Contents
Management Class for Learners is a free self-directed study support resource along with Chat Lines, Discussion Forums and Wikis and Learner Support units, designed for business, management, IT, English Language, and Research students and instructors intending to enhance their managerial or professional knowledge, understanding, skills and competence by open learning.
Apart from the web-based learning material, such as our adapted versions Wikipedia, on 'public domain' - used for a seamless integration of the modules to a Business or Management curriculum, we have also found other web sources and our own or the material created or 'acquired' from our colleagues.
Whilst we unable to accept any responsibility for the accuracy, views or opinions expressed in any of the third party material featured on our sites, please feel free to use it, and let us know if you do not find what you need or have any problems in accessing any of the relevant links on our pages.
In keeping with the ethos of the Internet, we respect the copyrights of the original owners/authors of the sites or material we have used, we also expect our users to respect our copyright and all the third party intellectual property rights when using any material found on Management Class or Finntrack sites.
For further details on all our web-based resources go here.
Strategic Management Reviews, Seminars and Cases
Rationale
A case study is an intensive analysis of an individual unit (e.g., a person, group, or event) stressing developmental factors in relation to context.[1] The case study is common in social sciences and life sciences. Case studies may be descriptive or explanatory. The latter type is used to explore causation in order to find underlying principles.[2][3] They may be prospective (in which criteria are established and cases fitting the criteria are included as they become available) or retrospective (in which criteria are established for selecting cases from historical records for inclusion in the study).
Thomas[4] offers the following definition of case study: "Case studies are analyses of persons, events, decisions, periods, projects, policies, institutions, or other systems that are studied holistically by one or more methods. The case that is the subject of the inquiry will be an instance of a class of phenomena that provides an analytical frame — an object — within which the study is conducted and which the case illuminates and explicates."
Rather than using samples and following a rigid protocol (strict set of rules) to examine limited number of variables, case study methods involve an in-depth, longitudinal (over a long period of time) examination of a single instance or event: a case. They provide a systematic way of looking at events, collecting data, analysing information, and reporting the results. As a result the researcher may gain a sharpened understanding of why the instance happened as it did, and what might become important to look at more extensively in future research. Case studies lend themselves to both generating and testing hypotheses.[5]
Another suggestion is that case study should be defined as a research strategy, an empirical inquiry that investigates a phenomenon within its real-life context. Case study research can mean single and multiple case studies, can include quantitative evidence, relies on multiple sources of evidence, and benefits from the prior development of theoretical propositions. Case studies should not be confused with qualitative research and they can be based on any mix of quantitative and qualitative evidence. Single-subject research provides the statistical framework for making inferences from quantitative case-study data.[3][6] This is also supported and well-formulated in (Lamnek, 2005): "The case study is a research approach, situated between concrete data taking techniques and methodologic paradigms."
The case study is sometimes mistaken for the case method, but the two are not the same.
- Case selection and structure
- Generalizing from case studies
- The case study paradox
- Misconceptions
- History of the case study
- Casebook method
- Case method
- Case study in psychology
- Phronetic social science
- Case competition
- References
- Useful Sources
Learning Outcomes
Coming soon ...
Teaching and Learning Resources
Seminar
Programme
|
| Week | Contents |
| 1 | Introduction to the seminar schedule and allocation of presentation to teams. - How to analyse a case study |
| 2 | What is strategy - Introducing Strategy - Electrolux case Group Discussion |
| 3 | Presentation 1 - Expectations and Purposes - Manchester United Case. |
| 4 | Presentation 2 - Strategic Capability - Barclaycard Case |
| 5 | Workshop - The Fool Ratio |
| 6 | Business-level Strategy - Madonna case Group Discussion |
| 7 | Presentation 3 -
|
| 8 | Presentation 4 - Understanding Strategy Development - Intel case |
| 9 | Presentation 5 - Organising for Success - BBC case. |
| 10 | Presentation 6 - Enabling Success - NHS Direct case |
Learner Support
Journals
Assessment Brief
Choose
an organisation from the following list of Plc companies:
| Company | Company | Company |
 Marks & Spencer |
Diageo |
|
|
|
|
| Arcadia | 
|
House of Fraser |
|
|
|
|
| Body Shop | WH Smith |  Shell |
|
|
|
 Halifax |
Tomkins | Somerfield |
|
Northern Foods | 
|
|
|
Vodafone |
| Laura Ashley | Corus | 
|
| Lloyds-TSB |  Barclays |
|
 Tesco |
|
|
In your report you are to assess the following two questions.
Both
questions carry equal weight.
1. Undertake a full internal and external analysis of your chosen organisation so as to identify its current strategic position.
2. Identify a range of strategies that the organisation might pursue in the future in the light of your responses to question 1 and make recommendations on your preferred strategy, clearly outlining the reasons for your choice.
Guidelines
1. For your chosen company try and get at least two years of annual reports from the company. Use a set of appropriate strategic frameworks around which to base your analysis. The Chairman's statement and Company annual review can be analysed in order to glean the sort of issues that are facing the company. You will find the use of the Internet useful in your research, as well as any CD ROM material from the Learning Centre that is linked with various company databases. Extel cards, Key Note Reports, Mintel Reports, MacCarthy and the FT cuttings services are particularly useful.
2. Different companies and industries face different pressures. Think about what is likely to happen to your chosen firm and how will PEST and other forces affect its market or sector. Link this to possible strategies for the firm to take.
3. You should answer both questions. The questions are of equal weight.
4. You may work on the analysis as a group if you choose the same organisation but must name the members of the group who produced it. Any jointly produced material such as models; diagrams and tables etc. must clearly show the names of the group members who have collaborated in its production. The commentary and evaluation based on that analysis must be individually produced.
5. Your report should contain a well-argued analysis of the company chosen and be handed in as your own individual piece of work.
6. This assignment should be undertaken in two stages. Firstly you must analyse your chosen company using appropriate tools and secondly you must use the results of your analysis to write an informed discussion and evaluation of where the organisation is the strategies it might pursue in the future. If you include any analysis you do in your report as a table, that information will not be included in your word limit. However you must make reference to your analysis and comment on its significance within the body of your report. The markers of your report will not consider your analysis unless you use it to develop the answers to the questions, e.g. a diagram of the PEST factors will not suffice. You must use your judgement to comment upon which factors you believe to be most relevant to your organisation.
7. Where models and frameworks are used they must be applied to your chosen company.
8. Please indicate all sources of material used in a bibliography including any Internet sites that you have used in your report.
Recommended Texts
 |
Thomson
Advantage Books: Foundations in Strategic Management (with InfoTrac) 3rd Edition Jeffrey S. Harrison - Cornell University Caron H. St. John - Clemson University 0324259174 192 pages Paper Bound 8 x 10 © 2005 Check the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop.
|
Resources
