small business plan case study topics

Additionally, a backlink from you increases your subject's page authority in the eyes of Google. This helps them rank more highly in search engine results and collect traffic from readers who are already looking for information about their industry.

6. Ensure you have all the resources you need to proceed once you get a response.

So you know what you’re going to offer your candidate, it’s time that you prepare the resources needed for if and when they agree to participate, like a case study release form and success story letter.

Let's break those two down.

Case Study Release Form

This document can vary, depending on factors like the size of your business, the nature of your work, and what you intend to do with the case studies once they are completed. That said, you should typically aim to include the following in the Case Study Release Form:

• A clear explanation of why you are creating this case study and how it will be used.
• A statement defining the information and potentially trademarked information you expect to include about the company — things like names, logos, job titles, and pictures.
• An explanation of what you expect from the participant, beyond the completion of the case study. For example, is this customer willing to act as a reference or share feedback, and do you have permission to pass contact information along for these purposes?
• A note about compensation.

Success Story Letter

As noted in the sample email, this document serves as an outline for the entire case study process. Other than a brief explanation of how the customer will benefit from case study participation, you'll want to be sure to define the following steps in the Success Story Letter.

7. Download a case study email template.

While you gathered your resources, your candidate has gotten time to read over the proposal. When your candidate approves of your case study, it's time to send them a release form.

A case study release form tells you what you'll need from your chosen subject, like permission to use any brand names and share the project information publicly. Kick-off this process with an email that runs through exactly what they can expect from you, as well as what you need from them. To give you an idea of what that might look like, check out this sample email:

8. Define the process you want to follow with the client.

Before you can begin the case study, you have to have a clear outline of the case study process with your client. An example of an effective outline would include the following information.

The Acceptance

First, you'll need to receive internal approval from the company's marketing team. Once approved, the Release Form should be signed and returned to you. It's also a good time to determine a timeline that meets the needs and capabilities of both teams.

The Questionnaire

To ensure that you have a productive interview — which is one of the best ways to collect information for the case study — you'll want to ask the participant to complete a questionnaire before this conversation. That will provide your team with the necessary foundation to organize the interview, and get the most out of it.

The Interview

Once the questionnaire is completed, someone on your team should reach out to the participant to schedule a 30- to 60-minute interview, which should include a series of custom questions related to the customer's experience with your product or service.

The Draft Review

After the case study is composed, you'll want to send a draft to the customer, allowing an opportunity to give you feedback and edits.

The Final Approval

Once any necessary edits are completed, send a revised copy of the case study to the customer for final approval.

Once the case study goes live — on your website or elsewhere — it's best to contact the customer with a link to the page where the case study lives. Don't be afraid to ask your participants to share these links with their own networks, as it not only demonstrates your ability to deliver positive results and impressive growth, as well.

9. Ensure you're asking the right questions.

Before you execute the questionnaire and actual interview, make sure you're setting yourself up for success. A strong case study results from being prepared to ask the right questions. What do those look like? Here are a few examples to get you started:

• What are your goals?
• What challenges were you experiencing before purchasing our product or service?
• What made our product or service stand out against our competitors?
• What did your decision-making process look like?
• How have you benefited from using our product or service? (Where applicable, always ask for data.)

Keep in mind that the questionnaire is designed to help you gain insights into what sort of strong, success-focused questions to ask during the actual interview. And once you get to that stage, we recommend that you follow the "Golden Rule of Interviewing." Sounds fancy, right? It's actually quite simple — ask open-ended questions.

If you're looking to craft a compelling story, "yes" or "no" answers won't provide the details you need. Focus on questions that invite elaboration, such as, "Can you describe ...?" or, "Tell me about ..."

In terms of the interview structure, we recommend categorizing the questions and flowing them into six specific sections that will mirror a successful case study format. Combined, they'll allow you to gather enough information to put together a rich, comprehensive study.

Open with the customer's business.

The goal of this section is to generate a better understanding of the company's current challenges and goals, and how they fit into the landscape of their industry. Sample questions might include:

• How long have you been in business?
• How many employees do you have?
• What are some of the objectives of your department at this time?

Cite a problem or pain point.

To tell a compelling story, you need context. That helps match the customer's need with your solution. Sample questions might include:

• What challenges and objectives led you to look for a solution?
• What might have happened if you did not identify a solution?
• Did you explore other solutions before this that did not work out? If so, what happened?

Discuss the decision process.

Exploring how the customer decided to work with you helps to guide potential customers through their own decision-making processes. Sample questions might include:

• How did you hear about our product or service?
• Who was involved in the selection process?
• What was most important to you when evaluating your options?

Explain how a solution was implemented.

The focus here should be placed on the customer's experience during the onboarding process. Sample questions might include:

• How long did it take to get up and running?
• Did that meet your expectations?
• Who was involved in the process?

Explain how the solution works.

The goal of this section is to better understand how the customer is using your product or service. Sample questions might include:

• Is there a particular aspect of the product or service that you rely on most?
• Who is using the product or service?

End with the results.

In this section, you want to uncover impressive measurable outcomes — the more numbers, the better. Sample questions might include:

• How is the product or service helping you save time and increase productivity?
• In what ways does that enhance your competitive advantage?
• How much have you increased metrics X, Y, and Z?

10. Lay out your case study format.

When it comes time to take all of the information you've collected and actually turn it into something, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Where should you start? What should you include? What's the best way to structure it?

To help you get a handle on this step, it's important to first understand that there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the ways you can present a case study. They can be very visual, which you'll see in some of the examples we've included below, and can sometimes be communicated mostly through video or photos, with a bit of accompanying text.

