video:Inside the HBS Case Method
It's one thing to learn how to perform a specific technique, such as a breakeven analysis. It's another to learn why one should be executed, how it should be interpreted—or even when it must be ignored. As decision makers, managers must exercise judgment, not mere skills.
Judgment, based on sound analysis rooted in facts, is what students need to absorb from their education. But, as the late HBS professor Charles I. Gragg sagely noted, "We cannot effectively use the insight of others; it must be our knowledge and insight that we use." By applying the case method to business education, we break the boundaries of passive learning to encourage students to become active participants in their own progress. With each case, students empathize with a decision maker ("the protagonist"), analyze varied and frequently ambiguous data, and assume responsibility for an action plan that effectively resolves the case's business challenge.
Get a deeper understanding of the case method.
