Your Guide To Effectively Using Case Studies in Business Studies
So, your teacher has probably told you to start building up your case studies. After all, they’re a crucial part of the exam; especially in Section IV which needs a strong use of them for an A-range response. It can be daunting to start off finding them, but once you do, applying them is a whole other matter. So, in this post, we’ll be talking about how to effectively use your case studies in Business Studies.
Post written by Tanmayi Kundap (12th in the state Business Studies 2015). See all articles first and personally get in touch with our state rankers here
Selection of Business + Case Content
One of the most common questions is which businesses you should base your case studies on.
However, it’s essential to understand and remember that the marker isn’t concerned about what business you use for the case study.
It’s how effectively you use the case study which really matters.
Effectively using case studies means having a good understanding of how the business relates to different components of the syllabus. Furthermore, top students only use case study examples that are relevant for the question.
The ability to answer the question is what separates students. It’s pointless to write about a company’s marketing strategies if the question requires analysis on HR influences.
In the 2015 HSC, the Section IV Essay asked to:
“Evaluate the importance of operations strategies in achieving competitive advantage”.
I approached this question with an Aldi Case Study with the following information I had prepared:
Quality Management: Through using a total quality management approach, Aldi is able to create strong business relationships with its suppliers and customers. These strong relationships help Aldi to improve its product delivery and standards to customers whilst ensuring suppliers meet international standards. This enables competitive advantages as Aldi is able to maximise its resource usage and hence benefit from cost-cutting.
Inventory Management: Just-In- Time Inventory control management strategy used. Aldi uses a just-in- time (JIT) approach to store management by only holding the stock that it needs which fosters competitive advantage as wastage of valuable stock is reduced. Moreover, as stock levels are reduced, Aldi is competitive as its working capital is used efficiently.
Number of case studies
A common query is how many case studies you should prepare.
Whilst there’s no limit, it’s best to have around 2–3 case studies as preparing only 1 can be quite restricting if the question you get doesn’t suit your business.
Therefore, I found that having case studies that were varied either in business size, sector, spread etc. really benefitted.
For example, I did Aldi and Wotif (hotels, flights and holiday business).
These two differed in many ways:
- Type of product: Product supplier vs service provider
- Industry: Grocery vs travel
- Ownership: Public vs private
Having this variety enabled me to present all-rounded responses that demonstrated how the different business syllabus dot points (relating to the question) applied to different business models.
This will win you brownie points from markers as it gives you an opportunity to really highlight your research for case studies and your super comprehensive, in-depth understanding of the syllabus.
Have a back-up plan
So, what happens if you look the Section IV question and none of the business case studies you’ve prepared match the question.
Get Alex Luo’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
What to do?
Well, the Syllabus notes that you are to be able to:
“investigate, synthesise and evaluate contemporary business issues and hypothetical and actual business situations”.
Hypothetical. This means you can make it up!
A word of caution though, when (and if) you choose this option, try to make the case study developed and realistic. Furthermore, only use hypothetical cases as a last resort because it takes time to do on the spot and can be detrimental if done incorrectly.
It’s much safer and reliable to go into your exams with prepared case studies.
So where do I start?
So, now that you’ve understood the key aspects of the Case Study component of HSC Business Studies, it’s time to start! To get you started, here’s a step-by-step process:
Step 1: Researching the business
Source information on the key facts of the business such as its products, location/spread, ownership (sole trader, partnerships, public or privately owned) etc.
Whilst all this information may not be used in your response, having this background knowledge can improve your case study analysis which impresses markers.
An optional addition to this is a SWOT Analysis which allows you to get a current understanding of the business and its position.
Step 2: The syllabus
After understanding the business, it’s essential to link what you know to what you need for exams.
Essentially, your exam questions are going to relate to the 4 key business functions and the syllabus dot points within each; Role, Influences, Processes, Strategies (and Effectiveness for HR Management and Operations).
For each business, look at all the possible ways in which its practices can be linked into the syllabus. Doing so will really help you to develop a clearer idea about which business is most suitable for which topic.
For example, in a case study on Coca-Cola Amatil, you’ll observe that it’s extremely suited to a Marketing question because almost all the dot points of the Marketing syllabus are evident by their practices.
Step 3: Practice case study writing
Achieving a cohesive, well-structured report with the right ratio of theory and case study material can only be done with practice.
From experience, structuring your report so that the theory is followed by the case examples can be useful at the beginning.
Once you are comfortable with this method, try to fuse the two together; theory with examples in the one paragraph. In the Global Consumers example below, notice how I go through the theory first before backing it up with a case study:
“The main role of operations is to design and develop products and services to meet the needs of customers. Due to globalisation, operations management has been impacted as products need to meet the needs of consumers worldwide. Particularly with larger businesses that operate in different countries, this aspect of globalisation has had a significant impact on the product design and development role of operations management. A prime example of this influence can be seen in the operations management of McDonalds. The TNC has designed and developed new products, increasing their product range, to meet the needs of global consumers.”
So, there we go. A few pointers and notes for how to best use your case studies for Business Studies. Hope this post helped and for now, CASE CLOSED!
Post written by Tanmayi Kundap (12th in the state Business Studies 2015)
To get in touch with our talented state rankers and access all articles first, just join our community by clicking the picture below:
