The Case Studies
Small Business & Strategy Cases
These cases cover a gamut of business topics and are great for students to learn how smaller businesses work as well as allowing them to explore how people choose an entrepreneurial career route.
Title, Abstract, & Topics
Sample
Purchase & Download
Golden Lucky Beer
Chao Zhang, a recent business graduate, wants to start a business importing a new brand to Chinese beer into North America. With over 400,000 Chinese university students studying in the U.S. and Canada in 2019, well established restaurant and retail sales channels, and growing interest in Chinese culture, what does Zhang have to understand in order to make this business startup a success?
Topics: Marketing, entering a new country market, brand building, new market entrance, cross-cultural business, entrepreneurship.
- This case is class and exam tested: It works!
- 8 pages, ~2800 words.
- The download package Includes the case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing and teaching and solution notes.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Ahmed Qassim - Photographer
Ahmed Qassim, a Saudi Arabian university student studying in the United States, is about to graduate. He has a passion for photography and the necessary skills to become an independent professional photographer and videographer of corporate events, special public events, and weddings. Should he start his own professional photography and video business or use his engineering degree to work back home in Saudi Arabia?
Topics: Entrepreneurship, business planning, career options, pricing, marketing.
- 6 pages, ~2000 words.
- The download package Includes the case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing and teaching and solution notes.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Canine Contact Technologies
Great business ideas can happen in a flash of inspiration. That is exactly what happened to Jane Townsend one day. It led her and her business partner Roger French to start Canine Contact Technologies, allowing dog owners to stay connected at all times with their beloved canine friends through a collar-mounted video camera.
This comprehensive marketing case has students identifying key emotional products using Kotler's Product Levels model, defining target markets, creatively mocking up an ad and more. A fun, engaging, and realistic business context!
Topics: Marketing, customer analysis, segmentation, target marketing, product design, advertising, ad mockups, entrepreneurship
- This case is classroom and exam tested: It works!
- Great as an assignment or case exam. Actual top answers from an exam included!
- 5 pages, ~1700 words
- The download package includes:
- The case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing to meet your needs
- Teaching and solution notes
- A Kotler Product Levels primer document in PDF format.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Rich Roast Cafe and Restaurant
Cafe's and restaurants are always a possibility when it comes to starting a business. Sister and brother team Rebecca and John Ogilvie have received some investment capital from their father and want to open a cafe/restaurant in a newly developed area of the city they live in. They have a layout, they have the money...but they don't have the knowledge and experience needed to set up, operate, and manage the business. What should they do? This is a great research and discussion generating case that can be set up as an in-class exericse, team exercise, or team project for Business English, introductory business, high school business classes, or Bachelor level courses.
Topics: Marketing, operations, business planning, restaurant, coffee shop, cafe, entrepreneurship, family business
- This case is classroom tested: It works!
- Great as a team project, assignment, or case exam.
- 6 pages, ~1250 words
- The download package includes:
- The case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing to meet your needs
- A teaching note, with solution considerations
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Success Language and Hospitality Institute
Xin Yu is the founder and owner of a successful English language tutoring and training business in San Francisco, USA, which she runs while studying for her bachelor's degree. When she graduates, Xin wants to sell the business and start a similar business in Chengdu, China, her home city. She is unsure if she will have enough money to start it, if she can get enough customers, if she will be able to overcome some potential barriers to her success, and if she can maintain her independence - something she really enjoys while living in the U.S. This case is ideal as a research assignment to explore the differences between doing business in China/Asia and in North America.
Topics: Marketing, market research, business planning, entrepreneurship, operating in different cultural, legal, and operational environments, ESL tutoring and training.
- Great as an individual or team research and analysis project, assignment, or possible case exam.
- 4 pages, ~1200 words
- The download package includes:
- The case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing to meet your needs
- A teaching note, with solution considerations
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
TB Frozen Yoghurt
Omar is bringing a frozen yoghurt franchise from the U.S. to the United Arab Emirates. He wants it to be a big success, but has a range of questions to address first to be sure the business model fits the UAE and the product is adapted to that market. An authentic case that explores a range of business issues including inter-cultural and international business challenges.
Topics: Adapting products to new markets, marketing, market research, business planning, entrepreneurship, operating in different cultural, legal, and operational environments, franchising.
- Great as an individual or team research and analysis project or assignment.
- 5 pages, ~1650 words
- The download package includes:
- The case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing to meet your needs
- A teaching note, with solution considerations
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Companion Home Care International
This is a perfect company for one of today's pressing social needs: High quality care and companionship for seniors. Angela and Jane, nurses, want to offer both nursing care and companionship to senior clients because they feel too rushed in their work while being employed by a home care services company. Can they start a business that allows them to both make a lot of money and spend more time with clients? A great case for a student assignment, team project, or even a case study exam in an entrepreneurship, business, marketing, or nursing studies course.
