VVIn most courses in strategic management, students use cases about actual companies to
practice strategic analysis and to gain some experience in the tasks of crafting and implementing
strategy. A case sets forth, in a factual manner, the events and organizational
circumstances surrounding a particular managerial situation. It puts readers at
the scene of the action and familiarizes them with all the relevant circumstances. A
case on strategic management can concern a whole industry, a single organization, or
some part of an organization; the organization involved can be either profit-seeking or
not-for-profit. The essence of the student’s role in case analysis is to diagnose and size
up the situation described in the case and then to recommend appropriate action steps.
C-2
WHY USE CASES TO PRACTICE STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT?
A student of business with tact
Absorbed many answers he lacked.
But acquiring a job,
He said with a sob,
“How does one fit answer to fact?”
The above limerick was used some years ago by Professor Charles Gragg to characterize
the plight of business students who had no exposure to cases.1 The truth is that
the mere act of listening to lectures and sound advice about managing does little for
anyone’s management skills. Accumulated managerial wisdom cannot effectively be
passed on by lectures and assigned readings alone. If anything had been learned about
the practice of management, it is that a storehouse of readymade textbook answers
does not exist. Each managerial situation has unique aspects, requiring its own diagnosis,
judgment, and tailor-made actions. Cases provide would-be managers with a
valuable way to practice wrestling with the actual problems of actual managers in ac ...