continued
its rapid growth throughout 2012, opening

10 offices in major cities across Europe, as well as in Delhi,
São Paulo, Sydney, and Singapore. The Airbnb
logo was rebranded in 2014 with the Bélo symbol, and the
company expanded beyond consumers into the
to
May 2021.
Page 3 9B20M141
corporate world with the introduction of its Business Travel
arm. The company had come a long way since
its air mattress days, reaching an impressive 2 million listings
by the end of 2015 and serving over 40
million guests worldwide.12
CHINA LANDSCAPE
Tourism Industry
The Chinese tourism market grew substantially between 2014
and 2015, with the number of inbound
tourists increasing by 4.1 per cent to just under 135 million
visitors. However, the number of foreign tourists
visiting from beyond Greater China (e.g., Hong Kong, Macau,
and Taiwan) actually decreased by 1.4 per
cent to around 25.9 million. The majority of visitors were

between the ages of 25 and 44 and travelled from
other Asian countries, with the largest number coming from
South Korea. Sightseeing and leisure activities
were the most popular reasons why visitors came to China,
while many others visited the country for
business purposes. 13 Revenues from inbound tourism spending
had experienced an increase of 7.8 per cent
from 2014, reaching $113.7 billion in 2015.14
On the other hand, outbound travel from China was limited to
passport holders, which made up a mere 4
per cent of the population in 2014.15 But with increasing
passport issuance, the number of outbound
travellers had more than doubled from 2010 to 2015, and was
estimated to continue growing rapidly (see
Exhibit 1).16 Total outbound visitors had increased by 9 per
cent to reach around 120 million in 2015, with
the majority of visitors falling within the age range of 25−34.17
Consequently, outbound tourism spending
had also nearly doubled in the same period, to about $200
billion. 18 Chinese traveller preferences were
changing as well, with more people opting to travel further
internationally, increasing total trips beyond
Greater China by 42 per cent to 50.9 million.19 Though most of
these outbound destinations were other
Asian countries, European countries were increasingly gaining
traction among travellers as visa regulations
loosened and processes became more simplified (see Exhibit
2).20 This travel trend was further bolstered
by the Chinese government’s Belt and Road Initiative, where
one of the main goals was to enable “people-
to-people connections by cultivating student, expert, and
cultural exchanges and tourism.”21
The biggest driver of the Chinese tourism industry, however,
was actually domestic travel, which had grown

by 10.5 per cent since 2014 to reach a lofty 4 billion travellers.
Almost two-thirds of domestic visitors
travelled from urban areas, and the most popular times to travel
were during the weeks of the National Day
Holiday, and Chinese New Year. Revenues from domestic travel
had also grown, with a 13-per-cent
increase since 2014, reaching just over $525 billion. 22
Sharing Economy and Regulations
The Chinese sharing economy was relatively new but growing
rapidly, with a valuation of $299 billion in
2015. Over the next four years, the market was projected to
grow by 40 per cent, eventually contributing
up to 10 per cent of China’s overall gross domestic product.23
This trend was largely driven by the country’s
620 million cell phone users, who had quickly embraced the
sharing economy model with many online
platforms. This industry was conducive to further growth due to
the support of the Chinese government,
who sought to become a global leader through close
collaboration with companies in the space. In order to
do so, the National Development and Reform Commission
focused on creating strategies and regulations
that would encourage technological innovations and the
development of new industries. Unlike Western
regulators, the Chinese government appeared to be more wi lling
to adjust regulations and collaborate with
companies to promote the sharing economy. 24

to
May 2021.
Page 4 9B20M141
The home-sharing market, in particular, was valued at $816
million in 2015, largely driven by the success
of local brands such as Tujia and Xiaozhu.25 However, Chinese
consumers were different from Western
consumers; a study had shown that the most significant
motivators for Chinese consumers to use home-
sharing platforms were price, value, trust, and enjoyment. Since
the credit system was not yet fully
developed in China, consumers were actually more trusting of
online platforms, as this business model had
become familiar due to the popularity of technology giants such
as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. However,
Chinese consumers had not fully embraced the home-sharing
model, with insecurity being one of the
biggest factors that prevented people from choosing platforms
like Airbnb over traditional hotels. Unlike
Western consumers, Chinese consumers had a lower risk
tolerance and were less comfortable with the
uncertainty that came with home-sharing platforms, which
lacked official monitoring.26
Although the government appeared to be in support of fostering
the sharing economy in China, the home-
sharing industry still faced regulatory uncertainty. Foreign
Internet companies, in particular, had historically
encountered challenges in forming relationships with authorities
and adapting to the regulatory landscape
in China. In 2014, multiple Western companies were subject to

antitrust investigations, which involved
unannounced office raids and up to millions of dollars in fines.
27 Companies such as Microsoft Corporation,
Accenture Plc, and Daimler AG had their offices searched and
copies of contracts and internal data
recorded. 28 Uber Technologies Inc. (Uber), which had just
entered the Chinese market in 2014, was subject
to a similar investigation in 2015 when two Uber offices
received visits from Chinese authorities.29 In the
relatively new home-sharing industry, current laws prevented
the use of private residences for commercial
purposes such as operating a hotel, but there had yet to be clear
regulations and guidelines established for
the short-term rental business model. This made operating in the
space a tough grey zone, since it was
unclear whether short-term rentals should be governed by the
same regulations as hotels, which had strict
standards for safety and cleanliness. 30
COMPETITION
American Competitors
Despite the tremendous growth that Airbnb was able to achieve
over the past few years, it battled for market
share against numerous other players. Although the company
was commonly regarded as a disruptor in the
hotel industry, Airbnb’s vice-president of engineering, Mike
Curtis, did not view the platform as directly
competing with hotels. In fact, he believed that the customers
who were drawn to hotels were distinct from
those who chose to stay at an Airbnb. He argued that the
company targeted people who wanted to travel in
a different way and valued the local insights and adventures that
came with staying at an Airbnb. He

explained,
Our business is expanding and the hotel business is expanding .
. . We’re helping people travel in
a new way. I don’t view it as a direct competition with hotels . .
. [Airbnb customers] choose to
travel with Airbnb to connect more with the local area where
they’re visiting in a way you couldn’t
with a prepackaged deal. 31
Chris Nassetta, CEO of Hilton, one of the largest hotel chains
worldwide, also viewed Airbnb as being in
a different segment of the lodging industry altogether. He
believed that hotels and Airbnb could coexist
within the same market because the needs of their target
markets were so different that neither could cater
to the demands of each other’s customers, saying:
I think it’s very hard for us to do exactly what they are doing. I
think it’s extremely hard for them
to be able to do—replicate what we are doing. And I don’t think
our core customers suddenly woke
to
May 2021.

