How can you make your cases more impactful?

Using cases in teaching is a tried and tested tool in any instructor’s arsenal, but how can you make sure they are as engaging and effective as possible? Alex Janes, Senior Lecturer in Strategy at the University of Exeter and author of Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage looks at ways you can get the ‘competitive advantage’ with your cases, with some great practical tips honed from 15 years’ experience.  

Make your case class immersive – finding ways for your students to connect with the firm beyond the written case really helps with engagement and enthusiasm in class – some ideas include: 

• Using props, such as a company’s or industry’s products – (that’s been a bit challenging in the last couple of years, thanks to the pandemic) – I once sent Christmas cards to each member of my MSc class with different facts about the Greetings Card industry and IG Design – which prompted a great class discussion on the case and led to my first major teaching award. 
• Inviting guest speakers from industry – by using your institution’s alumni network or your own industry contacts. Guest speakers can provide real insights into an industry, like Euromonitor’s coffee expert, Alexandre Loeur, who talked to my class when they studied Lavazza. They can also set up live cases and work with students on real business problems – which is how the Amsafe Bridport case in my textbook was developed.   
• Sourcing or creating asynchronous media resources about the case organisation, such as video clips or even parts of documentaries – if your institution subscribes to databases such as Box of Broadcasts (the recent documentary on Hornby, aired by UKTV channel, Yesterday, gave me a whole range of resources to add to my case on the company). I’ve been lucky enough to find funding for making my own videos with industry contacts – most recently working with McGraw Hill interviewing Neil Sebba, the Managing Director of the UK-based salad bar chain, Tossed, and Gina Head, one of Mars Inc’s rising stars, who is the current Brand Director for Galaxy chocolate.  

Keep your cases topical – using examples you can link to a current news story or recent trend not only helps with starting class discussions (even when some of the class haven’t read the case itself!) but also gives potential to update the case – or better still, to ask your students to carry out further research into the company and its situation using a range of media resources. This term I have been using my case on the recent Newcastle United acquisition to provoke a debate on “sportswashing”, for example. There have been plenty of good quality media stories on the acquisition itself and more recently on who should own football clubs in the wake of the sanctions placed on Chelsea’s owner.

Use cases to challenge classic theory and conventional thinking about a subject – one of the reasons case method is such a powerful tool in the classroom is that it provides a practical complement to the theories we teach. Applying theory to any real-world example will always throw up issues where the concepts don’t quite fit the practice observed. I believe it can also help to encourage much more critical thinking – and in some cases lead to wholesale change of the theories we use in class. I have used a case I first wrote in 2011 on Spotify (and have regularly updated) to challenge conventional approaches to industry analysis – this not only opens up class discussion but also gives students more confidence to criticise theories and a more realistic view of their limitations in the real world. 

Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage is packed full of examples of how strategy works in the real world and encourages the practical application of learning through the Connect learning platform. Now with a brand-new case book available in Connect for 2022 discussing the latest strategic developments, including how companies have been responding to the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, readers will develop a deep understanding of the challenges of strategic management at a range of companies.

Alex Janes is Senior Lecturer in Strategy at the University of Exeter Business School and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA)

Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage is packed full of examples of how strategy works in the real world and encourages the practical application of learning through the Connect learning platform. Now with a brand-new case book available in Connect for 2022 discussing the latest strategic developments, including how companies have been responding to the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, readers will develop a deep understanding of the challenges of strategic management at a range of companies.