The Art of Case Analysis: How To Improve Your Classroom Performance

By Robert Ronstadt

Ronstadt's Art of Case Analysis provides a comprehensive treatment for how to read, prepare, discuss, write analyses of, and record findings associated with cases or other assignments that involve interactive learning. With over 100,000 sold, the book will help students to improve their discussion, writing, and analytic capabilities. It's what students need to know about study skills, discussion skills, numerical skills, test-taking skillls, presentation skills, team skills... in short, all the things that will reinforce success and maximize their learning experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 20, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450735308

Book preview

Dedication

This book is for my wife, Rebecca, my son, Jason, and my daughter, Kate for the love, happiness, and comfort they’ve given me…

and

To students and teachers everywhere who practice interactive learning, particularly those case teachers who’ve honored me by allowing their images to be presented in this book.

© Robert Ronstadt, 2010. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 7645719

ISBN –978-1-4507-3530-8

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A GUIDE FOR IMPROVING YOUR CLASSROOM PERFORMANCE, 2010 EDITION

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CONTENTS

A SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR ON…

A RevolutioninLearning

PART ONE - THE BASICS OF CASE ANALYSIS

1. Developing a Personal System for case Analysis

2. The Two Basic Conditions for Classroom Success

3. Learning’s Secret Weapon: TeamLearning

4. Forming Study Teams

5. Effective Team Operations

6. Toward Spirited Cooperation…Rapidly

7. Ethics, cases, and the Classroom: A Microcos m of Life

PART TWO - WHAT TO DO BEFORE GETTING TO CLASS

1. Reading a case Efficiently

2. Reading Objectives and Scheduling

3. A Reading Procedure

4. Analyzing and Preparing a case for Discussion

5. The Analysis

6. Unassigned Questions

7. Analytic Approaches

8. Analytic Focus

9. Specific Levels and Types of Analysis

10. Translating Your Analysis for Discussion

PART THREE - HOW TO DISCUSS A CASE IN CLASS

1. Discussing a case in Class

2. Recording case Findings

PART FOUR - CLASSROOM STRATEGIES & TACTICS

1. Classroom Strategies

2. Classroom Tactics

PART FIVE - WRITING CASE REPORTS, MAKING PRESENTATIONS, AND TAKING CASE EXAMS

1. Writing Great case Reports

2. The Secrets Behind Great Presentations

3. Taking Exams Successfully

PART SIX- KEY ANALYTIC TOOLS FOR BUSINESS ANALYSIS

1. Some Fundamental Concepts Underlying Business Analysis

2. Basic Accounting Arithmetic

3. Basic Finance Arithmetic

4. Basic Production Arithmetic

5. A Final Word about Assumption-Based Thinking

A SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR ON…

A Revolution in Learning

The pedagogical revolution during my lifetime has been the shift from lecturing (or one-way communication) as the overwhelmingly dominant form of teaching to interactive learning where multiple forms of communication occur in K-12 and higher education classrooms. Besides two-way communication between a teacher and individual students, interactive classroom learning also means students can communicate with each other as part of the discussion process. Studies show that students learn and retain more when they are part of an interactive process that involves multiple patterns of communication.

The widespread adoption of interactive or participant based learning throughout higher education and K-12 classrooms over the last forty years means that The Art of Case Analysis now has relevance for all students, and not just business school students. I’ve kept the business school context with this edition. But what I’ve written can be used by students everywhere to improve their classroom performance. Even the final chapters on basic business arithmetic are useful to demonstrate to students the practical uses of mathematics and the assumptions-based thinking that underlies number crunching.

The emergence of interactive learning as a dominant pedagogy does not mean it should be the exclusive way to teach and learn. No single pedagogical approach is always right. Part of the revolution in learning is our awareness that students learn in many different ways. Some still profit from rote instruction. Others benefit from an inspiring lecture. Others gain great insights from internships and other experiential courses. But many are rewarded by direct engagement in the teaching process, and the case method, which finds its roots in the Socratic approach, is a proven methodology for learning.

I hope you enjoy your exposure to the case method. Like any educational journey, it won’t always be easy, but I hope this book helps you to meet the challenge and, looking back, find the experience as enriching as I have found it. In terms of its widespread use, the case method is part of the educational revolution of our times.

