How To Analyze A Case

HAR VAR D
BUSINESS
SCHOOL
PRESS

How to Analyze a Case
Exc e r p t e d fro m

The Case Study Handbook:
How to Read, Discuss, and Write Persuasively About Cases
By

William Ellet

Harvard Business School Press
Boston, Massachusetts

ISBN-13: 978-1-4221-2449-9

2449BC

Copyright 2007 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation
All rights reserved
Printed in the UnitedStates of America
This chapter was originally published as chapter 3 of The Case Study Handbook:
How to Read, Discuss, and Write Persuasively About Cases,
copyright 2007 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.
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CHAPTER 3

HO W TO A NA LYZE A C A SE

A

case is a text that refuses to explain itself. How do you construct a
meaning for it?
Start by recognizing some contextual factors that help limit and narrow
the analysis. Cases are usually studied in a course.A marketing caserequires
you to think as a marketer, not a strategist or manufacturing manager.
Courses are often divided into different modules or themes defined by certain types of situations and, often, concepts, theories, and practices appropriate for these situations.You can expect to encounter the themes in the
cases that are part of the modules and opportunities to put to work the analytical tools and bestpractices you have learned. Past case discussions provide a foundation for thinking about a new case, and study questions can
call attention to important issues.You should make use of all these contextual factors, but they don’t amount to a method for analyzing a case.
STARTING POINT FOR UNDERSTANDING
The case method is heuristic—a term for self-guided learning that employs
analysis to help drawconclusions about a situation. Analysis is derived from
a Greek word meaning, “a dissolving.” In English, analysis has two closely
related definitions: to break something up into its constituent parts; and to
study the relationships of the parts to the whole. To analyze a case, you
therefore need ways of identifying and understanding important aspects of
a situation and what they mean inrelation to the overall situation.
Each business discipline has its own theories, frameworks, processes and
practices, and quantitative tools.All of them are adapted to help understand
specific types of situations. Michael Porter’s concepts are productive when
investigating competitive advantage—but they aren’t very helpful for deciding whether to launch a product at a particular price or choosingthe
best method to finance the growth of a business. Porter’s five forces can
describe and explain the industry context in which a firm operates.1
No one would expect Porter’s framework to guide a product launch
decision. Specialized methods are fruitful because they’re tailored to fit
well-defined purposes. They’re often complex, though, and hard to apply,
especially for people who are justlearning how to use them.
1

2

A N A LY S I S

This book teaches an approach to cases that complements business concepts and theories. Its purpose is to provide a starting point for analysis that
aids the use of theories and frameworks and quantitative formulas, all of
which are indispensable for reaching conclusions about a case and building an
argument for those conclusions.The case...