Case study analysis- Part 1

Dear friends,

In our first year MPharm our teachers made us to involve in many activities like Group Discussions, Debates, Case studies, Seminars, Extempores etc. They were conducted as part of the practical classes of our Pharmacy Management department. Among these activities case study analysis was one of the important and interesting one. Through my next few blogs I would like to discuss with you about the case study analysis and its impact on the students in developing the analytical skills and decision making power.

Case study refers to the collection, presentation and study of detailed information about a particular participant or small group, frequently including the accounts of subjects themselves. Analyses of the case studies are very important and critical in management education. A case study presents an account of what happened to a business or industry over a number of years. It chronicles the events that managers had to deal with, such as changes in the competitive environment, and charts the managers' response, which usually involved changing the business- or corporate-level strategy.

Cases prove valuable in a course for several reasons. First, cases provide you, the student, with experience of organizational problems that you probably have not had the opportunity to experience firsthand. In a relatively short period of time, you will have the chance to appreciate and analyze the problems faced by many different companies and to understand how managers tried to deal with them.

Second, cases illustrate what you have learned. The meaning and implication of this information are made clearer when they are applied to case studies. The theory and concepts help reveal what is going on in the companies studied and allow you to evaluate the solutions that specify companies adopted to deal with their problems. Consequently, when you analyze cases, you will be like a detective who, with a set of conceptual tools, probes what happened and what or who was responsible and then marshals the evidence that provides the solution. Top managers enjoy the thrill of testing their problem-solving abilities in the real world. It is important to remember, after all, that no one knows what the right answer is. All that managers can do is to make the best guess. In fact, managers say repeatedly that they are happy if they are right only half the time in solving strategic problems. Management is an uncertain game, and using cases to see how theory can be put into practice is one way of improving your skills of diagnostic investigation.