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Summarizing Case Studies





Case studies are often used in business and education to present real-world situations to students, and to enable them to find solutions using the information given. Summarizing these case studies can help students learn about their given fields, and better understand how to learn from the process.

Analyzing Case Studies

When analyzing and summarizing case studies, you should take the following path:

  1. Examine and understand the environment relevant to the case study. This means you should understand the nature of the organization, as well as its competitors.

  2. Be able to describe the structure of the business in the study. You should analyze the company's management structure and its financial background and standing. Before moving forward you should be able to describe the company's revenues and profits, as well as an overview of the company's leaders.

  3. Be able to identify the main problem in the study. Most likely, there will be many issues involved.

  4. Be able to explain how the business or organization responds to these problems.

  5. Be able to identify the most successful aspects of your solutions, and determine whether the solutions met their goals and were successful.

  6. Be able to describe changes that could be made to make the business or organization arrive at better solutions. This is probably the most important part of the case study analysis.

  7. Be able to finish your analysis by emphasizing what you might do differently next time in the case. This will show you have a clear understanding of the case and business strategy.
Tips When Summarizing Case Studies

Always read the case study multiple times. The first time you read it should be for the general idea of the study. Each subsequent reading should help you gain details of the study, such as business strategies and the breakdown of management.

When first analyzing the case study, leave no detail unturned, even if it seems insignificant.

Remember that it is more important to truly understand the material, than it is to simply read it and memorize it.

So, What Have You Learned About Case Studies?

You now know what a case study is. It is an in-depth study of a singular situation, person, or event. People develop case studies to answer questions, and propose new ideas and theories. We have also used many case studies as examples in this course, such as the Tylenol scandal study, and the study of Genie, the feral child.

An author of a case study is looking to do one of three things:

1. Pilot Research - This is a case study that will hopefully lead to a large-scale research project in the future. For a large study to get funded, a proven case study can help prove the project has merit.

Think!
Can you think of an example when pilot research would be necessary?

2. Develop New Theories or Ideas - If a case study author has new ideas, developing a case study is the way to go. It will either confirm her beliefs or disprove them, both of which are valuable.

3. Change Existing Theories or Ideas - If a case study author believes certain ideas or theories have changed, developing a new case study will either prove or disprove their ideas. ]]>