Here are the sections we suggest, which we'll cover in more detail down below:

• Title: Keep it short. Develop a succinct but interesting project name you can give the work you did with your subject.
• Subtitle: Use this copy to briefly elaborate on the accomplishment. What was done? The case study itself will explain how you got there.
• Executive Summary : A 2-4 sentence summary of the entire story. You'll want to follow it with 2-3 bullet points that display metrics showcasing success.
• About the Subject: An introduction to the person or company you served, which can be pulled from a LinkedIn Business profile or client website.
• Challenges and Objectives: A 2-3 paragraph description of the customer's challenges, before using your product or service. This section should also include the goals or objectives the customer set out to achieve.
• How Product/Service Helped: A 2-3 paragraph section that describes how your product or service provided a solution to their problem.
• Results: A 2-3 paragraph testimonial that proves how your product or service specifically benefited the person or company and helped achieve its goals. Include numbers to quantify your contributions.
• Supporting Visuals or Quotes: Pick one or two powerful quotes that you would feature at the bottom of the sections above, as well as a visual that supports the story you are telling.
• Future Plans: Everyone likes an epilogue. Comment on what's ahead for your case study subject, whether or not those plans involve you.
• Call to Action (CTA): Not every case study needs a CTA, but putting a passive one at the end of your case study can encourage your readers to take an action on your website after learning about the work you've done.

When laying out your case study, focus on conveying the information you've gathered in the most clear and concise way possible. Make it easy to scan and comprehend, and be sure to provide an attractive call-to-action at the bottom — that should provide readers an opportunity to learn more about your product or service.

11. Publish and promote your case study.

Once you've completed your case study, it's time to publish and promote it. Some case study formats have pretty obvious promotional outlets — a video case study can go on YouTube, just as an infographic case study can go on Pinterest.

But there are still other ways to publish and promote your case study. Here are a couple of ideas:

Lead Gen in a Blog Post

As stated earlier in this article, written case studies make terrific lead-generators if you convert them into a downloadable format, like a PDF. To generate leads from your case study, consider writing a blog post that tells an abbreviated story of your client's success and asking readers to fill out a form with their name and email address if they'd like to read the rest in your PDF.

Then, promote this blog post on social media, through a Facebook post or a tweet.

Published as a Page on Your Website

As a growing business, you might need to display your case study out in the open to gain the trust of your target audience.

Rather than gating it behind a landing page, publish your case study to its own page on your website, and direct people here from your homepage with a "Case Studies" or "Testimonials" button along your homepage's top navigation bar.

Format for a Case Study

The traditional case study format includes the following parts: a title and subtitle, a client profile, a summary of the customer’s challenges and objectives, an account of how your solution helped, and a description of the results. You might also want to include supporting visuals and quotes, future plans, and calls-to-action.

Image Source

The title is one of the most important parts of your case study. It should draw readers in while succinctly describing the potential benefits of working with your company. To that end, your title should:

• State the name of your custome r. Right away, the reader must learn which company used your products and services. This is especially important if your customer has a recognizable brand. If you work with individuals and not companies, you may omit the name and go with professional titles: “A Marketer…”, “A CFO…”, and so forth.
• State which product your customer used . Even if you only offer one product or service, or if your company name is the same as your product name, you should still include the name of your solution. That way, readers who are not familiar with your business can become aware of what you sell.
• Allude to the results achieved . You don’t necessarily need to provide hard numbers, but the title needs to represent the benefits, quickly. That way, if a reader doesn’t stay to read, they can walk away with the most essential information: Your product works.

The example above, “Crunch Fitness Increases Leads and Signups With HubSpot,” achieves all three — without being wordy. Keeping your title short and sweet is also essential.

2. Subtitle

Your subtitle is another essential part of your case study — don’t skip it, even if you think you’ve done the work with the title. In this section, include a brief summary of the challenges your customer was facing before they began to use your products and services. Then, drive the point home by reiterating the benefits your customer experienced by working with you.

The above example reads:

“Crunch Fitness was franchising rapidly when COVID-19 forced fitness clubs around the world to close their doors. But the company stayed agile by using HubSpot to increase leads and free trial signups.”

We like that the case study team expressed the urgency of the problem — opening more locations in the midst of a pandemic — and placed the focus on the customer’s ability to stay agile.

3. Executive Summary

The executive summary should provide a snapshot of your customer, their challenges, and the benefits they enjoyed from working with you. Think it’s too much? Think again — the purpose of the case study is to emphasize, again and again, how well your product works.

The good news is that depending on your design, the executive summary can be mixed with the subtitle or with the “About the Company” section. Many times, this section doesn’t need an explicit “Executive Summary” subheading. You do need, however, to provide a convenient snapshot for readers to scan.

In the above example, ADP included information about its customer in a scannable bullet-point format, then provided two sections: “Business Challenge” and “How ADP Helped.” We love how simple and easy the format is to follow for those who are unfamiliar with ADP or its typical customer.

4. About the Company

Readers need to know and understand who your customer is. This is important for several reasons: It helps your reader potentially relate to your customer, it defines your ideal client profile (which is essential to deter poor-fit prospects who might have reached out without knowing they were a poor fit), and it gives your customer an indirect boon by subtly promoting their products and services.

Feel free to keep this section as simple as possible. You can simply copy and paste information from the company’s LinkedIn, use a quote directly from your customer, or take a more creative storytelling approach.

In the above example, HubSpot included one paragraph of description for Crunch Fitness and a few bullet points. Below, ADP tells the story of its customer using an engaging, personable technique that effectively draws readers in.

5. Challenges and Objectives

The challenges and objectives section of your case study is the place to lay out, in detail, the difficulties your customer faced prior to working with you — and what they hoped to achieve when they enlisted your help.

In this section, you can be as brief or as descriptive as you’d like, but remember: Stress the urgency of the situation. Don’t understate how much your customer needed your solution (but don’t exaggerate and lie, either). Provide contextual information as necessary. For instance, the pandemic and societal factors may have contributed to the urgency of the need.

Take the above example from design consultancy IDEO:

“Educational opportunities for adults have become difficult to access in the United States, just when they’re needed most. To counter this trend, IDEO helped the city of South Bend and the Drucker Institute launch Bendable, a community-powered platform that connects people with opportunities to learn with and from each other.”

We love how IDEO mentions the difficulties the United States faces at large, the efforts its customer is taking to address these issues, and the steps IDEO took to help.

6. How Product/Service Helped

This is where you get your product or service to shine. Cover the specific benefits that your customer enjoyed and the features they gleaned the most use out of. You can also go into detail about how you worked with and for your customer. Maybe you met several times before choosing the right solution, or you consulted with external agencies to create the best package for them.

