Case Study Research in Business and Management

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

Case study research in business and management can achieve various goals depending on the philosophical and disciplinary background, the goals and the research questions of the study, as well as the nature of the research design, including the number of cases to be studied. In principle, there are no limitations in terms of the underlying philosophical positions, ranging from positivism to interpretivism and constructionism, or in terms of descriptive, interpretative, exploratory, or explanatory goals. The research questions focus most often on business- and management-related phenomena, but not necessarily from the managerial or business development points of view. The point of view may also be that of the employees, customers, consumers, societal policymakers, or society in general. Practical, problem-solving, and even normative objectives can be included in the study.

Single-, multiple-, and comparative case designs are used, as well as qualitative and quantitative data from various sources (e.g., interviews, observations, statistics, minutes of meetings, annual reports, advertisements, campaign materials), and studies rely on various methods of analysis. Common features include avoiding overly simplistic research topics and designs that can be explored with quantitative research approaches, and producing detailed and holistic knowledge that is based on detailed analysis of empirical data rich in context. Because of the varied nature of case study research in business and management, there is a tendency to consider case study research as a research strategy rather than as a research methodology or method.

Many of the classic business and management case studies rely on research designs building on one or a few cases. These draw on the ethnographic research tradition with the aim of providing a rich and detailed description and cultural understanding of business- and management-related actors, events, and processes. Single case studies may be longitudinal and historical. As an alternative to the classic case studies, Kathleen Eisenhardt has suggested that multiple and comparative case studies are valuable because they enable theory building through grounded-theory inspired analysis, which focuses on mapping common patterns and properties across several cases.

Päivi Eriksson and Anne Kovalainen, who have written specifically on qualitative research methods in business and management, describe in their book the differences between intensive and extensive case study research strategies. Intensive case study research strategy draws on the classic case study tradition, showing an interest in the case itself and developing an understanding of the workings of the case in a specific economic, social, and cultural context. Intensive case study research strategy focuses on one or a few unique cases with the aim of producing a contextualized and holistic description, interpretation, and explanation. Therefore, the explanatory power of the intensive case study research does not rely on statistical generalization but, instead, on understanding and analytic generalization.

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