The Use of the Case Method in Large and Diverse Undergraduate Business Programmes: Problems and Issues

The case method in business and management education is generally considered to have been developed as an executive education technology in the United States in the early years of the twentieth century. Much of the literature on the method reflects these origins and is culturally or institutionally specific. However, cases are used today in a wide variety of contexts, including undergraduate business education. In this paper we discuss key themes in the current context of higher education, explore the use of cases in large and diverse undergraduate business education programmes, and examine how the changing institutional context of these programmes has affected the use of the business case as a pedagogical technology.