Whatever the case may be, try to illustrate how easy and pain-free it is to work with the representatives at your company. After all, potential customers aren’t looking to just purchase a product. They’re looking for a dependable provider that will strive to exceed their expectations.

In the above example, IDEO describes how it partnered with research institutes and spoke with learners to create Bendable, a free educational platform. We love how it shows its proactivity and thoroughness. It makes potential customers feel that IDEO might do something similar for them.

The results are essential, and the best part is that you don’t need to write the entirety of the case study before sharing them. Like HubSpot, IDEO, and ADP, you can include the results right below the subtitle or executive summary. Use data and numbers to substantiate the success of your efforts, but if you don’t have numbers, you can provide quotes from your customers.

We can’t overstate the importance of the results. In fact, if you wanted to create a short case study, you could include your title, challenge, solution (how your product helped), and result.

8. Supporting Visuals or Quotes

Let your customer speak for themselves by including quotes from the representatives who directly interfaced with your company.

Visuals can also help, even if they’re stock images. On one side, they can help you convey your customer’s industry, and on the other, they can indirectly convey your successes. For instance, a picture of a happy professional — even if they’re not your customer — will communicate that your product can lead to a happy client.

In this example from IDEO, we see a man standing in a boat. IDEO’s customer is neither the man pictured nor the manufacturer of the boat, but rather Conservation International, an environmental organization. This imagery provides a visually pleasing pattern interrupt to the page, while still conveying what the case study is about.

9. Future Plans

This is optional, but including future plans can help you close on a more positive, personable note than if you were to simply include a quote or the results. In this space, you can show that your product will remain in your customer’s tech stack for years to come, or that your services will continue to be instrumental to your customer’s success.

Alternatively, if you work only on time-bound projects, you can allude to the positive impact your customer will continue to see, even after years of the end of the contract.

10. Call to Action (CTA)

Not every case study needs a CTA, but we’d still encourage it. Putting one at the end of your case study will encourage your readers to take an action on your website after learning about the work you've done.

It will also make it easier for them to reach out, if they’re ready to start immediately. You don’t want to lose business just because they have to scroll all the way back up to reach out to your team.

To help you visualize this case study outline, check out the case study template below, which can also be downloaded here .

You drove the results, made the connection, set the expectations, used the questionnaire to conduct a successful interview, and boiled down your findings into a compelling story. And after all of that, you're left with a little piece of sales enabling gold — a case study.

To show you what a well-executed final product looks like, have a look at some of these marketing case study examples.

1. "Shopify Uses HubSpot CRM to Transform High Volume Sales Organization," by HubSpot

What's interesting about this case study is the way it leads with the customer. This reflects a major HubSpot value, which is to always solve for the customer first. The copy leads with a brief description of why Shopify uses HubSpot and is accompanied by a short video and some basic statistics on the company.

Notice that this case study uses mixed media. Yes, there is a short video, but it's elaborated upon in the additional text on the page. So, while case studies can use one or the other, don't be afraid to combine written copy with visuals to emphasize the project's success.

2. "New England Journal of Medicine," by Corey McPherson Nash

When branding and design studio Corey McPherson Nash showcases its work, it makes sense for it to be visual — after all, that's what they do. So in building the case study for the studio's work on the New England Journal of Medicine's integrated advertising campaign — a project that included the goal of promoting the client's digital presence — Corey McPherson Nash showed its audience what it did, rather than purely telling it.

Notice that the case study does include some light written copy — which includes the major points we've suggested — but lets the visuals do the talking, allowing users to really absorb the studio's services.

3. "Designing the Future of Urban Farming," by IDEO

Here's a design company that knows how to lead with simplicity in its case studies. As soon as the visitor arrives at the page, he or she is greeted with a big, bold photo, and two very simple columns of text — "The Challenge" and "The Outcome."

Immediately, IDEO has communicated two of the case study's major pillars. And while that's great — the company created a solution for vertical farming startup INFARM's challenge — it doesn't stop there. As the user scrolls down, those pillars are elaborated upon with comprehensive (but not overwhelming) copy that outlines what that process looked like, replete with quotes and additional visuals.

4. "Secure Wi-Fi Wins Big for Tournament," by WatchGuard

Then, there are the cases when visuals can tell almost the entire story — when executed correctly. Network security provider WatchGuard can do that through this video, which tells the story of how its services enhanced the attendee and vendor experience at the Windmill Ultimate Frisbee tournament.

5. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Boosts Social Media Engagement and Brand Awareness with HubSpot

In the case study above , HubSpot uses photos, videos, screenshots, and helpful stats to tell the story of how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame used the bot, CRM, and social media tools to gain brand awareness.

6. Small Desk Plant Business Ups Sales by 30% With Trello

This case study from Trello is straightforward and easy to understand. It begins by explaining the background of the company that decided to use it, what its goals were, and how it planned to use Trello to help them.

It then goes on to discuss how the software was implemented and what tasks and teams benefited from it. Towards the end, it explains the sales results that came from implementing the software and includes quotes from decision-makers at the company that implemented it.

7. Facebook's Mercedes Benz Success Story

Facebook's Success Stories page hosts a number of well-designed and easy-to-understand case studies that visually and editorially get to the bottom line quickly.

Each study begins with key stats that draw the reader in. Then it's organized by highlighting a problem or goal in the introduction, the process the company took to reach its goals, and the results. Then, in the end, Facebook notes the tools used in the case study.

Showcasing Your Work

You work hard at what you do. Now, it's time to show it to the world — and, perhaps more important, to potential customers. Before you show off the projects that make you the proudest, we hope you follow these important steps that will help you effectively communicate that work and leave all parties feeling good about it.

Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published in February 2017 but was updated for comprehensiveness and freshness in July 2021.

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More From Forbes

How to start a small business: 10 key steps for beginners.

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Follow these 10 steps to start a successful business as a beginner.

Starting a business may sound complicated, but if you follow a systematic plan with actionable and practical steps, you can be successful, even as a beginner.

