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The Case Method
Why use the Case Method?
 The problems which we face can be divided into two kinds: operational and non-operational.
Operational problems are those in which the issue is clearly identified, and we know that there must be a solution even if it may be very complicated. The problem is reduced to having certain knowledge and certain tools. These are problems which may be encountered by someone who works in a laboratory, or by an engineer, or by a surgeon. The learning required to solve these problems is the usual kind of learning we need to acquire certain kinds of knowledge and techniques which are always repeated, with minor variations.
Non-operating problems are usually not so clearly identified, and we do not know if there is a solution, and it is possible that they may be several solutions. Usually, a very large number of factors are involved, and they are not repeated. These are the problems which define the category of a manager, a politician, or a military man. Such men are expected to have the capacity to take the right decision in a non-operating problem. Operating problems are left to the technical experts.
The Case Method has been shown to be the most suitable to facilitate the acquisition of this kind of skill which is needed by managers to face non-operating problems. But the Case Method is not much use in teaching theory, or theoretical models.
Those who have been in management positions for a certain length of time acquire this knowledge through experience. The capacity to govern is not learnt from a text-book. But the Case Method provides certain advantages in perfecting management practice:
- Mistakes are not as expensive in a simulated experience as they are in real life.
- Problems which may be faced in a simulated experience may be chosen at will, while in real life we have to wait for the problems to occur, if they ever do.
- In a simulated experience, the number of problems which may be approached may be made as large as you like, whereas in real life, it is extremely limited.
- The case method can bring together a large number and variety of criteria which cannot be done in real life experiences.
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International week
INALDE taught me that a business should be conceived to generate value "always" over time, and that we as managers have that mission, and that in order to succeed in that we should build a proper organizational structure with strategies, responsibilities, and above all long-term thinking. I sincerely believe that thanks to these lessons, the Parmalat crisis placed us - as it would in any other crisis that comes up - in a privileged situation to be able to deal with the problem and carry on with the business.
Luis Guilherme Ribeiro de Guzmao
General Manager
Parmalat Colombia
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