ABSTRACT
Case research has consistently been one of the most powerful research methods in OM, particularly in the development of new theory. To cope with the growing frequency and magnitude of changes in technology and managerial methods, OM researchers have been calling for greater employment of field-based research methods (Lewis, 1998). Pure case research, that is research based on analysis of a limited number of cases to which, at best,
only limited statistical analysis can be applied, is widely used in Europe but is less common in North American OM (Drejer et al., 1998). However, there is an increasing number of case research based papers appearing; Barratt et al. (2007) list over 180 papers published in four top US OM journals that use case research.