Turning your small business ideas into reality takes time, extensive research, detailed planning, and constant improvement. This article lists an effective 10-step guideline for starting one from scratch.

How To Start A Small Business At Home Or Online

1. come up with a business idea.

First, develop one or several small business ideas you want to pursue. If you haven’t settled on an idea yet, you can research to explore various options or choose one that aligns with your passion or interests.

At this point, don’t focus exclusively on the practicality of your idea, and allow yourself to be creative. The question of whether your idea has the potential to be a successful business will be answered in the next step.

2. Conduct Market Research

There are various methods to conduct market research, including surveys, interviews, and online research. Regardless of your chosen strategy, it’s important to be as thorough as possible.

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Know the current trends in your prospect niche, analyze your potential business competitors, and assess whether there’s enough demand for your products or services. Once the data you’ve gathered indicates a market space for your business idea, proceed to the next phase.

3. Write A Business Plan

Whether you want to self-finance or seek potential investors, you must create a comprehensive business plan. This document serves as a detailed guideline for your business, covering aspects such as your products and services, marketing strategies, financial plans, and more.

With a detailed business plan, you’ll be prepared for difficulties or problems you may encounter when starting your project. Moreover, you will have a clearer understanding of the essence and purpose of your business idea.

4. Figure Out Your Finances

Your business plan should have already determined the required financing. That said, it’s time to figure out how you’ll secure the necessary funds for your business.

There are three major ways to obtain funding for your business: self-funding, seeking investors, or acquiring loans. So, decide which ones are most suitable for your business.

Regardless of how your business is funded, set up a separate bank account to avoid mixing up your personal money with your business capital.

5. Determine Your Business Structure

Your business structure impacts various aspects of your enterprise. These include your day-to-day operations, how much tax you pay, and the risks to your personal assets.

Select the business structure best suited for the type and scale of your enterprise. You can choose from Limited Liability Company (LLC), Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), Corporation, and Sole Proprietorship.

6. Register Your Business

The registration process for your business varies depending on which structure you choose and the state in which you want to operate.

If you decide to establish your business as a sole proprietorship, there’s no need to register it formally. Your business profits will be considered as your personal income, so you can start immediately without filing separate paperwork. However, if you wish to operate under a brand name instead of your own, you may need to register a Doing Business As (DBA) name.

Suppose you establish your business as an LLC, LLP, or corporation. In that case, you must register it as a separate legal entity, with taxes and income separate from your own.

To do so, visit your state’s business agency, and complete the necessary registration steps. These typically involve paying a filing fee, choosing a registered agent to manage your business’ legal documents, and obtaining your business's tax identification number and bank accounts.

7. Select Your Vendors

Decide whether your business requires products and services from vendors that will help you streamline your operations. Some common business functions you may want to outsource to service-providing vendors are finance management, customer service support, and shipping and logistics.

Given that the data you’ll share with vendors may be sensitive, it’s important to engage exclusively with trusted entities in your industry.

8. Set Up An Online Presence

In this tech-centered era, establishing an online presence for your business is non-negotiable. This is one of the easiest ways to promote your business to customers and showcase your brand to potential future investors.

The most common methods to establish an online presence for your business are creating a social media page and developing a customized website. As mentioned before, you can outsource this process to vendors if you’re not too experienced in this field.

9. Market And Advertise Your Business

It’s time to be proactive about showing your products and services to your target audience. You can do this through various offline and online marketing and advertising strategies.

To promote your brand offline, you can sponsor local events, hand out banners and posters, or offer free branded merchandise to the public. Online marketing also offers various options, including paid advertisements, establishing affiliate programs, and engaging in organic social media marketing, where you post regular content and build a community around your brand.

10. Grow Your Business

Launching a business marks the initial phase of your entrepreneurial journey. Be prepared to improve and change how your business operates over time, as this is almost always inevitable.

Join communities, collaborate with other brands in your niche or industry, and accept constructive criticisms from customers and experienced entrepreneurs. Your business doesn’t have to be perfect to succeed, but it should always be adapting and improving.

Other Key Tips For Starting A Small Business

Know when to ask for help.

Even if you plan to establish a sole-proprietorship business , don’t pressure yourself to do everything independently. Know your strengths and weaknesses in starting a business and ask for help when needed on aspects you’re unsure of or inexperienced in doing.

You can ask family, friends, and colleagues for general advice and seek out professionals who can help propel your business to the next level.

Embrace Not Knowing Everything From The Get-Go

While I previously mentioned the importance of crafting a detailed business plan, it may not always be necessary, particularly for small-scale businesses in their initial stages.

Sometimes, an informal plan consisting of just a page or two will be more than enough to provide insight into the profitability of your business idea. From here, you can always expand the business plan as you start operating your company and get more accurate, real-time data.

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• Organizational Structure Types
• Pay Structure
• Performance Evaluation
• Recruitment And Selection
• Reinforcement Theory
• Retention Rate
• Self-Efficacy Theory
• Taylor Motivation Theory
• Team Structure
• Termination
• Training Methods
• Work-Life Balance
• Business Ethics
• Business Risks
• Business Uncertainty
• Consumer Law
• Economic Climate
• Effects of Interest Rates on Businesses
• Employment Law
• Environment and Business
• External Factors Affecting Business
• Government Policies on Business
• Health and Safety
• Inflation and Business
• Information and Communication Technology in Business
• Multinational Company
• Sustainability in Business
• Tax on Business
• Basic Financial Terms
• Business Enterprise
• Business Location
• Business Ownership
• Business Planning
• Classification of Businesses
• Evaluating Business Success Based on Objectives
• Measuring Success in Business
• Motivation in Entrepreneurship
• Reasons for Business Failure
• Risks and Rewards of Running a Business
• Charismatic Leaders
• Conflict Management
• Contingency Theory
• Decision Making
• Decision Making Model
• Fiedler Contingency Model
• Leadership Challenges
• Leadership Theories
• Negotiation
• Office Politics
• Organizational Leadership
• Stakeholder
• Trait Theory of Leadership
• Transactional Leaders
• Business Aims and Objectives
• External Environment
• Forms of Business
• Franchising
• Key Business Terms
• Limited Liability
• Shareholder
• Sole Trader
• Evaluating Total Quality Management
• Importance of Quality
• Improving the Supply Chain
• Measuring Quality
• Operational Data
• Operational Objectives
• Operational Performance Analysis
• Outsourcing
• Productivity and Efficiency
• Quality Management
• Total Quality Management
• Diversity in the Workplace
• Emotional Intelligence
• Group Development Stages
• Group Roles
• Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions
• Interpersonal Skills
• Myers-Briggs
• Self-Evaluation
• Types of Moods
• Types of Teams
• Communication Barriers
• Communication Channels
• Communication Process
• Cultural Barriers
• Oral Communication
• Persuasive Strategies
• Types of Communication
• Written Communication
• Assessing Business Performance
• Business Considerations from Globalisation
• Competitive Environment
• Core Competencies
• Corporate Mission and Objectives
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Economic Change
• Economic Environment
• Financial Ratios
• Interest Rates in the UK
• Investment Appraisal
• Lifestyle and Technological Environment
• Non-Financial Data
• Porters Five Forces
• SWOT Analysis
• Social and Technological Environment
• Areas of Competition
• Bowmans Strategic Clock
• Diversification
• Strategic Positioning