9B20M141
up and said, “We really don’t care about consistently high-
quality products and we don’t need
service and we don’t need amenities.” I just don’t buy it.32
On the other hand, Airbnb faced direct competition from
multiple other alternative lodging platforms,
including HomeAway, one of the most established players in the
industry. HomeAway’s platform
connected rental owners with travellers looking for more
economical accommodation options, and provided
booking management and advertising features for property
managers. Launched in June 2006, HomeAway
was a portfolio company that expanded internationally by
operating through multiple rental platforms.
Some notable brands it owned included VacationRentals.com,
BedandBreakfast.com, and VRBO (Vacation
Rentals By Owner), which was one of the pioneers in the online
rental industry, founded back in 1995.
Collectively, HomeAway had over 1 million properties across
190 countries around the world, including
China, which it expanded to in 2012 by buying a minority stake
in a local rental platform, Tujia. Since then,
thousands of international HomeAway listings had been
translated into Mandarin and posted on Tujia to
attract Chinese outbound travellers.33 In 2015, HomeAway and
its entire portfolio of brands were acquired
by the Expedia Group for $3.9 billion. 34 With the backing of
this online travel agent, HomeAway had the
resources to grow even further.

Local Chinese Players
Although Chinese consumers had started warming up to the
concept of home sharing, there were gaps
between what these consumers demanded versus what American
companies offered. With the growth of
this industry, local competitors had entered the market hoping
to fill the void between traditional consumer-
to-consumer marketplaces and what Chinese users desired.
Among these, Tujia and Xiaozhu were two
major competitors that had managed to successfully tailor their
business model to suit the market in China.
Established in 2011, Tujia had grown to become one of the
largest rental platforms in China, with over
310,000 homes listed in 393 cities, including 138 cities
overseas, as a result of its partnership with
HomeAway. 35 The co-founder, Melissa Yang, articulated two
key differences between Western and
Chinese travellers: Chinese travellers struggled to trust non-
traditional accommodations, and guests tended
to expect a much higher level of service. These consumer
beliefs were taken into account when building
the Tujia platform, which used a more hands-on approach when
facilitating transactions between owners
and renters. The company focused mainly on luxury home
rentals and worked solely with real estate agents
who managed multiple properties, helping them find short-term
rentals for their vacant inventory. Beyond
this, Tujia also provided maintenance services such as
housekeeping, and worked with third-party property
managers to ensure that accommodations were in pristine
condition prior to guests’ arrival. In addition, the
company overcame the lack of trust in home rentals by helping
guests verify property photos and inspect
accommodations to ensure the authenticity of rental listings.

Some of its properties even offered hotel-like
amenities, such as airport pickup, cleaning services, and in-
house butlers at more premium locations.36 With
a recent funding round of $300 million in August 2015, Tujia
was valued at over $1 billion and was expected
to continue growing at a rapid pace. 37
Xiaozhu.com was another local service similar to Airbnb,
offering a platform for those interested in booking
short-term stays. The company was founded in 2012 and
initially focused solely on domestic stays, with
rentals in over 200 cities across China. The website itself
offered users a more personalized experience,
with tailored profile pages and blog posts that documented
previous users’ experiences. The Xiaozhu.com
team also recognized the lack of trust that consumers had in
online rental listings, and thus offered much
more support than Airbnb. This included customer service
phone lines, a team of professional “home
to
May 2021.
Page 6 9B20M141
photographers,” as well as free insurance for both hosts and
guests.38 In July 2015, the company closed out
a Series C funding round, raising $60 million at a valuation of

over $300 million.39
AIRBNB’S EFFORTS THUS FAR
Airbnb had had an interest in Asia for the past three years, with
over 50,000 properties listed in the region
since 2013, of which 1,500 were in China.40 A small team of
employees started in Beijing in 2014 and
within that year, China became the company’s fastest growing
outbound market, with 700 per cent more
tourists travelling from the country compared to the previous
year. With a $1.5-billion funding round and
the support of two local Chinese venture capital firms, Airbnb
announced its official entrance into the
Chinese market in August 2015.41 The team worked closely
with their strategic partners to search for a
regional CEO, and grew the local team to over 10 people. 42
Throughout the past year, the company had
focused on outbound travel from China to reduce regulatory
risk, and leveraged its listings worldwide to
attract users onto the platform. A version of the platform was
launched in Chinese, and popular payment
processors including Alipay and UnionPay were integrated to
cater to the local population. The sign-up
process was also connected with popular Chinese social media
platforms, allowing users to log in with
Weibo or WeChat to create an account. 43 The company also
prioritized developing its mobile application
to cater to the higher percentage of people who used mobile
devices in China compared to the rest of the
world.44 In order to reach local consumers interested in unique
travel experiences, Airbnb also collaborated
with platforms Qyer and Mafengwo, which catered to young
individuals looking for unique travel
experiences overseas. Through these partnerships, Airbnb rooms

were listed on both platforms for users to
book directly. 45
ESTABLISHED FORMULA OR
LOCALIZE?
As Airbnb continued to venture into the Chinese market, it had
to consider multiple options. Given the low
success rate of other technology companies that had previously
attempted to capture the market, should
Airbnb consider expanding in other ways? Instead of building a
customer base from the ground up, should
the company consider working with the local players? If so,
with which company should it collaborate?
Since the market was not yet dominated by one company, there
could be an opportunity to acquire or merge
with a local competitor to efficiently gain market share and
access an established Chinese customer base.
However, merging with another competitor could result in brand
dilution and loss of control.
On the other hand, Airbnb had already successfully expanded to
numerous countries worldwide without
needing to grow inorganically. Should the company continue
pursuing the same strategy and expand in the
Chinese market on its own? If so, how should Airbnb best
position itself to avoid the challenges that other
foreign companies had failed to overcome? Should Airbnb use
its established formula and replicate its
American platform in China, or should it pursue a localization
strategy? If Airbnb chose to localize, what
were the different ways it could adjust its established formula?
What should it prioritize when localizing its
operations to ensure success?

