What is the “Case Study Method” and why is it a part of your MBA?
Most MBA booklets will boast, among other things, about their usage of the case study method to turn business students into business leaders. There are thousands of business schools in the world and almost all of them use this teaching/learning method. If you’ve applied for an MBA or are thinking of taking one, you’d be wise to know a little bit about what to expect from it – and the case study method will be a key feature of your MBA experience. So, how does it work and what is its goal?
The rules of the game
It all begins with a few pages of information about a company that faces a specific challenge. At the center of this challenge may be a potentially revolutionizing product that requires a huge financial investment to be developed (think of PCs in their early days); a PR crisis that menaces the company’s own existence (BP’s “Deep Water Horizon” and Malaysian Airlines are recent classics); a change in context that brings to light information previously unknown to the general public (2008 is littered with examples of this kind); etc. Students are handed these pages and asked “If the final decision was yours to make, what would you do?”. Then, a date is set for the classroom debate and the study race begins.
For students, the main goal of reading closely every single word on those pages is to identify the missing information. Case studies – over 80 % of which are written by Harvard Business School’s Faculty – are purportedly formulated to provide students with incomplete facts and data. Hours and hours of study, at first individually, will hopefully help aspiring MBAs to begin formulating an opinion by resorting to theory, but mostly to real life examples that they believe may provide clues as to what their answer to the question should be. After that, if your business school follows HBS’ teaching/learning model, students meet in Learning Teams to discuss their findings and preliminary points of view (Learning Teams are fixed at the beginning of the term of every time a new case study is put on the table, depending on your school’s policy).
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When the day to debate the case study in the classroom begins, participation is crucial; the lecturer only asks questions, never providing additional information yet daring students to consider one another’s conflicting opinions and to solidly justify what they say. In the end, it’s a very competitive affair, since 50% of the final grade relies on classroom participation.
What is the Case Study Method’s goal?
When Harvard Business School imported this method from its Law School counterpart, in the 1920s, it aimed to force business students into the shoes of actual decision-makers, so that they must deal with the responsibility of having to choose a course of action with incomplete information (almost always the case in real life) and defend it before their peers (the stand-ins for investors, business partners, members of Boards of Administration, etc.). Business schools worldwide have stuck to the case study method because they have faith in its ability to develop students’ ability to learn more autonomously, to bear in mind past situations and to practice the arguing and persuasion skills they will need as business leaders.
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During your MBA, the number of case studies you’ll be asked to read may go from a couple of dozens to hundreds – so we advise you to start preparing yourself for long hours of research and debate!
If you have any questions about the Case Study Method or about any other of this blog’s topics, don’t hesitate to contact us! If you want to know more about executive programs and how to choose the right one for you, feel free to download our free ebook below.
