Case study research serves as one of the most useful methods to identify factors that cause issues to a specific business or industry. It is more than just researching customer feedback. Case study writing entails analyzing what has gone wrong and choosing from alternatives to fix the problem.

1. Presenting the Background Situation and Facts

The first step in writing a case study is to gather facts and provide a short background of the company or industry:

• What products and services does the company offer?
• In what industry does it operate ? (You can use PESTEL analysis).
• What stakeholders are involved in the case and how are they impacted?
• What are outcomes of their actions?
• What is the impact on revenue, reputation, and ethics?

These are just some of the questions that can be answered to identify facts.

Example

Company X has expanded to offer services in a new market. It has to adapt to new policies and laws regulating the industry. According to the local laws, it has to hire 20% of local employees. As for sociocultural factors, local people demands affect the delivery of its services significantly. The increasing unemployment rate in the new market can undermine company’s profit. Local demand for environmenally friendly products and services has less effect on company’s operations. However, Company X should implement new customer relationship management system (CRS).

In this case, various stakeholders are impacted. The first are employees, who require training to adapt to the local culture and work in the multicultural environment. Local workers employed be Company X also require training to meet organizational goals and objectives.

It requires investments on the part of Company X to train employees and develop the code of ethics that can regulate organizational culture. However, as a result, such steps can prevent possible ethical issues and breaches of laws and regulations in the new market.

Case Study Research Stages

Rashid et al. (2019) offer a more complex framework for writing a case study. They point to the first step that is foundational. It involves deciding on the theory that underpins the problems. For example, the case involve an ethical issue or dilemma. Then, it is necessary to determine ethical theories or philosophies that can explain the problem and set objectives of the case study.

The researchers further point to pre-field, field, and reporting stages.

The first one entails determining the research questions, issues, methods to research the problem, etc. The field stage involves obtaining data from stakeholders or parties that are involved in the problem. Field research may require the use of interviews, surveys, or questionnaires either sent online or in person.

Reporting involves presenting the results of field research and finally analyzing the problem and solutions.

STAGES OF CASE STUDY RESEARCH: FOUNDATIONAL – PRE-FIELD – FIELD – REPORTING

Therefore, to get insights into the situation in the company or industry, obtaining primary data from stakeholders may be necessary.

You can use infographics and visuals to present data.

2. Writing a Problem Statement in the Case Study Scenario

Problem statement is an idea reflecting a gap or issue that one assumes can cause a problem, affect performance or key performance indicators (KPIs), or lead to certain negative effects (impact) in specific conditions.

The next step in case study writing is to create a problem statement upon following these steps:

• Research the situation by taking notes of important events, people, stakeholders, data, and statistics (BACKGROUND and FACTS);
• Identify factors impacting the scenario at the company or in the industry (CONTEXT);
• Determine the impact of various factors on key performance indicators (KPIs);
• Explain the relevance of the problem to KPIs (RELEVANCE);
• Offer what measurable changes can bring to fix the problem (OUTCOMES).

BACKGROUND and FACTS – CONTEXT – IMPACT on KPIs – RELEVANCE – OUTCOMES

For example, Business X is a multinational corporation (BACKGROUND) operating in conditions of expanding its presence in Market Y (CONTEXT) needs to introduce the cultural training program for its employees (RELEVANCE) to improve their performance (KPIs) in order to meet needs of local customers (OUTCOMES).

3. Analyzing Alternatives

Before coming to the final solution to the problem, it is necessary to analyze all possible options that can solve the issue. Consider the following:

• How will the implementation of the alternative impact KPIs?
• What will be the degree of employee resistance?
• What costs are needed to implement each option?
• What are possible limitations and drawbacks?

Example: Company X has several options to choose from in order to solve the problem and improve its organizational culture to adapt to local market demands. First, it shoud design a training program for existing and new employees. On the one hand, it can be costly and time-consuming, requiring company’s resources. On the other hand, it can improve cultural awareness of existing staff members and help local workers adapt and align their goals with those of the company. As a result, Company X can improve its performance and profit. The next option is to appoint domestic managers to the leading positions in the branch in the new market. This alternative can cause resistance on the part of local employees, but it may ensure that the goal in the new market is aligned with the overall company’s strategy. Another option is to hire local employees to lead some departments in the local market like human resources (HR) or customer relationships. The benefit is that local managers may better understand local customers’ needs and interests of local workers. The limitation is possible misalignment between local branch’s strategy and overall company’s vision.

4. Choosing the Best Option and Providing a Recommendation

The next step involves presenting the best solution to the issue and an action plan how to implement it across the company or what stakeholders should introduce the change across the industry.

Determine:

• Cost-effectiveness
• Training
• Resistance
• Obstacles
• Outcomes to measure
• Evaluation time

Example: Company X should choose training and hiring both local and domestic managers.

5. Writing Conclusion and Executive Summary (Optional)

Finally, write a conclusion to summarize the case or scenario, alternatives, and recommendations.

You can also write Executive Summary that can be included at the beginning of case study writing on a separate page (around 1 page) with the following elements:

• Background sentence
• Issue
• Context and findings
• Conclusion
• Recommendations (may be presented in bullet points for stakeholders)

Reference

Rashid, Y., Rashid, A., Warraich, M. A., Sabir, S. S., & Waseem, A. (2019). Case study method: A step-by-step guide

for business researchers. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1609406919862424