News is what you don’t
want to tell me. Everything else is public relations.
- David Brinkley, journalist
- The case study is an excellent
way to help prepare students and managers to be prepared to face real-life
business situations analyzing all the relevant data, making
efficient decisions, and taking appropriate action. The writing of a business
case study is an important skill that demonstrates communications and
analytical skills. Case studies are, in essence, narratives that tell the story
of the business problem or issue at hand. These narratives, or stories, do not
provide answers directly; rather, they offer as much background and situational
information as possible to present the situation in as unbiased and thorough a
manner as possible, writing from the viewpoints of as many of the parties as
reasonably possible.
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- Writing and analyzing case
studies allows students to demonstrate proficiency in many facets of business
education specially, in this case, in business
communications and analysis. The case study is therefore a tool to offer
students the opportunity to explore business communications issues in a complex
manner not simply deducing or memorizing the answer, but thinking
deeply about the issues involved and how to approach a solution.
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- A library case study the
kind involved in this Portfolio Project assignment does
not include information that cannot be found in the public record by anyone
with internet access, a library card, and rudimentary research skills. A wealth
of information is available to such interested individuals, including TV and
newspaper stories, blogs, government documents, federal court proceedings, and
sometimes other resources especially for organizations that are publicly
traded, such as IPOs or other public disclosures.
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To write your case study:
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- First select a topic that is
interesting both to you and to your intended audience in
this case, your instructor. Try to find a subject that is relatively timely,
that is or has been in the public eye, at least until recently.
- Then, do some preliminary
research on your topic, using the internet and/or online library databases.
Next, consider the perspective from which you will tell the story. Who is the
primary decision-maker in your scenario? Nail down the beginning and end dates
of your narrative, and think about the level of detail that you want to write.
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- Then, build a timeline of
events that are important to your case, in chronological order.
- Identify key characters in your
narrative; and identify the key issues that you’ll
write about, in order of importance.
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- Next, prepare your first and
second drafts, keeping in mind the importance of capturing your audience’s
attention with a quote, a crucial event, or an anecdote in the opening
paragraphs. After grabbing your reader’s attention, offer a brief explanation of the
company’s history, its industry, and its size (such as annual
revenues, number of employees, market share, etc.).
- Introduce your reader to
the key players and decision-makers. Keep in mind the “who,
what, when, where, why, and how” of your story. Be sure to enumerate important
assumptions; and use quotes from key players where possible.
- Finally, read your
drafts for flow, grammar, and syntax. As much as possible, be sure that your
writing is lively, accurate, and cogent.
- Consider any tables, graphs, figures,
stock charts, maps, or other graphics to include in the appendices that will
help your reader to navigate the narrative. Be sure to indicate the source of
anything you use, unless you build it yourself.