Airbnb had important decisions to make to ensure that it would
deliver the most value to shareholders and
potential customers alike.
to
May 2021.
Page 7 9B20M141
EXHIBIT 1: TRAVEL OUTLOOK BY COUNTRY/REGION
Inbound Travel (in Million) Outbound Travel (in Million)
Country 2015E 2025E CAGR 2015E 2025E CAGR
China 135 160 2% 120 220 6%
Japan 19 35 6% 18 23 2%
Korea 13 25 7% 16 21 3%
Taiwan 10 18 6% 13 19 4%
Hong Kong 60 74 2% 89 101 1%
ASEAN 100 160 5% 58 120 8%
Note: E = estimate; CAGR = compound annual growth rate;
ASEAN = Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Source: Adapted from Sho Kawano, Joshua Lu, Ricky Tsang,
and Jingyuan Liu, The Asian Consumer: The Chinese Tourist

Boom, 25, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., November 20, 2015,
accessed February 13, 2020,
www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/macroeconomic-
insights-folder/chinese-tourist-boom/report.pdf.
EXHIBIT 2: PROJECTED GROWTH IN CHINESE TOURISTS
BY DESTINATION*
Country 2015E (in Million) 2025E (in Million) CAGR
HK/Macau 68.0 86.4 2%
Korea 5.9 14.1 9%
Taiwan 4.1 9.2 8%
Japan 5.0 16.0 12%
ASEAN 12.0 35.0 11%
Thailand 2.5 6.0 9%
Australia 1.0 2.0 7%
United States 2.2 5.0 9%
Europe 10.0 22.5 8%
Other 11.8 29.8 10%
Total 122.5 226 6%
Note: *As estimated by Goldman Sachs Global Investment
Research; E = estimate; HK = Hong Kong; ASEAN =
Association
of Southeast Asian Nations
Source: Adapted from Sho Kawano, Joshua Lu, Ricky Tsang,
and Jingyuan Liu, The Asian Consumer: The Chinese Tourist
Boom, 25, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., November 20, 2015,
accessed February 13, 2020,

to
May 2021.
http://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/macroeconomic-
insights-folder/chinese-tourist-boom/report.pdf
Page 8 9B20M141
ENDNOTES
1 This case has been written on the basis of published sources
only. Consequently, the interpretation and perspectives
presented in this case are not necessarily those of Airbnb, Inc.
or any of its employees.
2 All currency amounts are in US dollars unless otherwise
specified; US$1 = ¥6.4921 on December 31, 2015; ¥ = CNY =
Chinese yuan.
3 Davey Alba, “Airbnb Confirms $1.5 Billion Funding Round,
Now Valued At $25.5 Billion,” WIRED, December 7, 2015,
accessed February 8, 2020, www.wired.com/2015/12/airbnb-
confirms-1-5-billion-funding-round-now-valued-at-25-5-billion.
4 Michael de W aal-Montgomery, “Asian Investors Jump in on
Airbnb’s US$1.5 Billion Funding Round,” e27, June 29, 2015,
accessed February 8, 2020, https://e27.co/asian-investors-jump-
airbnbs-us1-5-billion-funding-round-20150629.
5 Airbnb, “Introducing Airbnb’s Newest Partners in China,”
August 18, 2015, accessed February 8, 2020,
https://blog.atairbnb.com/introducing-airbnbs-newest-partners-

in-china.
6 Ibid.
7 Leena Rao, “Y Combinator’s Airbed and Breakfast Casts a W
ider Net for Housing Rentals as AirBnB,” TechCrunch, March
5, 2009, accessed February 10, 2020,
https://techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/y-combinators-airbed-and-
breakfast-casts-a-wider-
net-for-housing-rentals-as-airbnb.
8 Jasper Ribbers, “Get Paid for Your Pad,” Get Paid for Your
Pad, August 8, 2019, accessed February 10, 2020,
https://getpaidforyourpad.com/blog/the-airbnb-founder-story.
9 Brian Chesky, “7 Rejections,” Medium, July 12, 2015,
accessed February 10, 2020, https://medium.com/@bchesky/7-
rejections-7d894cbaa084#.krgg5souq.
10 “How Two Designers Created Airbnb—And Turned It Into a
$30 Billion Company,” Product Habits, accessed February 11,
2020, https://producthabits.com/how-two-designers-created-
airbnb-and-turned-it-into-a-30-billion-company.
11 Airbnb, “The Airbnb Story Timeline,” August 4, 2018,
accessed February 11, 2020, https://press.airbnb.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/4/2018/08/The-Airbnb-Story-Timeline-
EN-GLOBAL.pdf.
12 Ibid.
13 “China Inbound Tourism in 2015,” Travel China Guide, May
29, 2019, accessed February 13, 2020,
www.travelchinaguide.com/tourism/2015statistics/inbound.htm.
14 “China Tourism Facts,” Top China Travel, accessed February
13, 2020, www.topchinatravel.com/china-guide/china-tourism-
facts.htm.
15 Sho Kawano, Joshua Lu, Ricky Tsang, and Jingyuan Liu, The
Asian Consumer: The Chinese Tourist Boom, 25, The
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., November 20, 2015, accessed
February 13, 2020,
16 Alex Dichter, Guang Chen, Steve Saxon, Jackey Yu, and

