Creating your own case studies
Case studies are an essential part of marketing teaching, because they allow students to apply the marketing strategy process to a real business situation. While there are many excellent case studies available, from Harvard and many other business schools, I like to create my own whenever I can.
Why do I create my own cases?
Because if I create my own case I can focus on what specifically I want to teach, within the time frame that I have available. For example, when I cover the concept of price wars, I may want to spend 30 minutes on a simple case study that highlights the importance of differentiation to avoid competing only on price. I won’t be able to find a Harvard case for this purpose; their cases can take an entire lecture and rarely focus on one particular thing. So I create my own.
How do I select a subject?
My typical method is that I identify a company that does something different and interesting. I may read about them or simply enter their store. Next, I try to define what specifically makes them different, and which aspect of marketing this refers to. If I think there’s a useful lesson there for my students, I will gather some more information. If interesting enough, I will start with a 10-15 minute discussion during a lecture to see if the case study would engage my students.
A second approach I use is to start with the principle I want to teach. For example, ‘the importance of differentiation to avoid competing only on price’. In this case I try to identify a company that is successful applying this principle.
It’s important that the company or subject you choose is something that students can relate to. This will make it easier for them to engage and come up with realistic solutions.
How do I prepare the case study?
The first thing I need is something to start off the the discussion. This could be a short YouTube video, an article that discusses the industry or company, or a few slides with images. I may also start with a short discussion, asking students about their knowledge of and preferences for certain products.
Next, I create a short discussion guide, simply the subjects I want to cover in my discussion. For example, for my fitness club case study I may want to take the following steps:
Students’ experience with fitness clubs (which clubs, why?)
Local market for fitness clubs (competition, market size)
Trends affecting the fitness industry
Customer Segmentation
Identify target customer
Summary & key points
For each step I have a ‘board plan’; I know what I will create on the whiteboard. For example, for step 3 I will use the PESTLE analysis, so I will create a table with 6 rows, where each row is one of the letters (P, E, etc.). While it’s up to the students to solve the case study, it’s my responsibility that they use the right process, and that’s what the discussion guide and board plans are for.
How do I moderate the case study?
A case study works best if students have the sense that they solved it themselves. As an instructor you should always avoid telling them what the right answer is; instead you should ask the right questions to get them to come up with it.
During the discussion you stick to the discussion guide, and follow the board plan. Your task as an instructor is to judge when it’s time to move to the next step. You should know how long each step should take, and when to move on. The first time you discuss a case study you may want to allow for some extra time in case your estimates were low.
You should always finish the case study with a conclusion: why did you discuss this case study and what lessons should students learn from it? While it is tempting to ask students what they learned, my experience is that it’s more effective if I tell them myself.
