Page 218 - The Case Lab Book

The Armchair: Case Study

The armchair case is a study of how to develop a case study from
published information, or an idea, or a piece of theory. As a MBA student
on the strategy course it was normal practice for the lecturer to present
current articles for discussion from that day’s newspapers. On one
occasion the article for discussion was the story of a chemical company
which faced the dilemma of a product which if launched would ultimately
result in the deaths of an unspecified number of predominantly children.

Later when taking strategy classes myself I returned to this story,
developed it further and used it in my classes.

Finally, I decided to write it up as a full blown “armchair” case study.

The following is a recounting of how I developed this case.

Research
In order to develop the case study it was necessary to flesh out the story
that was originally presented in the newspaper article. To a great extent
this was simply a process of searching the web for anything that had been
written about the company and its product, searching the company website,
reading the company accounts and industry sources.

Learning From Class Usage

Using the case study with the class allows refinement to take place on each
iteration.

It would be easy to say that the group is stronger than the individual but the
truth is often that the case writer simply has more information yet the
individuals in the group often have the intuitive spark that illuminates what
has not been seen earlier.

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing
them.”