Peimin Suo, “Chinese Tourists: Dispelling the Myths,”
McKinsey
& Company, September 2018, accessed February 13, 2020,
www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Industries/Travel
Transport and Logistics/Our Insights/Huanying to the new
Chinese traveler/Chinese-tourists-Dispelling-the-myths.ashx.
17 “China Outbound Tourism in 2015,” Travel China Guide,
May 29, 2019, accessed February 13, 2020,
www.travelchinaguide.com/tourism/2015statistics/outbound.htm
.
18 W olfgang Georg Arlt, “China’s Outbound Tourism in 2015:
Another Year of Resilient Growth and New Trends,” Forbes,
December 30, 2015, accessed February 13, 2020,
www.forbes.com/sites/profdrwolfganggarlt/2015/12/30/2015-
year-of-
resilient-growth-and-further-segmentation-of-chinas-outbound-
tourism/#4e40b8bcbc11.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.
21 China Power Team, “How W ill the Belt and Road Initiative
Advance China’s Interests?,” China Power, May 8, 2017,
accessed February 13, 2020, https://chinapower.csis.org/china-
belt-and-road-initiative.
22 “China Tourism Statistical Bulletin 2015,” W orld Tourism
Alliance, October 13, 2017, accessed February 13, 2020,
www.wta-
web.org/eng/sjzx_4026/lytjgb_4027/201710/t20171013_842559.
shtml.
23 Cameron Turnbull, “Strength in Numbers: Opportunities in
China’s Sharing Economy,” China Briefing News, July 6, 2016,
accessed February 15, 2020, www.china-
briefing.com/news/china-sharing-economy.
24 Matthieu David, “The Collaborative Economy in China,
Frontline of the Sharing Economy,” Daxue Consulting, June 22,
2017, accessed February 15, 2020,
https://daxueconsulting.com/exploding-collaborative-economy-

in-china.
25 National Information Center Sharing Economy Research
Center, Zhongguo gongxiang jingji fazhan niandu baogao
[China
Sharing Economy Development Annual Report], National
Information Center, February 2019, accessed February 15, 2020,
www.sic.gov.cn/archiver/SIC/UpFile/Files/Default/2019030111
5908284438.pdf.
26 Jian Gong, and Yanmei Zheng, “A Study on the Motivation
and Constrain Factors Influence Chinese Travelers’ Attitude
towards Airbnb,” Semantic Scholar, Uppsala University, June 1,
2018, accessed February 15, 2020,
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/992b/4bc85c7f41c560bbdbd8cd
0d55ad0dec00b8.pdf.
27 Paul Mozur and Nick W ingfield, “Microsoft Faces New
Scrutiny in China,” The New York Times, January 5, 2016,
accessed
February 18, 2020,
www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/business/international/microsoft-
china-antitrust-inquiry.html.
28 Neil Gough, Chris Buckley, and Nick Wingfield, “China’s
Energetic Enforcement of Antitrust Rules Alarms Foreign
Firms,” The New
York Times, August 10, 2014, accessed February 18, 2020,
www.nytimes.com/2014/08/11/business/international/china8217
s-
energetic-enforcement-of-antitrust-rules-alarms-foreign-
firms.html.
29 Hongzuo Liu, “Chinese Authorities Pay Visits to Uber
Offices,” CNET, May 7, 2015, accessed February 18, 2020,
www.cnet.com/news/chinese-authorities-comes-a-knocking-at-
uber-offices.

to
May 2021.
Page 9 9B20M141
30 Qin Min, Sun W enjing, Zhuang Qiaoyi, and Han W ei,
“Airbnb’s China Expansion Signals Rapid Growth in Home-
Sharing,”
Caixin Global, November 8, 2016, accessed February 18, 2020,
www.caixinglobal.com/2016-11-08/airbnbs-china-expansion-
signals-rapid-growth-in-home-sharing-101005272.html.
31 Richard Trenholm, “Airbnb Exec Denies Competition with
Hotels, Says an Airbnb Trip ‘Changes You,’” CNET, March 3,
2015,
accessed March 6, 2020, www.cnet.com/news/airbnb-exec-
denies-competition-with-hotels-says-an-airbnb-trip-changes-
you-somehow.
Here’s Why,” Business Insider, October 29, 2015, accessed
March
6, 2020, www.businessinsider.com/hilton-ceo-airbnb-
competition-2015-10.
33 Doug Tsuruoka, “HomeAway China Partner Seen as Key to
Growth,” Investor’s Business Daily, July 19, 2013, accessed
March 6, 2020,
www.investors.com/news/technology/homeaway-taps-booming-
china-travel-market.
34 Expedia, “Expedia to Acquire HomeAway, Inc.,” Expedi a
Newsroom, November 4, 2015, accessed March 6, 2020,

https://newsroom.expedia.com/2015-11-04-Expedia-To-
Acquire-HomeAway-Inc.
35 Emma Lee, “China’s AirBNB Tujia Valued at $1B USD
Following $300M in Funding,” TechNode, August 4, 2015,
accessed
February 20, 2020, https://technode.com/2015/08/04/tujia-
series-d.
36 Neelima Mahajan, “How Tujia, ‘China’s Airbnb’, Is
Different from Airbnb,” CKGSB Knowledge, August 12, 2015,
accessed
February 20, 2020,
https://knowledge.ckgsb.edu.cn/2015/08/12/technology/how -
tujia-chinas-airbnb-is-different-from-
airbnb/?fbclid=IwAR3ZG2qe09G061txzO5BnLnkXQJcttNnRe-
YjkMwBpL_KLv1XSpG44XAh_M.
37 Amie Tsang, “Chinese Property-Rental Site Tujia Raises
$300 Million,” The New York Times, August 3, 2015, accessed
February
20, 2020,
www.nytimes.com/2015/08/04/business/dealbook/chinese-
property-rental-site-tujia-raises-300-million.html.
38 SEEC Media Group, “Xiaozhu: Should You Use ‘China’s
Airbnb’?,” Time Out Beijing, May 25, 2015, accessed February
20,
2020, www.timeoutbeijing.com/ features/Property-
Features/143093/Xiaozhu-should-you-use-Chinas-Airbnb.html.
39 Jon Russell, “Chinese Airbnb Rival Xiaozhu Closes $60M
Series C Round,” TechCrunch, July 10, 2015, accessed February
20, 2020, https://techcrunch.com/2015/07/10/xiaozhu-series-c.
40 Adam Pasick, “Airbnb Sets Its Sights on the Chinese
Tourism Boom,” Quartz, September 13, 2013, March 11, 2020,
https://qz.com/124039/airbnb-sets-its-sights-on-the-chinese-
tourism-boom/.
41 Ibid.
42 Feifei Fan, “Optimism for Growth Drives Airbnb in China,”
China Daily, January 21, 2016, accessed March 11, 2020,