Dr. Robert Ronstadt

Gilmanton, New Hampshire

December 2010

PART ONE

THE BASICS OF CASE ANALYSIS

CHAPTER ONE

DEVELOPING A PERSONAL SYSTEM FOR CASE ANALYSIS

If I only knew how to analyze the case… The class seemed to go far beyond my own analysis, and in directions I never saw. I felt frustrated. I was unable to contribute very much to the discussion. While I feel I am learning from my classmates, I believe I should be contributing and learning more.

This quote by an anonymous student is fairly representative of the feelings experienced by many students when exposed to the case method for the first time. Unfortunately, my experience as a case student and case teacher suggest that for many students, exposure to more cases does not necessarily result in higher skill levels of case preparation and discussion. All too many students simply become consigned to muddling through their case experiences as best they can.

The purpose of this book is to help improve the skills of students in case preparation and discussion. A unique feature of this book is that it looks at case preparation and discussion from the student’s point of view. Other works on the case method of teaching have been designed to meet the needs primarily, if not solely, of case teachers and case writers. Another feature is its in-depth treatment of the subject. Too often teachers and publishers attempt to make do with skimpy coverage of case analysis, distilling it down to four or five pages. These simple explanations miss the point. Like real-life business situations, case analysis is dynamic, changing, and anything but simple.

So first I must offer a word of caution. This book does not offer the system for case preparation. No such comfortable system exists. It is not even A system for case preparation.

Rather, it contains a collection of observations about case preparation and discussion, which will stimulate students to develop their own system of case analysis. The development of a personal system of case analysis is vital and can increase what you contribute to and what you take away from a case experience.

My belief is that people learn best by doing, by actively participating in the search for knowledge and the development of skills. Cases offer an opportunity for vicarious living and learning which is relevant and productive for individuals faced with the need to make difficult decisions in a logical, analytical and professional manner.

However, learning via cases depends only partly on the skills of your case teacher. Learning also depends on the individual skills that students develop to prepare and discuss cases. Hopefully, this book will contribute to your development of these skills and thereby heighten what you take away from what is usually a fascinating and productive learning experience.

Before you begin reading these pages, I would like you to consider carefully two suggestions.

First, if you have no (or little) prior case exposure, I recommend you review this book after gaining some case experience. Some of the messages about case preparation and discussion will assume substantive meaning only after you have struggled through some challenging cases.

Second, after some period of time, review what you have done to develop a personal system for case preparation and discussion. How have you modified, improved, and extended the ideas presented in this book?

Why should you go to all this trouble? The main reason is that the development of any system of case preparation and discussion must be tailored and re-tailored to fit your particular evolving skills, capabilities, and learning style. Most importantly, once you begin developing a personal system of case analysis, you will find it helpful long after you leave school. A personal system will help you to develop skills in analyzing new and changing situations and to communicate your analysis effectively and efficiently in either oral or written form. Consequently, the skills you develop that comprise your personal system of analysis and communication can be utilized throughout your professional career. More than just facts or information, these skills can be among the most important benefits you derive in your educational program.

The development of your own system of case analysis will help you in your business life, long after you’ve graduated.

Unfortunately, my experience is that insufficient thought is devoted by most students to developing a personal system for case preparation. I believe this statement is true even when we are discussing students in an MBA program that is totally committed to case teaching, much less undergraduate business programs or executive management programs where students confront a limited number of cases without having much prior case exposure.

For instance, the average Harvard MBA has the opportunity to read and prepare 500 to 700 business cases before graduating. Some Harvard MBAs become extremely adept at case preparation and discussion, especially in the second year of their program. These students generally make significant contributions both inside and outside of class (and their grades usually reflect it).

One reason for their success is that often they have developed a personal system for not only the preparation of individual cases, but a system for handling a heavy caseload over an entire semester.

Yet, not all MBAs become proficient with case analysis and discussion. In fact, my impression from attending many second-year classes is that sizeable numbers of MBAs never become very good at case preparation and discussion, despite their exposure to a large number of cases.

Too many students read and prepare scores of cases before they start to discover better ways to learn from the case method.

And others never realize their full potential in class. Many of these students are as talented as their more successful counterparts. They have worked as hard (perhaps harder) than the more successful students. I believe the difference is that the less successful MBAs have not developed a personal system of case preparation but merely have picked up some of