Topics: Business start-up, entrepreneurship, marketing, market research, business planning, professional services, nursing, home care, seniors.
- Great as an individual or team research and analysis project, assignment, or possible case exam.
- 5 pages, ~1800 words
- The download package includes:
- The case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing to meet your needs
- A teaching note, with solution considerations
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Marketing and Strategy Cases
These cases are more focused on marketing topics also include both strategic and cross-discipline considerations.
Title, Abstract, & Topics
Sample
Purchase & Download
Coffee Connection's Conundrum
What can you do when you have the "wrong" customers? This is just the situation in case of Coffee Connection, where the owner of a cafe needs different customers. Instead of "laptop squatters", who spend little money and take up lots of space, he needs customers who want a social atmosphere, "buzz", and who will spend more money to enjoy their time in his cafe. In other words, he needs a different kind of customer.
This is a current and comprehensive marketing case that helps students understand the importance of having the best target markets for their business and the impacts of not being clear, focused, and consistent. Two bonuses: The case is set in a current and trendy cafe context which most students will understand and it challenges them to consider if students are the best target market for every business. Getting themselves out of the way in their analysis of marketing situations is a common challenge for most marketing students.
Topics: Target marketing, marketing strategy, students as customers, entrepreneurship, change management
Testimonial from a Canadian college teacher in 2021: "The Coffee Connection case was so brilliant (thank you!)"
- This case is classroom and exam tested: It works!
- Great as an assignment or case exam.
- 8 pages (2 pages of diagrams), ~2100 words
- The download package includes the case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing to meet your needs, a teaching notes and solution ideas, and a Kotler model primer.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
StraitAway Airways
StraitAway Airways is a seaplane company serving a busy route been Vancouver, BC and Nanaimo. StraitAway needs a strategic marketing plan as it cannot seem to get enough customers. But first, they have to really understand what they are selling. Is it transport services or it is something more? What do their customers really want? This is an engaging and comprehensive case study of a real seaplane company (the name changed for privacy). This case has been thoroughly classroom and 3 hour case exam tested and proven to be interesting for students and a great way for them to learn to work with a comprehensive marketing problem!
Topics: Understanding customer emotional needs, target marketing, marketing strategy, transportation, logistics.
- This case is classroom tested: It works!
- This case is very effective as a 3 hour mid-term or final exam.
- 10 pages, ~3300 words.
- The download package Includes the case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing, and teaching notes.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Powercell Technologies
A strategy or marketing management case. PowerCell Technlogies is heading in the wrong sales direction: After more than a decade in business, the company still can't seem to "break through" to profitability. Growth for the sake of growth is not the best way to increase profits, particularly when you are primarily going after the easiest business you can get. This is also a "reality check" check case for those who think that businesses are always run logically...
Topics: Target marketing, marketing strategy, marketing management, human resources, leadership, change management
- This case is classroom tested: It works!
- This case is very effective as a 3 hour mid-term or final exam.
- 6 pages, ~2300 words.
- The download package Includes the case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing, and teaching and solution notes.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
International Guest House
A small hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal. This hotel would like to use the internet better to help market itself. How can they improve their international marketing using social media, email marketing, search engines, booking sites, and more? This is an authentic tourism case situation and a real hotel in Kathmandu!
Topics: Internet marketing, marketing strategy, tourism marketing, small business
- This case is classroom tested: It works!
- 3 pages, ~1000 words.
- The download package Includes the case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing, and teaching and solution notes.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Tulip Cycling
A bicycle touring company located in the Netherlands, serving tourists wishing to do multi-day cycling tours around the country. The company provides a full range of services, including all gear rentals, accommodation bookings, custom guide maps, and more. This company uses the Internet very effectively to market its business. An authentic tourism case situation and a successful company!
Topics: Internet marketing, marketing strategy, tourism marketing, adventure tourism
- This case is classroom tested: It works!
- 4 pages, ~1100 words.
- The download package Includes the case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing, and teaching and solution notes.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Al Thika Packaging
Marketing is not all about retail products! Al Thika is an industrial sales business in the United Arab Emirates. It sells industrial packaging equipment and supplies. A great case for illustrating the usually invisible industrial sales business ("B2B"). The case includes photos and videos to help students visualize what this equipment looks like and how it works. Also included is a shorter text interview taken from the full video interview. A comprehensive set of questions allow you to use this case for a number of different learning opportunities with students depending on the course and objectives you wish to focus on.
