Harvard Case Study Teaching

Case study teaching immerses participants in realistic business situations. Cases provide the reality of managerial decision making which includes incomplete information, conflicting goals and time constraints.

Participants place themselves in the role of top managers and decision makers. They identify the core problem, analyze it and develop potential countermeasures.

They read and reflect on the case, and then meet in learning groups to discuss their findings with other students.
Afterward in the IIM Seminar Room, under the questioning and guidance of the lecturer, students probe underlying issues, compare different alternatives, and finally, suggest courses of action. Typically, the lecturer only steers the conversation by making occasional observations and asking questions while the students contribute to the discussion and talk (80% and more). It stimulates students’ thinking and encourages discussion. The students regularly mark in the feedback forms that the case study teaching method is exciting and fun and rate this method as the best factor of the course.
Joining as guests in the running MBA program at the Harvard Business School (Boston, USA) in 2013 the Rector of the TU Graz, Prof. Harald Kainz and Vice-Rector Prof. Horst Bischof were convinced of Prof. Christian Ramsauer’s idea to build a case study room at his institute and to implement this teaching method.
The Harvard Business School develops more than 300 new cases per year. More than 80% of all cases sold throughout the world are written by Harvard Professors. Every new staff member of the IIM institute who has responsibilities in teaching, participates in the case method teaching course at Harvard Business School.