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Business case studies are important as they help us understand how real-life business scenarios are different from classroom teaching. Businesses are dynamic, meaning they are susceptible to external forces. A business case study tells us how a particular business responded to a unique situation. Other businesses can learn from them and be prepared for what can happen, how-to, or how not to respond to a similar situation.

What is a business case study?

A case study is a research tool that is also implemented as a research methodology. It is preferred by many students while writing their bachelor's or master's thesis. A case study gives students a chance to apply theory to a real-life situation, analyse, and draw insights. The business case study can be a fictitious account of a business situation provided by the instructor to check the critical thinking and problem-solving skills of students. We have developed 44 case studies that provide students with detailed problem statements and analyses to understand real-life business scenarios. Students can use these case studies as examples with the corresponding theory to stand out in exams. For example in Figure 1 below, what strategy would a salesman implement to increase his sales? We need to study his business case to find out!

A business case study summarises a real-life business issue faced by a company and explains how it may affect society within a business context.

Business Case Studies Format

In this study set, we have divided case studies into groups as per the business situation. The groups include case studies regarding mergers and takeovers, strategy overviews, SWOT analyses, business leader characteristics, corporate social responsibility, franchise models, Porter's five forces, change management and ethical issues.

Business Case Studies: Mergers and takeover case study

In Layman’s terms, When two equal-sized companies join forces to capture more market share, it is called a merger. While if a big company buys out a smaller company, it is called a takeover. Virgin Media O2 merger happened in June 2021 through a 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica, the owners of Virgin Media and O2.

Another example of a merger is analysed in the Disney Pixar Merger Case Study. The former CEO of Pixar, Steve Jobs, has said that this merger will allow companies to focus on what they do best. But did you know that Kraft Food Ltd. tried to acquire Cadbury in a hostile takeover? Kraft Cadbury Takeover is a case study that explains how hostile takeovers may occur.

Case studies about strategies of businesses

A strategy is not the same as a plan. Strategy is the first step in business that determines why, considers all known and unknown factors, multiple different paths, and multiple outcomes. Without a strategy, businesses cannot reach their goal and their plans will wander. Businesses create different strategies to reach different goals. We have presented marketing strategies and global and internationalization strategies for some successful companies like Apple, Starbucks, Nike, Ikea, Netflix, and Coca-cola.

You might have observed that Coca-cola has similar branding all over the world. Their marketing strategy is to be a common household name that can be recognized anywhere globally. Starbucks and Mcdonald’s also use the same branding even if their products differ from country to country.

Business Case Studies: SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis is a tool all businesses use before making decisions. The tool helps put Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunity, and Threats concisely so that one can easily analyze them before making any decision. Studying cases of companies like Apple, Tesco, and Cadbury gives us more insight into the company than we see. Hershey has acquired the rights to produce Cadbury products in the U.S. in 1988. Cadbury was facing issues expanding its market reach. This is a weakness Cadbury has.

What do you think will be the threats to tech giant Apple? Read the Swot Analysis of Apple case to find out.

Business Case Studies: Business leaders

Who is your role model in business? Whose leadership style do you admire? Is it Bill Gates, Richard Branson, or Jeff Bezos? Perhaps you wish to know more about Warren Buffet or Reed Hastings of Netflix.

Mary Barra, the first female CEO of General Motors, practices an inclusive and transformational leadership style. Have you heard about the innovative leadership style employed by Susan Wojcicki, who is the CEO of Youtube? Or you can read all to know how these business leaders differ in their leadership styles.

Business Case Studies: Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Corporations often undertake practices and policies for the betterment of society along with profit maximization. Common examples of CSR include green initiatives, donating to charities, or organizing fundraisers. In our case studies regarding CSR, you can read about Ben and Jerry’s CSR strategies. Ben and Jerry’s has, over the years, supported protestors against income inequality, protested drilling in Arctic regions and has launched several climate action campaigns.

Are you aware of Walt Disney CSR Programs? Disney's CSR programs include CSR programs for children, investment in youth programs, social influence and workforce programs and supply chain investment programs. Disney not only has children as their main audience but also takes responsibility for helping children in need, showing exemplary CSR practices.

Business Case Studies: Franchise model

The first company that might come to mind when asked about an example of a franchise model could be McDonald’s. McDonald’s model has ensured the ability of the franchise to run sustainably for 10 years.

Another brand that grew using the franchise model is the well-known clothing brand, Zara. Zara took 13 years to make its presence via franchising as they moved forward cautiously. Zara gives the opportunity to franchisees to repurchase their stocks.

Oyo, a unicorn hospitality start-up from India, is growing internationally via a franchise model. Oyo implemented an aggregator model in which it leases some rooms from partner hotels, refurbishes them to match quality standards, and rents them out on their platform. From 2018, Oyo switched to a franchise model in which partner hotels make a contract with Oyo to provide quality service for brand name and posting hotel rooms on Oyo platforms.

