The history of case studies in the UK

Len Rogers has been in touch to say that it is almost 50 years since he was one of the pioneers of the use of the business case study in the UK when chief examiner to the Institute of Marketing. This is his story.

I'm publishing it in Len's own words to encourage other case users with stories to tell to get in touch. I'd be delighted to hear from you.

Len writes:

The ‘open book’ examination was introduced for the final diploma exam and Ted Jenner and I used to meet twice a year in the Charing Cross Hotel, to select a Harvard Business School case study which was circulated to examinees one month before the examination.

To counter the inevitable action of examinees seeking professional help, I prepared an examination paper that progressed the case for a further month or so providing additional quantitative and qualitative data – extended or contracted operations, increased or decreased sales, reductions or additions in staff, once, even the receipt of a hostile bid. The examination paper did not negate the work that candidates had done on the case during the month but it meant that a pre-prepared analysis needed considerable modification in the light of the new information received in the examination room. It was highly successful and I prepared two cases a year for the next eleven years.

I resurrected the first of those cases used in September 1969 -- Medway Appliances Ltd – and think that others might be interested to receive it. Some of the problems we had in the 60s are still relevant today; others have changed out of all recognition.

I'm now working on transposing Owen & Davies, the case I wrote for the 1972 September exam, which concerns two executives meeting in the Crown Hotel, Bangor North Wales, both recently having been made redundant. One is an electrical engineer and the other with an honours degree in chemistry from Nottingham. They each have an idea of starting on their own and over drinks explain their proposals – one to market an electronic organ and the other to distribute Canadian fruit juice concentrates.

When each has finished, they prefer the proposal of the other and decide to call on the services of a marketing consultant – the examinee. Len remembers chucking a few rocks in the pool to muddy the water with some updated information in the examination room but the case was highly successful and case studiers learned a little more about contemporary problems of starting a business from scratch. Here again, the case history is a very useful medium because the crucial element in all case studies is the environment. A case history is a case study but a case study is not necessarily a case history―its environment conditions its analysis and synthesis.

If you would like a copy of Len's Owen & Davies case, drop me a line.