Nature of the Case

Creating A Written Case

Study: PART 1

Is it a
Descriptive case
Explanatory case
Exploratory case

In preparing the case remember that

Something is to be learned form your entrepreneurship
case: both objective/theoretical (around a decision topic
e.g. HR, Growing the Firm, Managing a Family Business,
Marketing an Entrepreneurial opportunity) AND
subjective/practical (e.g. Motivation & Reward models)

Writing My Entrepreneurial
Case Study: Phase 1
You are required to write a case study- ie
Create One
Phase 1 Task: Write a 3-4 page narrative
Based on experience in which you may have:
Opportunity to improve a situation
Opportunity to improve performance
A solution to a problem

Outline your emotions and reactions to the above

Use handout for guidance

Breakout into Team

Share experiences and thoughts around
examples stimulated by the worksheet
Create an outline for your case around these
issues
Discuss what learning issues might be
present in your chosen opportunity or
problem/s. Consider criteria for beginning
your write up:

Company/Industry Profile
Decision-making episode e.g. purchasing decision
Theoretical explorations
Ethical bases and issues

What might it look like?

The final structure will contain sections such
as:
Introduction: outlines issues and draws readers
interests
Background: which provides insights into the
broader context of events & forces surrounding the
decision process
Core Analysis: which contains information directly
relevant to the decision at hand
Appendices:notes, tabulations,calculations,
references,, etc which are germane, but which are
too long or technical to be included in the main
body of the report

Initiate Problem/
Issue

Clarify Purpose

Organize & Build

Data Files

Draft Report

Outline Working
Content

Collect Data

Unpublished
Information
(e.g. Interviews)

Does it need review

Or approval

Obtain review or
Approval

Yes
No

2nd & 3rd

Draft Reports

Final Case Report

PHASE 2: My Entrepreneurial Case Study

REMEMBER

Preliminary Analysis: Causes and Antecedents

Phase 1
How and what is your story?
Narrative= This involves presenting the case study as events in
an unfolding plot with actors and actions.

Why did you pick a particular experience?

How did you react and what is your disposition now?
What do our peers think the issue really is about?
For Phase 2
Draw up these as list of potential issues to target and
develop.
Capture in 2-3 pages
Then reduce to 1 page succinct quality: 2-3 key issues!

Begin to recognise and tell only what is needed.

Check the interest level and learning points with your
colleagues- you dont need many aha moments- but
returning questions suggest there is learning and
discovery going on! No questions may need a steroid
injection!!
Add a half-page list of discussion questions that you
think your narrative and case raiseswrite questions!
Readers need to experience the case as it unfolds
To begin to focus on how this issue is a
managerial/entrepeneurial issue.

Phase 2: My Entrepreneurial Case Study

Hints

Preliminary Analysis: Causes and Antecedents

Consider formal policy documentation on the

issue i.e. the rhetoric
Consider culture (??? What is thiswhere do
we find it?)
Consider power relationships and games?
What are the causes, effects, processes,
antecedents surrounding in the issues above?
Corporate & Institutional
Use Secondary and Primary source of
information to support the above.

Phase 2: My Entrepreneurial Case Study

Preliminary Analysis: Causes and Antecedents

Build the above plus the earlier 1 page

document (on Slide One) into an issuebased dossier on which to build your Case
Study.
Begin to gather theoretical material that
considers the issue above
Write 1 page on why this are is a good
place within which to frame your
issue/decision case.

Opening:
capture attention
Begin with vignette
Sketch to draw reader in quickly

Style:
How do you combine words, punctuation, etc.

Supporting exhibits:
Financial data statistics in pictures and diagrams
Photos, pictures, web image.

Dialogue:
Heighten sense of the storyquotations!

Dont be scared to re-writeuse the evaluation checklist

as a milestone guage and to test the flow of the case

Some Useful Places

1. Popular Library Subscriptions
Library subscriptions to online databases often include:
a) Dow Jones (http://dowjones.com)
b) Lexis-Nexis (http://www.lexis-nexis.com)
c) Encyclopedia Britannica Online (http://www.eb.com)
2. Generic Business- and Industry-Related Web Sites
a) Annual Report Gallery http://www.reportgallery.com The site has links to annual reports of
companies available on the Internet.
b) Central Banks on the World Wide Web (http://www.bis.org/cbanks.htm): The site is regularly updated
with a list of links to web sites for the central banks of several countries.
c) Data on the Net-UCSD (http://odwin.ucsd.edu/idata): The site has hundreds of links to sources of
social sciences data.
d) Economic Time Series http://www.economagic.com/ The site provides links to a great many time
series, mostly for the United States.
e) Edgar Plus (http://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm): This site contains financial reports of corporations that
have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the past two years.
f) Hoovers Stock Screener (http://www.stockscreener.com/): This site allows you to screen stocks
using up to twenty criteria simultaneously.
g) Morningstar Net Stock Screens (http://www.morningstar.com): This site allows you to screen over
8,000 stocks according to certain criteria.
h) OECD Statistics (http://www.oecd.org/statistics/): This site includes information about
economics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Stage 3: My Entrepreneurial Case Study