Business Case Studies: Porter five forces

Porter's Five Forces is a method for analyzing a company's competitive environment. It identifies and analyzes five competitive forces that shape the industry:

Competitive rivalry,

New entrants,

Power of buyers,

Power of suppliers,

Threat of substitutes.

There are many coffee shops that could match Starbucks’ quality of service. Starbucks is always under the threat of new entrants, competition, and substitutes. To survive, Starbucks has to keep innovating new flavours, drinks, and coffee substitutes.

Walmart is another case study that we analyzed for Porter’s five forces. We realized that the strongest force of Porter’s Five Forces for Walmart is the competitive rivalry from other retailers like Costco, Amazon, and eBay.

What is your opinion about these forces on Apple? Is it the customer bargaining power or threat from substitute products that have the most influence? Read Porter’s five forces Apple to learn more!

Business Case Studies: Change management

Change management is the process of managing responses to changes in the internal and external environment of a business. Businesses that do not change in time, perish. When Apple launched touchscreen phones, Nokia stuck with QWERTY keypads. When Google launched Android, Nokia stuck with the development of the Symbian operating system. What happened to Nokia and why were they resistant to change? On the other hand, you can also read about Apple's change management. The decision-making and acceptance to change are what differentiates Apple from Nokia.

Business Case Studies: Organizational structure

Organizational structure decides how flexible the company is towards the process of change. Modern organizations like Google keep innovation at the centre of their strategy. Google has a flat, function-based, and product-based organizational structure.

McDonald’s has separate departments for each country/region. They have a centralized decision-making body and a decentralized structure for each country they operate in. Tesco, one of the big five grocery retailers in the UK, has a decentralised, hierarchical, and product-based structure. These businesses are active in different sectors and their organisational structure depends on it. The other factors that influence organizational structure are company work culture, management , and business model.

Business ethics case studies

Keeping a check on businesses ethically is not just the government’s job but also consumers'. Unfortunately, there seemed to be several ethical issues with Apple such as poor working conditions, health and safety risks, child labour , poor environmental reporting, contributing to e-waste and tax avoidance. Starbucks is not an exception for it either. They have an aggressive marketing strategy, poor employee conditions, and a weak position on fair trade ratings. Companies like Apple, Starbucks can improve their ethical issues but some companies have faced sandals.

Nike's Sweatshop Scandal and the Enron Scandal are two such examples. Nike Sweatshop Scandal began in 1991 when Jeff Ballinger published a report detailing the appalling working conditions of garment workers at Nike's factory in Indonesia. Since then Nike has taken positive steps to reinforce CSR. The Enron Scandal was financial fraud. Enron did not show large debt on its balance sheet . But why did it happen? You can read about it in our case study called Enron Scandal!

Business case study examples

In this section, we have mentioned case studies that do not fall into any of the categories mentioned above but still hold importance in business studies. These case studies are unique and one may find that these companies have created new markets via their business model.

Business Case Studies: Ryanair Strategic Position

Ryanair is a cost-friendly budget airline that operates in 40 countries. How can they sell tickets so cheap? Well, they travel to less busy airports, usually far from the city, outside business hours when there is a high rush at airports, and they charge you for almost every small addition. Ryanair operates only one type of aircraft to speed out ground crew processes. Ryanair tries to keep their planes for small times on airfields to save on rent. Budget flyers across Europe prefer Ryanair for its cheap tickets. More insights at Explanation: Ryanair Strategic Position .

Business Case Studies: Unilever outsourcing

You might have heard that many major companies outsource their IT operations. Unilever Outsourcing is different as they have outsourced their HR operations to Accenture. Outsourcing has helped Unilever save fixed costs and share risks.

Business Case Studies: Nivea Market Segmentation

Nivea is a well-known name in Asian countries. Nivea effectively targets the young adult market in the tropical equatorial region. Nivea’s market segmentation thus concluded to be geographical and demographic. But how did we reach this conclusion? Read more about our Explanation: Nivea Market Segmentation .

Here are the links to each case study.

Table 1 - Summary of StudySmarter Case Studies

Find out more about how businesses function in the 'real world' by reading our case studies mentioned above!

Business Case Studies - Key takeaways

• A case study is a research tool that is implemented as a research methodology.
• A business case study summarises a real-life business issue faced by a company and how it may affect society within a business context.
• StudySmarter has provided 44 case studies that provide students with detailed problem statements and analyses to understand real-life business scenarios.
• In Layman’s terms, When two equal-sized companies join forces to capture more market share, it is called a merger while if a big company buys out a smaller company, it is called a takeover.
• Strategy is the first step in business that determines why, considers all known and unknown factors, multiple paths, and multiple outcomes.
• SWOT analysis is a tool all businesses use before taking any decision.
• Corporations undertake practices and policies for the betterment of society, this is known as CSR.
• Porter's Five Forces is a method for analyzing a company's competitive environment .
• Change management is the process of managing responses to changes in the internal and external environment of a business.
• Companies are always in the moral dilemma of doing things the 'right' way or the profitable way!

Final Business Case Studies Quiz

Business case studies quiz - teste dein wissen.

what year was Nike founded?

Show answer

Show question

What was the nike sweatshop scandal about? 

Nike has been criticized for using sweatshops in Asia as a source of labour. The company was accused of engaging in abusive and verbal behaviour toward its workers. 

Does nike sweatshop scandal involve human rights violations? 

Yes. A report by the Washington Post in 2020 stated that Nike doesn't have evidence of a living wage for its workers. The same year, it was revealed that the company uses forced labor in factories. 

What is the main reason Nike is considered unethical? 

Nike has been criticized for using sweatshops in Asia as a source of labor. The company was accused of abusing its employees. In addition, some of the factories reportedly imposed conditions that severely affected their workers' restroom and water usage. 

Was Nike involved in child labour? 

In what year did Nike created the Fair Labour Association, which was created to oversee the company's 600 factories?

In what year did the company started improving the conditions of its factories?

Where was the first Nike store to be open?

First Niketown store to launch open in Portland, Oregon. 

When was Nike first founded?

Life magazine in America did a report on child labour in 1996, which included a shocking photo of a 12-year-old boy sewing a Nike football. What country was he from?