Topics: B2B, industrial marketing, sales, internet marketing, marketing strategy, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- This case is classroom tested: It works!
- 4 pages, ~1050 words.
- The download package Includes the case in Microsoft Word format for
easy editing, and teaching and solution notes. Videos are available online.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Lush Fruit Processing
Where do we really make our profits? When the intersection of logic and clear quantitative analysis meet history, beliefs, and ego, all kinds of interesting things can result. Andrea Burqhart, the accountant, is trying to figure out why the company will lose $100,000 this year...before she meets with the owners to give them the bad news. Lush Fruit Processing has been profitable for most of the previous 21 years. With data in hand and after a short conversation with Juilan Van de Merwe, the Marketing Manager, she needs to figure out what is going on. A great case for Business English courses or high school business studies as it has a mix of qualitative and quantitative considerations with opportunities for signficant classroom discussion!
Topics: Fruit marketing, management, accounting, financial analysis, industrial marketing, sales, marketing strategy
- This case is classroom tested: It works!
- Great as an assignment or shorter case exam.
- 4 pages, 1100 words
- The download package Includes the case in Microsoft Word format for
easy editing, and teaching and solution notes.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Operations & Management
These cases are more focused on operations topics and also include management decision making with a range of qualitative and quantitative considerations.
Title, Abstract, & Topics
Sample
Purchase & Download
Coast Craft Brew Restaurant
This is a comprehensive management, marketing, and operations decision case that is current, relevant, and very topical! The central question is whether to purchase automated brewery equipment for a micro-brewry or manual equipment, which requires a professional Brewmaster and skilled staff. The owner of this new brewery + restaurant combination must consider more widely than just the "numbers", which are important, but so are the implications for managing the restaurant, marketing, staffing, and customer loyalty. This case is great as an in-class analysis case, individual assignment, team assignment, or case exam. It requires students to do significant analysis and consideration of quantitative and qualitative variables.
Topics: Operations management, decision analysis, cost-benefit analysis, stakeholder analysis, quantitative & qualitative, marketing, human resources, micro-brewing, restaurant, investment analysis.
- This case is tested: It works!
- 9 pages, ~2700 words.
- The download package Includes the case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing, teaching and solution notes.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
BCS Bank International
A service operations case study. A branch of a major international bank has some service operations challenges in it's main branch retail operation. The new branch manager would like to solve these challenges. The case includes a layout of the bank branch and detailed information on the service operation. An authentic situation, but altered to protect the bank's privacy.
This case is operations focused, but can also be expanded to consider how operations work as mobile/online banking grows in popularity. The strategic impacts for banks are enormous, affecting everything from employee numbers and skills to the role of physical branches in a bank's overall modus operandi.
Topics: Operations management, queuing, customer service, efficiency, management, banks, bank operations
- This case is classroom tested: It works!
- 6 pages, ~2000 words.
- The download package Includes the case in Microsoft Word format for easy editing, teaching and solution notes.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Al Khoory Restaurant
An operations planning and analysis case. A restaurant is for sale in Dubai. Little data on the past operational and financial experience is available. The potential buyer of this restaurant has gathered some data and has hired you, a consultant, to help them analyze the data and make some decisions as whether this restaurant can be profitable and how to operate it, if he buys it. A comprehensive case with a diagram of the restaurant layout, with tables of data for analysis included. A great case for looking at everything from service operations design to business financial analysis.
Topics: Operations management, service analysis, planning, restaurant, layout design, financial analysis, marketing
- This case is classroom tested: It works!
- This case is very effective as a 3 hour mid-term or final exam.
- 7 pages, ~1000 words.
- The download package Includes the case in Microsoft Word format for
easy editing, and teaching and solution notes.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Hi Tech Furniture Company, LLC
An operations management case study. Should Ibrahim Mohammed improve his manufacturing process so that his factory has the capacity to make a new type of table, or should he buy the new tables from another manufacturer (outsource)? This is a solid quantitative case study with well-defined questions and some qualitative aspects as well. Also makes great case exam for a Bachelor level OM, strategy, or manufacturing course!
Topics: Manufacturing operations, outsourcing, cost analysis, options analysis, trade-offs qualitative and quantitative analysis
- This case is classroom and exam tested: It works!
- 4 pages, ~1100 words.
- The download package Includes the case in Microsoft Word format for
easy editing, teaching and solution notes.
Instructor License - unlimited lifetime use for your teaching - any number of copies, any number of classes!
Home | Contact | The Cases | Licensing | Book: How To Teach International Students
© 2022 Paul Kurucz