When I first encountered the case study methodology, it was overwhelming yet interesting. I enjoyed learning about the extent to which human behaviour affects business dealings. We tend to think about business in terms of operations, finance and other technical aspects but understanding people and managing them is one of the most challenging things to do in business. One could lose out on a deal for emotional reasons than any other factor, and this is probably the most significant value I derived from cases.
Learning with cases has inspired me to look at issues from different perspectives. Most difficult issues are multi-dimensional. For example, a sales problem could be caused by a poor product, distribution issues, staffing challenges etc. The ability to look at problems from multiple perspectives is, for me, one of the most applicable learning points from using the case method.
My favourite case was The Slot Nigeria case which we took as part of our entrepreneurship course. I learnt a lot from Nnamdi (the case protagonist), not just because he had such a great drive to solve local problems, but how much his ethical approach to business gave him a competitive advantage over his competitors. I believe everyone in business (employers and employees) can learn a lot from the story of Nnamdi and Slot Nigeria, especially with regards to how much mileage one can gain just by being upright in business.
