This video is part of a comprehensive collection of videos on how to teach business topics with cases, featuring James G. Clawson, the Johnson & Higgins Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at the Darden School of Business. "Starting Case Classes" provides several successful practices for beginning a case discussion. How do you begin the discussion? What questions can you ask to engage st
Case writing is extremely strategic, and each case should be developed with the target audience level?graduate, undergraduate, executive education?and learning objectives in mind. This note was written to evaluate a business case study. It was developed for case writing workshops and may be useful for new case writers seeking to appraise their own material. Is the case structured and methodologica
"If the company refuses to sign the case release, can I disguise material and use it in my business case?" "Is it okay to use part of this quote in my case under the 10% rule?"
Without attention to questions like these from the start of the case-writing process, the brilliance of having written a good business case study may well be rewarded by the embarrassment?or worse, humiliation?of a publi
How does one know what makes a good case? Are there certain attributes that effective business school cases have? This technical note was intended to help writers who may or may not be business school professors write a case. The note includes material on objectives, finding leads, interview questions and interviewing techniques, and case structure. Although the idea of what constitutes a good cas
This video is part of a comprehensive collection of videos on how to teach business topics with cases, featuring James G. Clawson, the Johnson & Higgins Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at the Darden School of Business. "Ending Your Case Class" provides strategies for ending a class discussion and addresses some key questions: Who should do the wrap-up? When should you begin the wrap-
What is the difference between a research paper and a business case study? Are all good business cases decision-focused? This note provides a brief description of field-based, research-based, and armchair cases. It also reviews the notion of a descriptive or evaluative case. Although the material was written to generate a discussion of what a business case study is for case writing workshops, it i
This visual case presents a comic version of "The Curious Case of the Disputed Rabbits" (UVA-OM-1618). A day-shift manager at a pet store, Martin Fesmire, thinks nothing of selling two rabbits to his best customer. But when the rabbits have a litter of bunnies overnight, Fesmire's professional world is thrown into turmoil that will grow to involve his boss, the corporate legal department, the CEO,
Why would busy executives participate in business case studies? The relationship that develops between executives and faculty through the case writing process is a powerful example of sharing and trust. And because a number of executives are unaware of what exactly the process entails, they ask for a description of it. This note describing the process may be customized to suit the needs of all cas
This note describes the process of case writing and offers suggestions and tips.
At many leading business schools, cases are written only by professors or professional case writers. At the Darden School of Business, however, MBA students may also write cases.
Case writing helps students to gain tangible business writing and communication skills, to sharpen their business acumen, to understand better the key concepts learned in the classroom, and to prepare for the practical r
After a period of poor stock-market performance, conglomerate Chestnut Foods (Chestnut) faces the acquisition of its stock by an activist investor. The new investor demands the sale of Chestnut’s high-growth division, which contrasts with the CFO’s turnaround plan to expand this same division. To disentangle the way forward for Chestnut, students are invited to grapple with the risk-adjusted perfo
This note was written to evaluate an opening section of a business case study. It was developed for case writing workshops and may be useful for new case writers seeking to appraise their own material. How searchable would your case be in a database? Is there at least one sentence in the opening paragraph(s) that acts as a guide for case analysis?