www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2016-
01/21/content_23182006.htm.
43 Sarah Kessler, “How Airbnb Adapted for China,” Fast
Company, August 19, 2015, accessed March 11, 2020,
www.fastcompany.com/3050091/how-airbnb-adapted-for-china.
44 Ben Bland, “Airbnb Confident of China W elcome,”
Financial Times, September 13, 2015, accessed March 11, 2020,
www.ft.com/content/c1dec7e6-59f2-11e5-9846-de406ccb37f2.
45 Ibid.
to
May 2021.
California State Polytechnic
University - Pomona from Jan 2021 to May 2021.
REVISED
EDITION
THE
CASE
STUDY

HANDBOOK
A STUDENT’S GUIDE
California State Polytechnic University - Pomona from Jan
2021 to May 2021.
2021 to May 2021.
REVISED
EDITION
THE
CASE
STUDY
HANDBOOK
A STUDENT’S GUIDE
William Ellet
Harvard Business Review Press
Boston, Massachusetts

2021 to May 2021.
HBR Press Quantity Sales Discounts
Harvard Business Review Press titles are available at signifi
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For details and discount information for both print and
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Copyright 2018 William Ellet
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or
introduced into a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher.
Requests for permission should be

directed to [email protected], or mailed to Permissions, Harvard
Business School
Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163.
The web addresses referenced in this book were live and
correct at the time of the book’s
publication but may be subject to change.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ellet, William, author.
Title: The case study handbook : a student’s guide / by William
Ellet.
Description: Revised edition. | [Boston, Massachusetts] :
Harvard Business
Review Press, [2018] | Includes index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2018000145 | ISBN 9781633696150 (pbk. :
alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Management—Case studies—Study and
teaching.
Classifi cation: LCC HD30.4 .E435 2018 | DDC 658—dc22 LC
record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018000145
ISBN: 9781633696150
eISBN: 9781633696167
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Find more digital content or join the discussion on
www.hbr.org.

2021 to May 2021.
hbr.org
C O N T E N T S
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. What Is the Case Method? What’s in It for You? . . . . . . . . .
. . . 5
PART I
ANALYZING CASES
2. What Is a Case? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 11
3. The Skills You Need to Read and Analyze a Case . . . . . . . .
. . 17
4. How to Analyze Decision Scenario Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 29
5. How to Analyze Evaluation Scenario Cases . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 47
6. How to Analyze Problem- Diagnosis Scenario Cases . . . . .
. . . 67
PART II

DISCUSSING CASES
7. How to Prepare and Discuss Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 95
PART III
WRITING ABOUT CASES
8. How to Write Case- Based Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 113
9. How to Write Decision Scenario Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 131
2021 to May 2021.
vi�C O NTE NT S
10. How to Write Evaluation Scenario Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 145
11. Writing about P roblem- D iagnosis Scenarios . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 159
PART IV
CASES FOR ANALYSIS AND WRITING

General Motors: Packard Electric Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 173
Malaysia in the 1990s (A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 193
Allentown Materials Corporation:
The Electronic Products Division (Abridged) . . . . . . . . . . . . .
213
PART V
STUDY GUIDES FOR CASE ANALYSIS
AND WRITING
Study Guide for Decision Scenario Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 229
Study Guide for Evaluation Scenario Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 235
Study Guide for Problem- Diagnosis Scenario Cases . . . . . . .
. . . 241
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 247
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 249
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 255
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2021 to May 2021.
INTRODUCTION
Are you a student who is new to the case method? Are you a
student who feels that you aren’t learning as much as you want
from the case method? If you belong in either of these
categories, this book
was written for you.
The fi rst edition of The Case Study Handbook emerged from
my sixteen
years of work with business school students. This new version
follows over
a decade more of working with students and refi ning the ideas
in the fi rst
edition. The initial motivation for the book was frustration. I
had been
trying to help Harvard Business School MBAs write better case-
based
examinations. I gave them what I considered to be good advice
about
writing, such as using a logical essay structure and being
concise. There
was nothing wrong with the advice—I’m still giving it to this
day—but
it didn’t have the positive impact I expected on the quality of
students’
exam essays.

Eventually, I realized that I didn’t fully understand what the
students
were having trouble with. First, my advice started in the wrong
place. I
assumed that students knew how to analyze cases to provide the
content
needed for their exam essays. Actually, many weren’t sure how
to do that.
Their uncertainty compromised the depth and quality of their
thinking
about cases.
Second, case examinations usually ask students to take a
position on
the central issue of a case. Although many students had no
problem taking
a position, they weren’t certain what else they needed to do. A
common
strategy was to fi ll the essay with case facts the students
thought were rel-
evant to their position and let the reader sort out the
relationship between
the facts and the position. I assumed that they knew how to
write an
argument to prove their position.
The two issues had nothing to do with how smart the students
were.
They weren’t at fault for not knowing what they needed to do
because no
one had ever told them. Students are usually expected to fi gure
out how
to analyze cases on their own. Many do and many don’t. But the
process
of making cases meaningful is too important to leave to chance.

The rich
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2�TH E C A S E S T U DY H A N D B O O K
learning that the case method off ers can’t be completely
realized unless
students—meaning you—understand what a case is and how to
analyze
it. The same is true of understanding how to make evidence-
backed
arguments.
One other aspect of the case method causes problems for a
signifi -
cant number of students: classroom discussion of cases. They’re
unsure
of the purpose of discussion and their role in it. Much of this
uncertainty
stems from students’ educational backgrounds. They’re used to
the lecture
method and have honed the skills needed for that method of
instruction:
listening and taking notes. They emphatically aren’t used to the
professor
asking them questions or having a major share of the
responsibility for
learning in the classroom.

