1. International Business
Term Paper: Case Development
(As part of learning in International Business)
Some Guidelines

2. Steps to selection of Question
for Case Study
You can take up your own organization as a case to understand and explain the internationalization process of an MNE.
You could pick any interesting aspect/question (pertaining to any business function viz., finance, marketing, production/outsourcing, operations, information systems, HR, etc) and analyze it from the organization’s internationalization perspective.
A brief on the basics of Case Development and the process of developing a Case is given below for your reference
XIMB-CCR / Amar

3. Step I Basics of Case Study

4. Case Methodology of study Key Characteristics  Inclusion of Context   Richness of the context - more variables than data points Multiple sources of evidence Distinctive strategies for research design & for analyses
XIMB-CCR / Amar

5. Role of Theory / Hypothesis in Case study     Follow the experimental science   Greater focus to the study Provides direction to research
XIMB-CCR / Amar

6. Step II Process of Case Study

7. Framework for Case Study
Country Context
Localization of Business
Industry Context
Growth Modes
(M&A, Public Offer, International, etc)
Competitiveness
Firm Analysis
Resource Reconfiguration
XIMB-CCR / Amar

8. Firm Level Analysis Corporate History Focus of the Case
Focus / Research Area (s): Finance
Marketing
Human Resource
Operations
Information Technology
Strategy
Business Dynamics (interrelationships & vectors)
Corporate Performance
XIMB-CCR / Amar

9. Secondary Data Collection Process
Step III
Secondary Data Collection Process
(Immersing oneself into the issue and the problems associated with the issue that you want to deal with)

10. How & From where to collect Data
Company Websites
Company Annual Reports (last 5 years, get the financial figures & analyze from your research perspective, etc)
Internal Company Documents, Interviews with key people for details of the issues involved
Magazine, Newspaper, Internet
Databases: CMIE
ISI Emerging Markets
Sansco - Annual Reports
Related Research Articles: EBSCO
XIMB-CCR / Amar

11. Data Collection from Company & Techniques for Analyses
Step IV
Data Collection from Company & Techniques for Analyses

12. Data Collection from Company & Techniques for Analysis
Permutation & Combination of:
Historical Company Data
Study specific and relevant company documents
Select Interviews with key people involved in the issue of your interest
Across the Board Survey (employees / customers / intermediaries)
Techniques (one or many) for Analyses
Descriptive Statistics
Multivariate Analyses (regression, factor, cluster, ANOVA, etc.)
Event telling
Story telling
XIMB-CCR / Amar

13. Report Writing – Case Development
Step V
Report Writing – Case Development

14. Some guidelines for your Case Write-ups
Develop your Research Questions
Review your questions & freeze them
Identify a few questions that are most relevant to your case and that you may delve with in greater detail
Collect evidences to answer your questions
Organize your evidences into tables, charts, figures, etc that can be presented as Exhibits in the Case
Develop an outline,
Write the story as an attempt to sew the various issues that will help in answering the questions and relate these issues to the exhibits of the case
Raise relevant questions more than answering the questions themselves so that the reader should be able to analyze the case using the data given in the main text and exhibits himself/herself
Essentially write a story with the main theme of one or two questions that you had chosen to focus on, some hints, thoughts, views on the case as guide posts to the case reader to lead to the reality or answers to the questions that you have already discovered from your own analysis of the case.
XIMB-CCR / Amar

15. Specifications of Case Write-up
Title Page (case title, author name, title & organizational affiliation): 1 page
Key Questions in the Case Study: 1 page
Main Text: pages
No. of Relevant Exhibits as Evidences: up to 20 pages
References: up to 2 pages