Where and when was Tesco founded?

Tesco was founded in London, the United Kingdom in 1919.

Who is the founder of Tesco?

 Tesco’s founder is Jack Cohen. 

What type of market does Tesco belong in?

Tesco belongs to the grocery and merchandise retailer market. 

Is it true that Tesco only sells its own brand products?

No, as well as selling its own brand products Tesco also supplies and sells other popular grocery item brands.

Why do businesses use SWOT analysis?

 Business uses SWOT analysis to analyse their strategic positioning in terms of strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, it assists companies in decision making with consideration of external factors and the environment, in terms of opportunities and threats.

What are the key elements that are included in SWOT analysis?

There are four key elements that are included in the SWOT analysis. They are strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. 

Regarding SWOT analysis, what elements are used for internal analysis and which ones are used for external analysis?

For internal analysis: Strengths and weaknesses

For external analysis: Opportunities and threats

 What is meant by threats?

Threats are external factors that can potentially be harmful to the organisation. 

What are the key Tesco’s strengths?

The key Tesco’s strengths are:

• Having the largest market share in the UK
• The ability to increase its growth even during events such as the Coronavirus pandemic, 
• High adaptability to the constantly changing environment, 
• Innovation especially in regards to new technology,
• Holding the largest employer’s title in Europe. 

What are the key Tesco’s weaknesses?

The key Tesco’s weaknesses are:

• Failure to adapt to markets outside of Europe, 
• Being involved in scandals regarding food safety and quality.

What are the key Tesco’s opportunities?

The key Tesco’s opportunities include:

• Investing in optimising consumers’ experience of online shopping,
• Increasing youth employment rates, 
• Investing in expanding the range of plant-based products.

What are the main Tesco’s threats?

The main Tesco’s threats include:

• Post-Brexit rules
• Competition
• Government’s regulations
• Price inflation of necessities 

Why SWOT analysis is an important part of Tesco’s strategic analysis and decision-making process?

SWOT analysis is an important part of Tesco’s strategic analysis as it assists in identifying the business’s strategic positioning and making decisions with consideration of external factors and the environment.

What is meant by market analysis?

 Market analyses are used by businesses to get a sophisticated understanding of the market that they are operating in and identify the competition in the market. 

Why is it important for Tesco to conduct market analysis?

 It is important for Tesco to conduct market analysis as it will allow Tesco to fully understand its market and see the company’s positioning among the competitors.

What are the key elements that market analysis is made of?

The market analysis is made upon the following elements:

• Market size
• PESTLE analysis
• Competitors
• Consumer loyalty in the market
• Market segmentation
• Consumer decision making within the market

What is the full name of the IKEA Foundation?

Stichting IKEA Foundation

Who founded the IKEA Foundation?

Ingvar Kamprad

Is the IKEA Foundation independent from the IKEA company?

When was the IKEA Foundation founded?

According to its founder, why was the IKEA Foundation founded?

It was founded to make sure that IKEA continues to be an independent company using some of its profits to help people in need long after he is not there.

According to Ingvar Kamprad, what are the basic needs we all share?

a secure home, good health, a regular income, and a desire to keep our children safe and to see them get a good education and succeed in life

What are the objectives of the IKEA Foundation?

• To help families in poverty across developing countries to fulfil their basic needs such as a secure home, good health, a regular income, and a desire to keep their children safe and to see them get a good education and succeed in life
• To help young people, women and refugees who often struggle to find a job and earn a sustainable income

What are the six programs funded by the IKEA Foundation?

• climate action
• renewable energy
• agricultural livelihoods
• employment and entrepreneurship
• refugee livelihoods
• special initiatives and emergency response

What is the main goal of the IKEA Foundation’s climate action?

to reduce carbon emissions

How does the IKEA Foundation work on supporting agricultural livelihoods?

Partnering with Enviu they support social entrepreneurs in Africa and India in creating local markets by building local supply chains.

What is an initiative launched by the IKEA Foundation to enable underprivileged people to earn income and lift their families out of poverty?

Green Entrepreneurship Initiative

What institution was a research on refugees carried out by?

by the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford

What did the IKEA Foundation do to help during the COVID-19 pandemic?

It donated €3 million to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation. The donation is expected to support ongoing life-saving medical activities caused by the spread of COVID-19 in India.

What is IKEA's international strategy?

Its concept is to combine high-quality design and functionality with low prices. Ikea's goal is to keep the prices low enough to allow the customer to buy the product directly. 

Is IKEA a transnational company? 

Does IKEA use standardization or adaptation? 

standardization

What type of global business is IKEA? 

IKEA is a global home furnishing brand that was started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad. It started as a mail order catalog business. 

Who is the founder of IKEA?

In what year was IKEA founded?

What does IKEA mainly sell?

 it is mainly focused on selling ready-to-assemble furniture

True or False?

The company started by developing innovative modular designs and sourcing components from eastern Europe.

Ikea strategy allowed it to offer quality furniture at very low prices. 

What is Ikea hybrid strategy?

Ikea hybrid strategy is aimed to achieve competitive advantage by producing at the lowest cost.  It allows the company to charge lower prices and increase the profitability. 

To achieve its goals, IKEA constantly bring costs up and is always looking for the most costly suppliers. 

• Business Operations
• Organizational Behavior
• Change Management
• Introduction to Business

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Organize Your Change Initiative Around Purpose and Benefits

• Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez

Connecting a project to core principles — and explaining how it will benefit stakeholders — can spark the motivation required for success.

If there’s one thing that’s certain about the future, it’s that change is here to stay. The ability to constantly transform has become a top priority for organizations. Therefore, change management is now an essential business priority that can’t be overlooked or set aside. Leaders need to urgently develop change and project management competencies across all levels of an organization, from employees and managers to senior executives. This article covers the two most important things leaders should focus on in any change project: purpose and benefits. Every successful change project needs at least one clearly articulated purpose. And the benefits to stakeholders must be clear. By using the approach outlined in this article, you’ll see that the level of engagement and buy-in on your change initiative will increase significantly.