It’s telling that three critical aspects of the student role in the
case
method—analysis, discussion, and argument—are often ignored.
The
case method has been defi ned largely from the point of view of
professors,
not students. Professors concern themselves with analyzing
cases in order
to teach them and are skilled in argumentation. However, what
matters
most in the classroom is what students, not professors, know —
or don’t.
I’m not blaming professors. They’re focused on their subject-
matter
expertise, and the academic reward system tends to be biased
toward what
the professor knows, not how well she or he can teach that
knowledge.
Showing students how to analyze cases and make arguments
about them
falls outside the lines of business disciplines and the
organization of busi-
ness departments or schools. You’ll look in vain for a
Department of Case
Analysis.
This book fi lls the gap I’ve just described in traditional
business cur-
ricula. (It also is relevant to programs other than business that
use cases,
including medicine, nursing, and engineering.) It provides:
• Analytical tools that help you sort, organize, and refl ect on
the

content of a case and use the concepts and frameworks taught in
business courses more eff ectively.
• Advice on how you can participate in and contribute to
classroom
discussion of cases.
• Guidance on how to develop arguments about cases and
express
them in writing that is logical, clear, and succinct.
It’s a fair question to ask whether the advice in this book
works. Is it
worth your time to read? Here’s what I can tell you. For over a
decade
since the publication of the initial edition, a group of writing
coaches,
including me, has used the fi rst edition of the book as a
foundation for our
2021 to May 2021.
I NTRO D U C TI O N�3
work with hundreds of Harvard MBAs. Almost all of our
students sig-
nifi cantly improved their ability to analyze cases and to write
about them.
Our metric was the grades that students received. I’ve had

similar results
in my teaching at Brandeis University, George Washington
University,
and the University of Miami.
One of the best examples from my own coaching is a fi rst-
generation
college graduate from a family that had emigrated to the United
States
when he was a child. He received poor grades on his fi rst-year
exams
at HBS and was understandably demoralized. He used the
concepts in
this book to enhance his understanding of how to analyze a case
and
write a persuasive argument about it. In his second year, he
received high
grades in all of his courses—a complete turnaround from his fi
rst year.
There were several reasons for his academic improvement, the
primary
one being his hard work. But he said he also benefi ted in class
discussion
and on exams from the concepts drawn from this book.
This book uses Harvard Business School cases as examples and
includes
analyses of them. Don’t assume, however, that the analyses give
the “right
answers” to the cases. The evidence in them can sustain other
conclu-
sions. The book also includes essays about the cases; they are
based on the
writing of MBA students. Because the original essays were
examinations
written under time pressure, they inevitably had errors, unclear

sentences,
and lapses in logic. I debated whether to present the essays as is
or correct
and revise them. I chose the latter. No essay is perfect, and I
don’t want to
set a standard of unobtainable perfection. But I want you to
have the best
examples of the points made in the book without confusion over
what is
correct and what isn’t.
This book is intended for you—case method students current
and pro-
spective. My wish is that it will enhance your learning from
cases and
provide benefi ts for others associated with your learning—your
peers,
professors, employers, colleagues, and communities.
2021 to May 2021.
2021 to May 2021.

C H A P T E R 1
WHAT IS THE CASE
METHOD? WHAT’S
IN IT FOR YOU?
Each year, entering business school students— and students in
many other disciplines— encounter an approach to learning
that is new to them: the case method. You may be one of them.
For novices, the
fi rst encounter can be frustrating and unnerving. A case
appears to be a
straightforward narrative, but when you fi nish reading it, you
may ask
yourself questions such as:
• What point is the case trying to make?
• Is it trying to make a point at all?
• What am I supposed to do now?
Let’s say you have read a case study of a restaurant chain that
ends with
the CEO turning over in his mind basic questions about the
business.
He has some possible answers, but the case doesn’t tell you
which one
he thinks is best. In another case study, a young MBA has
accidentally
learned of offi ce behavior that could have serious
consequences for the
individuals involved, including her. At the conclusion of the
case, she has

a literal and fi gurative headache, and the choice of what she
should do is
left up in the air.
In the classroom, case instructors facilitate discussion, asking
lots of
questions, writing comments on the board, and making
occasional
remarks. Students respond to questions, build on each other’s
comments,
disagree with one another, ask questions, and try out diff erent
points of
view about the case situation. A case classroom is dynamic and
unpre-
dictable; discussion can lurch into a blind alley, reverse course,
and then
head in a more productive direction. Sometimes the discussion
may seem
to end in a frustrating muddle. Students have expressed confl
icting views
about the main issue in the case, and the professor, the expert in
the room,
2021 to May 2021.
doesn’t step in and resolve the confl ict by announcing the
“right” answer.

Why doesn’t she do her job?
Actually, she is doing her job. In a case classroom, you’re
entitled to your
own opinion; you don’t have to defer to the professor or other
students as
long as you back your opinion with case facts (including
numbers when
they’re available) and fact- based inferences and calculations.
The professor
doesn’t lay out the correct response to the case for one very
good reason. As
students, you have to learn how to think. The professor can’t do
it for you.
You have to practice thinking, which means you’ll gain insights
and under-
standing that are gratifying and fun and make mistakes that are
frustrating.
Written examinations that use cases pose another challenge for
you. In
class, everyone, including the instructor, works collaboratively
on a case.
On exams, you are on your own. You not only have to analyze
the case
in response to one or more questions but also write an essay that
satisfi es
and persuades an expert reader, all in a limited time.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?
Until now, your education has probably consisted primarily of
lectures.
They are widely used all over the world. There are good reasons
for their
popularity. They are an effi cient way for an expert to deliver
content to

many individuals at once. One memorable description of the
method is
the “sage on the stage.” In combination with textbooks, which
are lec-
tures in print, this learning model can deliver a large amount of
content
to many students in a short time. In addition, student learning
can usually
be tested effi ciently with multiple choice or short- answer
questions or
problem sets.
The lecture model is good for transferring information. In that
sense, it
is effi cient (although there are serious questions about how
long and how
well students retain the information). However, like any
learning model, it
has limitations when used exclusively. Most important, lectures
can teach
you what to think but not how to think. Lecture content (live
or delivered
through media such as the web and in textbooks and other
similar read-
ings) provides theory, frameworks, concepts, facts, formulas,
and expert
opinion about a subject. It is the “what” of thinking.
However, for knowledge you will use in the real world— in
business, for
example, or in engineering or medicine— the “what” isn’t
suffi cient. You
must know how to apply the knowledge in the real world. For
that, you
need to practice in situations that are similar to those you will
actually

