Enterprise, Government, and International Economy

Author: Fan Zheng, Wu BinHong, Zhu DanHong, et al. Translated by Fan Zheng; Edited by Fan Zheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-02-01
Features: The significant characteristic of management disciplines is their practicality. Management is something that is mastered through practice, which is why management students often complain about "not learning anything" or "studying only empty theories." This is because they are exposed only to management theory without understanding the actual situation or having practical opportunities. To achieve the connection between theory and practice, it is very necessary to conduct case studies, as safety provides a link between theory and practice. For this reason, MBA programs particularly focus on cultivating students' practical abilities, requiring them to complete a large number of case studies in their courses. At the renowned Harvard Business School in the United States, MBA students are required to complete about 800 case studies in two and a half years, averaging one per day. Completing each case study is equivalent to having one more opportunity to engage in dialogue with business managers, which also provides one more chance to think about management issues and management decisions. This helps to play a role in generalizing from one case to another and broadening one's perspective for future practical work. When facing a case, students often feel helpless. Here are two recommended approaches to dealing with cases: (1) For problem-evaluation type cases, which provide problems and solutions, you need to evaluate them through discussion and analysis; (2) For analysis-decision type cases, which do not provide solutions, you need to make decisions. A good teaching case does not provide the "correct answer" to the problems raised in the case, nor does it offer a "definite" method for analyzing a situation or a single "best method." Instead, a teaching case provides students with disputes, problems, choices, and information, hoping that they will identify, solve, and propose action plans based on the information in the case. Most of the cases in this book are of the aforementioned type (1).