Case Study ScholarshipMonday, January 14, 2013Noon CST

Session audio delivered via phone - type your phone number into the popup window or dial (866) 552-9877

This webinar is co-organized by the Agribusiness Economics and Management (AEM) section of AAEA and TLC, hosted by the Purdue University Agricultural Economics Department and Center for Food and Agricultural Business

Housekeeping Details Josh Detre, Emcee

– 12:05 – 12:20 Lisa House – 12:20 – 12:30 Q & A– 12:30 – 12:45 Mike Boland– 12:45 – 1:00 Q & A

Questions? Type into the chat window to all participants or ask over the phone.

Emcee will manage Q & A. Please mute your phone if not asking a question.

Lisa House• Florida Agricultural Market Research Center,

University of Florida• Former Chair, AAEA Invited Case Study Session

Committee

Mike Boland• Food Industry Center, University of Minnesota• Co-authored over 80 agribusiness case studies

Today’s Presenters

AAEA and Case Studies

Lisa HouseUniversity of FloridaFormer Chair, AAEA Invited Case Study Session Committee

Objectives

Overview AAEA and case studies– Invited paper case study session– Annual call for cases– Evaluation criteria

What make a good case?

History of AAEA and Case Studies

Review of Agricultural Economics– Change to Applied Economic Perspectives and

Policy (AEPP) Introduction of Invited Case Study Session Journal of Natural Sciences Education

http://www.aaea.org/publications/jnrlse-call-for-submissions

Invited Paper Case Study Session

Goal to have 3 case studies per year in an invited session at the AAEA meetings

As with other invited sessions, potential for publication in the AJAE

Selection of cases is based off 3-5 page (2,000 word max) proposals and is conducted by a committee selected by the AAEA Board (blind review)

Annual Call for Cases

Show how the application of economic principles to decision making in the public and/or private sectors leads to better decisions– Focus on economics

Emerging issues encouraged All fields (not just agribusiness)

Evaluation Criteria

Deals with a problem that has a high level of importance/interest/relevancy to members of AAEA

Clear and concise teaching objective(s) and target audience(s) (e.g. undergraduate students, graduate students, extension audiences)

Case summary that presents solutions and explanations of how the learning objectives are realized

Leads to a better understanding of how the application of economic principles improves decision making

A general description of the teaching plan for presenting the case to include expected student use of reference material

What makes a good case? (Part 1)

Teaching note– Identify audience– Summarize case– Identify learning objectives– Present teaching strategy

Case study– Value of topic– New topic or novel approach to analysis– Written in an understandable manner– Ability to obtain information necessary for analysis

Further Suggestions

Look at examples of published cases in AJAE, RAE, and IFAMR journals

IFAMR article on case standards for publications:– https://www.ifama.org/publications/journal/vol3/cms

docs/369-379.pdf

Some typical problems with past submissions:– Not written as a case study– No economic issue– No clear purpose

Thoughts on Writing Case Studies

Michael BolandFood Industry CenterUniversity of Minnesota

Motivation Have historically taught capstone type courses using an active student /

participant-centered learning style– Agribusiness / Food business curriculum

Teach in a number of executive education style programs with non-degree seeking students– Case study type courses

Ray Goldberg protégé– Harvard Business School philosophy– Study an industry and how a firm operates in that industry

Economics of organizations– Cases are a useful way to work in this area

Product of my environment– Doctorate at Purdue University / influence of CAB– Career at Kansas State – Current job at Minnesota

Objectives

Discuss case study as a scholarship activity– Research– Teaching

What make a good case– Best practices

Case Study as Research Scholarship

Firm is unit of analysis within an industry (e.g., NAICS code) as opposed to price– Coase and others discuss reasons why– Penrose’s classic case on Hercules – Used in agribusiness economics and management

• Boland and Crespi AEPP article on dissertations found more than 15 dissertations using this type of approach

• Wysocki dissertation is a good example Requires careful consideration of industry and

firms– Public and private data

Example: Suppose you wanted to study variables associated with sustainability efforts in food economy

Choose an industry (e.g., retail supermarkets, etc.)– More than 300 retail grocery stores chains in USA

• Segment firms– Dissect CSR statements into stakeholder categories using Global

Reporting Initiative (GRI) categories• Employees, community, consumers, education, resources, etc.

– Measure ‘weight of effort’ used for each category– Stakeholder theory suggest that there are three types of demand for

sustainability: regulatory (descriptive), cognitive (instrumental), normative.

– Each firm’s ‘weight of effort’ can be placed in one of the three demands.

– An economic model that uses sustainability of demand as a function of these different GRI categories can be described (not econometrically estimated)

– Academic journal are available for publication

Case Study as Teaching Scholarship

Decision cases– User of the case must have a decision to make – Integration of subjects such as accounting,

economics, finance, marketing, strategy, etc.– Requires information to help student learn

• Unique characteristics about the industry including production, processing, distribution, and sales.

• How the firm operates as an organization

Requires primary and secondary data

Example: suppose you wanted students to understand why a firm has persistent profitability over time

Identify the learner outcomes that you want the user to understand– I always work backwards; generally include spreadsheet exercises

Begin with a firm that exhibits this type of behavior– Identify the reasons why

• Industry and firm effects Prepare case draft of the industry and firm using public data

(including teaching note)– Contact firm leader, describe what you seek to do, and what you need

from them.• Interview them (invite to class if possible)

– Prepare final draft• Ask your contact to have someone read and sign off on factual issues in case

Numerous books and journals to publish in

What makes a good case? (Part 2)

Interesting industry and interesting firm Ability to bring it to life Accurate and in-depth teaching note

– Remember any instructor than yourself has little or now knowledge of the industry or case

• Get the learner outcomes right and include tips on using case– Make it easy for user to use the case– As a case writer, be available if an instructor using your case asks

you to chat for five minutes on phone or skype– Review cases for academic journals! Learn a lot being a peer

reviewer.– Get involvement of the company– Don’t underestimate the readability factor

Other Notes

Most of my cases involve students– Ideal project for a first semester graduate student

• Tight deadline and deliverable in one semester• Teaches writing skills• Learn independent and critical thinking skills

Develop some discipline– I try to write two cases a year for use in class

Follow-up

A link to the archived webinar will be emailed and linked on the web page by Tuesday morning

https://www.agecon.purdue.edu/cab/programs/webinar/case_studies/

Thank you for attending!