encounter.
2021 to May 2021.
W H AT I S TH E C A S E M E TH O D ? W H AT ’ S I N IT F
O R YO U ?�7
Here’s a simple example of the diff erence between what and
how. You
received a degree from Soccer University. You took courses on
rules,
skills, and strategy and read textbooks, listened to lectures, and
watched
videos and demonstrations by professional soccer players.
However, you
never practiced what you learned on a soccer fi eld. Do you
know how to
play soccer? No, you don’t.
Similarly, let’s say you’re an MBA who took multiple
accounting classes
taught by the lecture method and read the assigned textbook.
None of
your classes used cases or any other type of active learning. In
your fi rst
job, you’re asked to evaluate the organization’s accounting
system. In
school you had lectures on diff erent types of accounting
systems, but you

were never asked to analyze, on your own, a real- world
accounting system
and its fi t with an organization. You aren’t sure what criteria
you should
use. You could tell your boss that you need her help but are
afraid she
might question the decision to hire you.
One area of education has always recognized the importance of
both
the “what” and the “how.” Medical schools teach their students
knowl-
edge from a wide range of fi elds (the what). But it would be
unthinkable
to teach students the theory of medicine and turn them loose on
patients
with no training in how to treat them. Medical schools require
clinical
training: the application of what students have learned to real
patients
under the supervision of experienced doctors (the how). This
practice
continues beyond graduation from medical school in internships
and
residencies.
Strangely, academic disciplines that teach knowledge meant to
be
applied in the real world often put limited or no emphasis on the
transla-
tion of knowledge into action. This knowledge requires practice
opportu-
nities. The lecture method generally doesn’t give students the
chance to
practice. In the case method, you use the knowledge you have
learned to

come up with your own answers (with the guidance of an
expert). The
method allows for answers that are objectively wrong or
dubious because
they are part of learning. The case method allows you to make
mistakes
and learn from them.
This fundamental shift in the learning model causes many
students to
be confused, uncertain, and anxious. But professors using cases
are doing it
for your sake. They want to give you the opportunity to practice
using what
they’ve taught you.
Think of it this way: when you are in a job, your professor isn’t
going
to be there to tell you the right answer. Your boss likely isn’t
going to tell
you either. After all, she hired you to come up with answers.
2021 to May 2021.
SKILLS FOR THE CASE METHOD
MBA students have told me they feel there is a secret to the
case method

that some people get and some don’t. If you get it, you do well;
if you
don’t, you scrape by as best you can.
The case method requires a lot from you. At the same time, it
isn’t a
secret society in which a few fortunate individuals get it and
outperform
their peers. As a case method student, you need three distinct
sets of skills:
1. You need to be able to read a case and give it meaning in
relation
to the key issues or questions that you have been asked about it.
2. You have to be able to communicate your thinking eff
ectively in a
class discussion.
3. You must be able to write a persuasive response to a
question about
a case.
Reading, discussing, and writing about cases all involve the
application
of knowledge to the situation described in a case. What does
“knowledge”
mean? It includes your work experience and also the knowledge
you learn
in courses such as the principles of accounting, the 5Cs of
marketing, and
the Five Forces of Michael Porter.
This book addresses the three aspects of the case method. The
case
method begins with reading a case, interrogating it with

questions, seek-
ing information relevant to the questions, making inferences and
calcula-
tions, and forming an opinion or conclusion about the main
issue. These
skills are the focus of part I of this book. In the classroom, the
case method
is about sharing your thinking with classmates and the
instructor and
learning from this collaboration. The skills related to case
discussion are
the subject of part II. You may have to write about cases for
class assign-
ments or the fi nal examination. Skills for writing about cases
are covered
in part III. In part IV, you’ll fi nd three cases used as examples
for analyzing
and writing about a case. Finally, part V includes Study Guides
for taking
notes to prepare for case discussion and to outline a case-
based essay.
2021 to May 2021.
PA R T I
ANALYZING
CASES

2021 to May 2021.
2021 to May 2021.
C H A P T E R 2
WHAT IS A CASE?
Have you ever read a case? If you haven’t, this chapter will be
much more useful to you after you have read a case. There are
three at the end of this book to choose from. Read the fi rst
section of the case
slowly and skim the rest to get a sense of the story it tells.
Much of what you read daily is packaged to make it easy to
understand.
The writing in newspapers, magazines, television, internet
resources such
as Facebook, and academic articles tells you what it means. If it
doesn’t, it
has failed in its purpose to inform. A newspaper article, for
example, states

its subject clearly, often in the fi rst paragraph, and carefully
declares its
main points, which are usually explained and amplifi ed through
specifi c
examples.
Here are the fi rst two paragraphs from a column written by
Steven
Pearlstein of the Washington Post :
In the recent history of management ideas, few have had a
more profound—
or pernicious—eff ect than the one that says corporations should
be run in a
manner that “maximizes shareholder value.”
Indeed, you could argue that much of what Americans perceive
to be
wrong with the economy these days—the slow growth and rising
inequality;
the recurring scandals; the wild swings from boom to bust; the
inadequate
investment in R&D, worker training and public goods—has its
roots in this
ideology. 1
After you read these two paragraphs, you know what the
subject of the
article is. You also have an expectation about the content of the
rest of the
article: it will explore the specifi c ways in which maximizing
shareholder
value has led to serious economic problems.
You have probably read parts or all of hundreds of textbooks.
Along

