What Makes a Great Case

Authors
Karen Foust, Tulane University, Cara Peters, Winthrop University, Leigh W. Cellucci, East Carolina University, Kayla Ford, East Carolina University
Region
North America
Topic
Accounting & Finance
Economics
Entrepreneurship
Ethics & Social Justice
Human Resources & Organizational Behavior
Information Systems
Marketing & Sales
Operations
Strategy & General Management
Length
8 pages
Keywords
case research
case teaching
case writing
Journal of Case Studies
Copyright Holder
Society for Case Research
Student Price
$0.00
Target Audience
Faculty/Researchers

As writers who have made numerous attempts to create cases (some more successful than others) we are often asked, "how do you find a topic?" or "what topics make good cases?" These questions are not easily answered, and there is no "one size fits all" answer.

Many times our teaching responsibilities may lead us to a topic for a case. If we are teaching in an area with few cases available for classroom use, we have a prime opportunity to fill the void. If our teaching schedule allows the time, this can be the impetus to not only develop the case and teaching note, but also to class test it immediately and refine it accordingly before taking it further.