How to structure your case study

Dr. Syed Irfan Hyder

January 15, 2008
When you start to write the case, please remember the following points:
The case studies should highlight the entrepreneurial aspects. Eventually the case study
would be combined together in a book form highlighting the entrepreneurial issues.

Please read the HBR case studies and ensure that your case is structured using the
following techniques of story writing:

 Make three or four questions that you would like to put to the student. These
questions would represent the major decisions or crisis or conflicts that you would
like to bring out in your case.
o These questions would require managerial decision making related to HR,
technology management, marketing, sales, finance etc.
o These would represent typically the major turning points in the life of the
case.
o These turning points would then be highlighted using the techniques
mentioned below.
o Now identify the facts that are necessary to answer the questions you have
posed. These facts would typically be the pros and cons of the points that you
would like to forward to enable the decision making.
o Now spread these facts around in the case. They would NOT be presented in
one place making it easy for the reader to get the answer in one place. This
would be spread around in the story.
 Make a plot of the story
o Where the story starts
o What are the major turning points. What scenes are there where you would
move the study forward.
o How would you produce suspense
o What is the climax
o What would be its ending
o What is the impact that you would like to create on the reader

 Who is the central character, hero of the story.

o Make the hero a human.
o Give a brief biographical sketch
o Describe his qualities.
o Write something about his early life, schooling, college/university, early part
of the career, till how he reached his current position.
o Make the reader familiar with the person.
o Bring out his personality traits, make him a real person with strengths (and
weaknesses) and provide a mental picture.
 What are the other characters in the case study
o Write briefly about them too.
o This may not be in as much detail as the hero but sufficiently to bring their
character out.
o Where would you introduce them, what are the scenes where they make their
appearance, and in what sequence.
 Now make the characters come alive through their dialogs.
o Remember this is a case study and not a drama. So, it should not entirely
consist of dialogs neither it should entirely be without dialogs. Make a
judicious use of dialogs to highlight the turning points of the case, by making
them come alive.
o Remember you can use dialogs to bring out the character, their personality as
well as the mood of the various events being captured through your case
study.

Things to Include in the Case Study

 Describe the company's business in 25 words or less

 Describe the relation of the technology to business practice,

 List past business successes and failures

 Give industry background: growth, number of firms, major players, etc.

 Give background of company: age, size, growth, market

 Analyze the Porter five forces and other relevant frameworks

 Perform a SWOT analysis

 Analyze the business model

 Investigate the competitive financial situation: ratio analysis on key operating

performance measures (inventory turnover, sales/employee, ROA, etc.) compared to
industry values

 Discuss key management challenges: today, five years ago, five years hence

 Include names, titles and quotes from people interviewed

 Identify any entrepreneurial opportunities

 Include complete bibliography and references, including complete citation of works

from all sources (including the Web) in proper bibliographic form
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