IEMS Case Development

Case writing is a vital force behind research at IEMS. IEMS case studies have helped refine the skills and business judgment of tens of thousands of students, practitioners, and academics across the world. The Institute is continually expanding and refreshing course content as IEMS faculty write new cases that span the globe, industries, disciplines, and organizational forms in the public, private for profit, and non-profit spaces. As its faculty continues to develop case studies, the Institute is shaping business learning and educating future leaders in a positive way for years to come.

What is a case study?

The IEMS case study is a teaching vehicle that presents students with a critical management issue and serves as a springboard to lively classroom debate in which participants present and defend their analysis and prescriptions. The average case is 15 to 20 pages long (about 7 to 12 pages of prose and 5 to 7 pages of tables and figures). The two main types of cases at the Institute are field cases based on onsite research, and library cases written solely from public sources. Moreover, in 2005, the Institute’s case studies developing department began producing multimedia cases that provide a rich learning experience by bringing together video, audio, graphics, animation, and other mediums.

Case research and writing

At IEMS, case research and writing are connected and mutually reinforcing. Cases provide the opportunity for faculty to assess and develop ideas, spark insights on nascent research questions early in a project, illustrate theory in practice, and get feedback in the classroom on those very concepts. In addition, case writing provides faculty a means to collaborate and to develop research ideas both across disciplines and across institutions.
Field case development is a dynamic and collaborative process in which faculty engage business or governmental leaders, sometiems working together with a colleague at IEMS or at other academic institutions. The case studies for IEMS are a helpful resource to organizations interested in working with the Institute on a case. Case leads are identified based on a faculty’s teaching purpose and may arise as the result of a past relationship with an executive, a former student, or from a professor’s interest in exploring with a company’s management team a situation that would provide a meaningful learning experience. IEMS works closely with host organizations to guarantee confidentiality.