From Experience to Ideas- from Practice to
theory

Some Useful Places 2

3. Human Resources and Organizational Studies Sites
a) American Society for Training and Development (http://www.astd.org)
b) HR Online (http://hronline.com)
c) SHRM (http://www.shrm.org)
d) Training and Development Resource Center (http://tcm.com/trdev)
e) Workforce Online (http://www.workforce.com)
f) Academy of Management (http://www.aom.pace.edu)
4. Prominent Sites on Case Writing and Research
Some of the prominent sites on case writing and research are the following:
a) North American Case Research Association:
http://web.bentley.edu/empl/c/lchin/nacra/nacraindex.html
b) World Association for Case Research and Applications:
http://www.agecon.uga.edu/~wacra/wacra.htm
c) European Case Clearing House: http://www.ecch.cranfield.ac.uk/
d) CaseNet: http://csf.colorado.edu/CaseNet/index.html
e) Case Studies for Politics: http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/poli/casestud/

Begin the process of trying to apply the theoretical material you

have gathered earlier to FOCUS your case
Embed experience and engage with abstract concepts e.g.
motivation, trust, conflict, participatory management, rewards,
leadership, intrapreneurship, branding, competitive positioning,
buying, CRM, supply chain management, ethnicity, raising funds,
networking, technology and systems, family business, conflict
resolution, negotiation, institutional theory, gender theory, decision
making processes, etc, etc
What links can you find with written experiences and prcis in
Phases 1 & 2, and published theoretical material/models?
Has your view of your case begun to change because of having
more than one theoretical lens available to you?

Stage 3: My Entrepreneurial Case Study

From Experience to Ideas- from Practice to
theoryand back again!!

Some Useful Places 3

EBS for Journals:

SWETWISE
EMERALD
Euro Monitor

Google:
Google Scholar
Google Books

Start to write down alternative courses of action that may have

been taken in light of the predominant theory that you wish to
adopt
DO NOT list a series of alternatives simply based on intuitiondevelop them from your theoretical frame!
Pull on your syndicate and peers support and draft a list of these
actions with 2 paragraph descriptions of the scenarios they
capture. Not more than 6 possible alternatives. I.e. not more than
12 paragraphs.
Now consider what questions these alternatives either beg or ask
write these down- 4 questions per alternative
These (the alternatives and respective questions) will become the
foundation block for your Phase 4- My Case Studys Action Plan

Stage 3: My Entrepreneurial Case Study

Due Week 7
So far Phases 1 & 2
How and what is your story?
Narrative= This involves presenting the case study as events in
an unfolding plot with actors and actions.

Why did you pick a particular experience?

How did you react and what is your disposition now?
What do our peers think the issue really is about?
Your Issue Short lists and possible Theories, Models
or Domains of Inquiry that will help frame your
preferred issues and questions.

Stage 3: My Entrepreneurial Case Study

From Experience to Ideas- from Practice to
theoryand back again!!

You are now looking to script your production piece, the curtain calls,
the direction of your story, the breaks and interludes which provide
the reader and audience an initial insight into the genre you wish to
place this drama in.its taste

You are developing the path along which you want to take your
audiencenot simply the ingredients

You are providing direction to the supporting cast & crew to take your
production beyond the fluid and semi-structured narrative of Phase 1,
and beyond the mere props, actors, issues and power relationships
that you touch on in Phase 2.

Into a more structured experience and interaction with the audience

and your readers.

Enjoy setting this structure, direction and ingredients proportions to

your recipe

Some Useful Places 1

1. Popular Library Subscriptions
Library subscriptions to online databases often include:
a) Dow Jones (http://dowjones.com)
b) Lexis-Nexis (http://www.lexis-nexis.com)
c) Encyclopedia Britannica Online (http://www.eb.com)
2. Generic Business- and Industry-Related Web Sites
a) Annual Report Gallery http://www.reportgallery.com The site has links to annual reports of
companies available on the Internet.
b) Central Banks on the World Wide Web (http://www.bis.org/cbanks.htm): The site is regularly updated
with a list of links to web sites for the central banks of several countries.
c) Data on the Net-UCSD (http://odwin.ucsd.edu/idata): The site has hundreds of links to sources of
social sciences data.
d) Economic Time Series http://www.economagic.com/ The site provides links to a great many time
series, mostly for the United States.
e) Edgar Plus (http://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm): This site contains financial reports of corporations that
have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the past two years.
f) Hoovers Stock Screener (http://www.stockscreener.com/): This site allows you to screen stocks
using up to twenty criteria simultaneously.
g) Morningstar Net Stock Screens (http://www.morningstar.com): This site allows you to screen over
8,000 stocks according to certain criteria.
h) OECD Statistics (http://www.oecd.org/statistics/): This site includes information about
economics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Some Useful Places 2

3. Human Resources and Organizational Studies Sites
a) American Society for Training and Development (http://www.astd.org)
b) HR Online (http://hronline.com)
c) SHRM (http://www.shrm.org)
d) Training and Development Resource Center (http://tcm.com/trdev)
e) Workforce Online (http://www.workforce.com)
f) Academy of Management (http://www.aom.pace.edu)
4. Prominent Sites on Case Writing and Research
Some of the prominent sites on case writing and research are the following:
a) North American Case Research Association:
http://web.bentley.edu/empl/c/lchin/nacra/nacraindex.html
b) World Association for Case Research and Applications:
http://www.agecon.uga.edu/~wacra/wacra.htm
c) European Case Clearing House: http://www.ecch.cranfield.ac.uk/
d) CaseNet: http://csf.colorado.edu/CaseNet/index.html
e) Case Studies for Politics: http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/poli/casestud/

Some Useful Places 3

EBS for Journals:

SWETWISE
EMERALD
Euro Monitor

Google:
Google Scholar
Google Books