The case method is a popular teaching method at many top business schools. A case is a detailed write-up of a business scenario. Students are then put in the position of the decision maker in the case. Students may be asked to decide questions such as … Should the firm outsource its production? Should the firm add a new line of products? Should the firm fire one of their top managers? Should the firm accept a buyout offer from one of their top competitors?

The cases method usually works in three steps:

• The student prepares the case on their own.

• The case is discussed in a small-group setting.

• The case is discussed in a classroom setting.

Below are some tips for success at each step in the case process.

Individual Preparation

• The workload of a case-based program is usually very steep. Students may have to prepare 3 or more cases each day. Since a case typically does not present a specific problem to be solved, there is no limit to the amount of time you can spend preparing for a case. Therefore, it is usually helpful to set a time limit for each case thus ensuring you are able to give each case the attention it deserves.

• Cases are about determining actions. It is not helpful that you understand all of the subtle nuances of the case if you do not have a plan of action for the major issues facing the decision maker in the case. Therefore, it is important that you identify the major issues in the case early in your analysis. Once you come up with the major issues, you can start researching an appropriate course of action for the decision maker in the case. This is more helpful than reading the case repeatedly hoping to come up with an insight.

• Be sure to prepare your case analysis in a way that is easily accessible for your class discussion. Class discussions usually move very quickly, and you don’t want to have to spend 5 minutes digging for your notes on a particular topic. It is also important that you have your quantitative analysis organized in a way that is easy to locate.

Group setting

• A case discussion group can either be a helpful place to prepare cases or it can be a complete waste of time. A successful group depends on active group members. Group members must come to the case discussion prepared and willing to participate. It is important to set ground rules at the beginning. Be sure and address specifics like the expectations of group members and the penalties if the standards are not met.

• Choose someone to start the discussion of the case. This person should lay out their plan of action. The other group members then have the opportunity.

• If the class discussion is driven more by the professor, it is helpful to have one student pose as the professor and ask questions of group members.

Classroom Setting

• You will likely find yourself at some point or another with a great comment that you want to add to the class discussion. However, if the class moves on to another topic before you are called up on to deliver your point, it is best not to say anything and wait for another opportunity to speak. It is distracting and annoying for someone to try to go back to a discussion that was going on five minutes earlier.

• Try to go for quality of class input over quantity. This advice seems to be backed up by the research of psychologist (and Nobel Laureate) Daniel Kahneman who has shown that people tend to base their judgments on the peak of an experience and the end of an experience. You want to be the person who makes the insightful comment that gets the attention of the professor and the class rather than the student who is always chiming in with a mediocre comment.

• Finally, sometimes a professor will wrap up a class by either asking the students the important lessons of the case or giving the students her summary of the lessons. It is also important to the learning process that the students spend a few minutes after each class summarizing what they learned from the case. Some MBA programs will require students to analyze 200-300 cases per year. With this workload it is easy to forget some of the lessons learned from each case.