with lectures, they are the backbone of university education.
Both are
invaluable for learning about ideas that have proven useful to
under-
standing the real world. For example, in strategy courses all
over the
world, students learn about Michael Porter’s Five Forces. His
framework
helps organize thinking about the economic factors that
determine how
2021 to May 2021.
12�A N A LY Z I N G C A S E S
competitive industries are. They help you see the elements
underlying
strategy and how organizations orchestrate them—or don’t.
Theories and
frameworks help you make sense of specifi c types of situations
in the real
world. Without them, you would be far less able to explain or
anticipate
events such as the astonishing success of an organization (e.g.,
Uber) or a
shocking reversal of fortune (Uber). The knowledge codifi ed in
concepts
and theories taught in academic disciplines is indispensable for
under-

standing the world.
At the same time, educational texts represent reality as logical
and
coherent. They can make a complex situation that surprised
everyone,
including experts, and aff ected millions of people around the
world
appear to be the logical outcome of well-defi ned causes. The fi
nancial
crisis of 2007–2008 that started in the United States and spread
around
the world is an example. Few people saw it coming, and experts,
industry
participants, government regulators, politicians, journalists, and
victims
were shocked when it happened. But afterward, experts found a
pattern
of actions that they believe led inexorably to the disaster.
We can learn much from the study of past events. In real time,
how-
ever, real-world situations have islands of useful data,
observations, and
reference points but, to participants, are often fl uid and
chaotic, have a
large degree of uncertainty, and are diffi cult to understand.
Real-world
situations don’t come with carefully selected and sorted
information that
tells participants what is going on and what they should do
about it.
To practice using knowledge in actual situations, you need
some way of
immersing yourself in both the available facts and the fl uidity

and uncer-
tainty that characterize the real world. That’s what cases are
for.
WHAT A CASE IS, WHAT IT DOES,
WHAT IT DOESN’T DO
A business case imitates or simulates a real situation. By case,
I mean
the substantial studies from universities or corporations, not the
slender
vignettes sometimes included in textbooks. Cases can also be
collections
of articles, multimedia content, or a variety of other types of
content.
They are verbal representations of reality—sometimes with
visual and
auditory complements—that put you in the role of a participant
in a situ-
ation. The subject of cases varies enormously, from a single
individual or
organization to an entire nation. Printed cases can range from
one page to
fi fty or more and can have a small or large amount of content.
But all of
these diff erent forms of cases have a common purpose: to
represent reality,
to convey a situation with all its crosscurrents and rough edges.
2021 to May 2021.

W H AT I S A C A S E ?�13
Cases are an analogue of reality—an avatar, if you like—for
the direct
experience of business or other types of activities. They
immerse you in
certainties and vagaries. To perform this function, a case must
have four
characteristics:
• A signifi cant business issue or issues
• Suffi cient information on which to base conclusions about
the
issues
• No objective conclusion—in other words, no explicit or
implied
right answer
• A nonlinear organization
Let’s explore each of these characteristics.
Signifi cant Issue
A case without a signifi cant issue has no educational value.
You can there-
fore assume that every case deals with something important in
the real
world, for example, a pricing dilemma, debt-equity trade-off s,
or a major
problem in a factory.
Suffi cient Information

A case must have enough facts pertinent to the main issue to
allow you to
draw evidence-backed conclusions about it. Too little
information leads to
guesses, which aren’t educationally useful because there is no
way to judge
their value. A case is very likely to include confl icting
information, which
is consistent with real-world situations.
Cases can also include information that serves as noise to
distract you
and makes it harder to distinguish useful information. If you’re
new to the
case method, this can be hard to cope with. Textbooks and
articles include
only information that is relevant to the main topic. Cases are
diff erent
because noise is a characteristic of real situations. Today, we
are awash in
information, and cases can provide invaluable practice in fi
ltering infor-
mation according to its relevance and value to an issue.
No Objective Conclusions
Cases describe situations about which people have diff ering
opinions.
They don’t consist of information that is all neatly aligned with
a specifi c
2021 to May 2021.

14�A N A LY Z I N G C A S E S
conclusion. Characters in the case may express strong opinions,
but you
need to consider their views alongside those of other characters
and other
information in the case. You, the reader, have to decide on a
conclusion,
as you do in real-life situations.
Nonlinear Organization
Cases seem to have a logical structure. They have an opening
section, a
sequence of headings and subheadings, and a concluding
section. They
often have exhibits that look like those in textbooks or articles.
Headings
and subheadings seem to divide the case into sections just as
textbooks or
articles do. Nevertheless, business cases are typically nonlinear,
meaning
the content is not presented in the most logical way.
Information on a
single topic is scattered among diff erent sections in a case.
Case exhibits
are often designed in a way that it makes it diffi cult to extract
high-value
information. They can also have signifi cant gaps in
information.
TEXTBOOK VS. CASE
Because you’ve spent years reading textbooks, let’s compare
them to see

how they diff er. (See exhibit 2-A.) The comparison shows why
you’re
going to have to adjust the way you’ve learned to read.
As you can see, textbooks and cases present radically diff
erent reading
tasks. The purpose of textbooks is the transfer of knowledge,
including
the principles and conclusions that experts in a domain of
knowledge
accept. The organization of a textbook is logical, starting from
basic con-
cepts and progressing to more advanced concepts. The main
skill needed
for textbooks is memorization.
E X H I B I T 2 - A
Difference between textbooks and cases
Textbooks Cases
Present principles and conclusions Present information only,
no principles or
conclusions
Explain the meaning and signifi cance of
concepts
Require readers to construct the meaning of
a case
Organize content in a logical sequence Employ “organized
disorganization”

2021 to May 2021.
W H AT I S A C A S E ?�15
Cases provide information and express no conclusions about
that infor-
mation. They are literally meaningless until a reader gives them
mean-
ing. As just noted, cases appear to be logically organized, but
they aren’t.
Information about the same topic is often scattered throughout
the case.
These case features mean that you can’t be a passive reader,
gliding your
highlighter over chunks of text, even though you don’t know
whether
they’re important. When you read a case for the fi rst time,
pulling a high-
lighter across the page may feel like you’re doing something,
but it’s an
illusion.
With cases, you need to change how you read and, ultimately,
how
you think. Cases are a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces arranged in
a confus-
ing pattern. You need to take the pieces and fi t them into a
pattern that
helps you understand the main issue and think about the optimal
ways to

Melissa MontesinosFinance deals with leverage, banking or

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