Debapratim Purkayastha, Associate Dean at ICFAI Business School (IBS), Hyderabad, recently won the lifetime achievement award for his outstanding contribution to the case method this year. Awarded by the UK-based The Case Centre, it recognises an individual who has “gone above and beyond the call of duty to promote the case method”. In addition to being a teacher using the case method, Purkayastha has contributed to the development of hundreds of case studies, many of which won awards in global case writing competitions and are included in international textbooks. In this interview, he talks about the case study methodology for B-schools.
How important and relevant is the case study methodology and teaching for today’s B-school students?
The case method is very relevant to today’s B-school student as this method uniquely prepares them for a future career. In India, we often hear some companies saying they do not find their fresh recruits who have just graduated from an educational institution ‘industry ready’. By employing the case method widely, institutions can help bridge that gap.
The case method turns the traditional teacher-centred approach to learning on its head by enabling students to learn through thinking and trial and error, rather than just being told by a ‘sage on the stage’. It helps them discover key insights and develop vital skills as they not only understand the theories and concepts but also understand how to apply them in a real world scenario.
It gives students a feel for the complexities of decision-making and allows them to try their hand at solving a whole gamut of problems/challenges that arise in organisations. Within a safe classroom environment, they can develop important skills that help them become industry-ready.
This is the pattern being followed ever since B-schools started in India, perhaps with the setting up of IIM-A. Does this need to undergo any change, given the present business environment?
While there are a few top-rung B-schools that are very good in using the case method, the majority of B-schools only pay lip service to the method. But, of late, there is a lot of interest among business educators regarding the case method.
However, there is a need for institutional commitment to the method, and this has to come from the very top echelons of the institution. This involves capacity building of B-school teachers as, just like the students who join a business programme, many teachers are not exposed to participant-centred learning. Institutions should invest in development of case teaching capabilities, and ensure that the process is followed in the right spirit.
Students should be made aware that they have to take more responsibility for their own learning; otherwise, they risk being left behind. In addition to honing their case teaching skills, teachers should ensure that they are picking up the right cases. There is growing number of diverse case studies, including 15-25 page in-depth cases, short cases, video cases, and even comic-book cases. ICFAI Business School itself has more than 5,000 case studies in its repository.
How can the case studies methodology be adapted for today’s volatile business environment, especially given the fact that the Net has redefined business models?
The use of the case method is particularly important in today’s volatile business environment. Case studies capture these new developments in all their richness and help bring these contemporary issues and challenges for discussion in the classroom. For instance, issues related to digital transformation, big data, digital marketing, and so on, which are transforming (even disrupting) business models and business practices can be discussed in the classroom through case studies.
Existing theories may be employed to explain and solve the challenges faced by companies, or new theories may be developed. It is not uncommon to have new theories coming out of case studies.
There is often criticism that Indian cases taught at B school are too ‘western’ in approach and a deep and insightful Indian case study structure needs to be built. Is there enough of a body of work of Indian case studies to work on?
This criticism is totally unjustifiable, as we live in a globalised world. Graduates from other countries come and make a career in India, and Indian graduates go and make their careers in the West, or they work in cross-cultural teams and settings. To churn out well-rounded business professionals, many top B-schools are, in fact, consciously adopting case studies and other interventions to make their students aware of different cultural and country contexts.
Moreover, what is important is the underlying theories and concepts you teach along with a case. Even if a very ‘western’ case is taught and it enables the learning of theories and concepts and how to apply them in the real world (tailored to the situation, market and organisational context), it is a good case. It is still hundred times better than a teacher coming to a class and telling the student what this theory/concept is, and trying to give some examples.
Honestly, there’s no dearth of Indian cases if a teacher wants to adopt one. ICFAI Business School, along with Harvard, INSEAD, IMD and Richard Ivey, make up the top five case development centres. If one goes through these repositories, they will find a good number of Indian cases. A search on The Case Centre, the world’s largest repository of case studies, will show that there are numerous Indian cases, and by Indian authors. Almost all the top B-schools I mentioned have either set up case writing centres in India or have entered into collaborations with Indian B-schools or authors to develop Indian context cases.
How do you pick cases; rather how do you decide what makes for a good case analysis?
The teaching or learning objectives are central to case development. The questions we ask before taking up a case for development are: What business theories, concepts or principles would this particular situation in the subject company help to teach business students or corporate trainees? Does it satisfy the teaching/learning objectives? Is the situation interesting enough and will it lead to student engagement?
Do we have access to the information required to develop the case? Would the information available enable us to develop a credible case study with no easy answers, so that it would lead to significant discussion and debate in the classroom? Would the lessons learnt from the case be memorable to students, even years after they have discussed it in the classroom?
Often, companies may have a good ‘case conundrum’ within, but would not like to make it public. How do you handle such cases, without disclosing identities?
If companies want fresh graduates who are “industry ready”, they have a responsibility to help B-schools in developing in-depth case studies that would help prepare such graduates. Unfortunately, only a few companies are willing to share information for developing cases and formally releasing such cases.
Often, companies are reluctant to share information, particularly when some corporate failure is involved. Even otherwise, they may not want to get involved as they don’t want to commit time and effort to this initiative. In such cases, authors can develop cases based on publicly available published sources, when sufficient information is available in the public domain.
Well-researched cases developed from published sources have the potential to end up even above the quality of a typical field-researched case, as demonstrated by ICFAI Business School over the past decade.
Another option might be to disguise the cases, where names of the company, protagonist and key people are changed. Even key figures may be changed, and sometimes the industry context is also disguised. Good case writing practices, however, require authors to get the case formally cleared by the subject organisation.