Business and E-Commerce Case Studies

The following case studies cover the topics of marketing, operations management, e-commerce, e-business, and more. They have been produced in many case specifically for ESL business bachelor degree and Master of Business Administration (MBA) learners, incorporating the following principles:

• Shorter cases: ESL learners vary in terms of skills in reading in the English language. Some cultures are primarily verbal, making reading a difficult exercise. These cases most often are shorter (<10 pages), with enough depth to illustrate a full business situation but not too much to make the reading of the case too difficult for a 3-4 hour exam, for example.
  
• International English: The language has been somewhat normalized to international English - most cultural cues, sayings, and analogies have been removed to ensure students don't spent too much time getting lost in the text and missing the core problems presented. Specialized terminology is defined in plain English in the text or in a glossary.
  
• Wide range of learning styles: Students have different learning styles. Most cases produced for business students are primarily text oriented, a strong bias that disadvantages a majority of students who do not have a text/reading learning style. My cases often include pictures, diagrams, sometimes videos, and can even be supplemented in some situations with physical samples to help kinetic learners.

All the cases written and produced by Paul Kurucz for your personal, non-commercial, educational use. Please see the copyright information below for details on purchasing these cases for commercial and educational classroom use.

Management and Success Orientations Case: (New!)

Features				Category	Format1	Title & Abstract
				Management decision making and Success Orientations	.PDF, .DOC, HTML, Print	The Rosewood Cafe - A management decision making matrix challenge. Jan and Pat need to evaluate 3 locations for their new cafe. Which should they choose? How do Success Orientations play a role? This case is fully classroom tested and includes optional advanced questions.

Marketing & Strategy Cases:

Features				Category	Format1	Title & Abstract
				Marketing Management - sales focus	.PDF, .DOC, HTML, Print	PowerCell Technologies - A marketing management case where the company is heading in the wrong sales direction. Growth for the sake of growth, particularly when pushing for the easiest business you can get, is sometimes not the best way to increase profits... 6 pages, 2269 words. Solution & teaching notes available. .DOC, HTML, and print versions available.
				Strategy - service outsourcing	.PDF, .DOC, HTML, Print	Great Homes Real Estate, LLC - A service strategy case where an owner of an apartment building is considering changing property management companies. Should he change to low-cost firm or continue using his higher cost, full-service company which has served him well over the years... 3 pages, 1063 words. Solution & teaching notes available. .DOC, HTML, and print versions available.
				Marketing, Internet e-commerce / e-business & Tourism	.PDF, .DOC, HTML, Print	International Guest House - An e-commerce/e-business and tourism case study of a small hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal. This hotel is trying to use the Internet to help market itself, with mixed results. An authentic case... 3 pages, 1021 words. Solution and teaching notes available. .DOC, HTML, and print versions available.
				Marketing: Internet, e-commerce / e-business & Tourism	.PDF, .DOC, HTML, Print	Tulip Cycling - A bicycle touring company located in Holland, serving tourists wishing to do multi-day tours around Holland. 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 case... 5 web pages. 1250 +/- words. Solution and teaching notes available. .PDF, .DOC, and print versions available.
				Marketing, E-business, services,	.PDF, .DOC, HTML, Print	DiningInDubai.com - A dining portal located in the United Arab Emirates focusing on advertising restaurants and providing reservation services and a small gift site. An interview with the managers of this site is included. This small case study is a good foundation case for e-business services. An authentic case...3 web pages, 750 +/- words. Solution and teaching notes available. .PDF, .DOC, and print versions available.
				Industrial sales, marketing, e-business	.PDF, .DOC, HTML, Print	Al Thika Packaging - Industrial sales and agency business in the United Arab Emirates. This case is good for illustrating the most often hidden industrial sales business. 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 interviews. An authentic case...4 pages, 1080 words. Solution and teaching notes available. .DOC, HTML, and print versions available.

Operations Management Cases:

Features				Category	Format1	Title & Abstract
				Service operations	.PDF, .DOC, HTML, Print	Al Khoory Restaurant - A service operations case where two siblings want to start their own restaurant. They have gathered some data and have hired you, consultant, to help them analyze the data and make some decisions as to how to start their restaurant. Diagram of restaurant layout and tables of data for analysis included... 6 pages, 1012 words. Solution and teaching notes available. .DOC, HTML, and print versions available.
				Service Operations Management	.PDF, .DOC, HTML, Print	BCS Bank International - Service operations case study. A bank branch has some service operations problems that need solving. 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 reputation. 6 pages, 1917 words. Solution and teaching notes available. .DOC, HTML, and print versions available.
				Labor - capital tradeoff - operations management	.PDF, .DOC, HTML, Print	Great Asia Construction - Labor - capital tradeoff case in the operation of a construction company working on a contract in the United Arab Emirates. Quantitative analysis (including time value of money) needed and qualitative as well . The key is in the qualitative...2 pages, 582 pages. Written solution, spreadsheet solution, and teaching notes available. .DOC, HTML, and print versions available.

= Shorter case (<10 pages), international English.
= pictures and/or diagrams
= videos
= questions included

Notes:

¹ Cases are available at a reasonable cost for commercial and classroom use in many formats, including PDF, Word, HTML, and preprinted & bound. Solutions and teaching notes are available only with paid uses of these cases. Please contact Paul Kurucz ( ) for more information on obtaining cases for commercial and classroom use.

Copyright: The cases noted here were authored by Paul J. Kurucz, who claims all legal copyrights to the cases as allowed by laws in various countries. This includes all associated pictures, videos, and examples in the cases. These cases are presented on this web site for individual, personal use. Any commercial reproduction, including use in the classroom by any school or post-secondary institution, is prohibited without the express permission of Paul Kurucz and purchase of the right for such uses. Please contact Paul Kurucz for details. A collection of these cases, in electronic or printed form is available at reasonable cost. © 1991-2010.

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