ABSTRACT
The case study is more than 100 years old. Harvard published its first book of case studies in 1921 1 and ever since the case method has been widely used in university business schools and management centres around the world. You are probably reading this because you have been given the task of preparing for a case study as part of your own business or management course and, if so, then you join a longstanding and well-established academy of case scholars. This book sets out what the case method (or the case study, or simply the case) is all about and how you can make best use of it in your own programme, whether that is as a student preparing for a case discussion in class, studying to prepare your own case study assignment or conducting research using a case study approach. You will find plenty of insights and examples in this book to help you to make the most of the case method as a tool for learning and research.