A dramatic shift is taking place in industries everywhere: We have left behind a century dominated by increasing efficiency and are now living in an always-changing environment.  Operating a business in this environment means having a massive proliferation of change projects.

In a survey of 1,284 executives and project management professionals, the majority of senior executive respondents indicated that the number of change projects in their organizations had exploded over the last five years. Some 85% of the respondents had seen an increase in the number of projects, and out of these respondents, 56% had seen a rise of more than 25%. A full 25% of respondents said that the number of projects had increased by more than 50%. This meteoric growth of projects is affecting not only organizations, but also our professional lives and the very nature of work.

Change management can no longer be ignored, relegated, or misunderstood. These fundamental changes have created huge anxiety in the workplace and a natural dislike to change projects. Yet, nowadays, continuous transformation is at the center of the strategy of any organization, small, midsize, or large. Everyone at all levels of organizations — employees, managers, project managers, senior leaders, and CEOs — must understand and adapt to this shift.

Welcome to the Project Economy and a World Driven by Change

While the number of change projects keeps rising, the failure rates continue to be staggering: According to the Standish Group , only 31% of projects are considered successful. The idea that 69% of change projects result in wasted resources and budgets and unrealized benefits is mind-blowing. It requires that we approach change management in a radically different way, not only from a methodological perspective, but also from an organizational, cultural, and pure human perspective.

In fact, most of the current change management methods were developed for a stable world, where change projects were temporary and in addition to day-to-day operations, which were always the priority.

Managing Change

New concepts and tools to address change are emerging. I introduce two of them in the HBR Project Management Handbook : the importance of the purpose behind any change project, and the focus on the benefits.

Purpose: An Easy-to-Apply Tool to Fire Up Engagement

All change and project management methodologies demand that projects have a well-defined business case with often lengthy, technical, and deliverable-focused goals: for example, a new software rollout, a new platform, an expansion program, a new set of company values, a reorganization, or a digital transformation project. Most change projects use financial goals, such as a 10% return on investment (ROI). Yet these goals don’t inspire people to commit passionately to the change initiative.

Besides having a business case, a project should be linked to a higher purpose. People have enormous strengths, and the best leaders know that it’s possible to tap into those strengths through hearts and minds. When a project people work on connects to their inner purpose and passions, they can achieve extraordinary things.

According to the EY Beacon Institute , purpose-driven companies are 2.5 times better at driving innovation and transformation than other companies. At the same time, Deloitte says that, on average, purpose-driven companies report 30% higher levels of innovation and 40% higher levels of workforce retention than their competitors. These statistics are borne out in my own experience: Change initiatives with a higher purpose have significantly higher chances of success than those that don’t inspire people. Understanding the purpose and its connection to the overall strategy is not just crucial for deciding whether to invest or whether the transformation makes sense strategically; it is also a key driver for engaging team members and the organization as a whole, motivating them to support the change initiative.

Remember that people don’t have to be great at something to be passionate about it. Steve Jobs was not the world’s greatest engineer, salesperson, designer, or businessman. But he was uniquely good enough at all these things, and was driven by his purpose and passion for doing something far greater. Conversely, a lack of purpose or conviction about a change project can quickly spread from one team member to the rest of the team.

A remarkable example of setting a compelling purpose for an organizational transformation comes from Sony’s co-founder Akio Morita. At a time when Japan was seen as a cheap-product-copycat country, Morita established that Sony’s purpose was to make Japan known for the quality of its products. Japan —   not Sony. Sony’s purpose was aimed at a higher dimension than its own company — which was bold, yet inspiring to its employees.

An easy method of finding a change project’s purpose is to continuously ask, “Why are we doing the project?” Usually, you need to ask this question three to four times to get to the core purpose. For example, consider the introduction of a new Client Relationship Management (CRM) software system. Most change managers will say that the project is about implementing a new CRM system, but that’s not why we do the project. Instead, ask, “Why do we want the CRM system?” The answer may be “to manage our data more effectively, providing a single source of truth for our customer information.” See — you’ve just gone to a higher-level purpose. Next, ask yourself again why you want this outcome, and you may come up with “to provide a more personalized and responsive service.” You just went to a higher level again, and a higher priority of thinking based on what’s more essential for your company. Then ask again: “Why do we want to provide a more personalized service?” “Because we want our customers to be delighted with our services and retain them over the long term, which will lead to higher revenues.”

We’ve now moved the purpose of our project from installing a new CRM system to a project that will increase customer satisfaction and improve sales performance. What a difference. Now, we have a project whose purpose connects with the organization’s strategy and will motivate project team members.

Once you’ve gotten to the real reason behind your change project, ask “By when?” and “How much?”. Here’s an example: “We’ll increase customer satisfaction by 50% for our next customer survey, which will take place in five months.” Now, you have a specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-based goal, what I call a SMART purpose.

Every successful change project needs at least one clearly-articulated SMART purpose.

Benefits : The Key to Obtaining Buy-In From Stakeholders

Traditional change management practices have focused on the inputs and outputs — things like plans, schedules, budgets, deliverables, teams, etc. A change initiative is considered successful if it is delivered on time, on budget, and within scope. Yet, what matters most are the outcomes and benefits delivered, such as happier employees, returning customers, more sustainable practices, etc.

A great example of putting the focus on benefits is a sustainability transformation. Sustainability has become one of the most profound challenges of our time and a priority topic on most CEO’s agendas. Consider this example from Procter & Gamble (P&G): Marc Pritchard, a top marketer at P&G, has recently described how the world’s biggest consumer goods company is embracing sustainability to transform its brands. Or, as he puts it, to make P&G “a force for good and a force for growth.” As part of its new Ambition 2030 plan , P&G has pledged to make all its packaging fully recyclable or reusable by 2030. The company also plans to use 100% renewable energy and have zero net waste by that point.

While benefits might be easy to claim, they’re far more challenging to validate and measure, mainly when they’re accruing over time. Since a change project’s success should be measured by the benefits achieved, the process you use for identifying and mapping the benefits must be inclusive and transparent.

Each project will bring different benefits to different stakeholders. Change managers and project leaders should identify the main benefit expectations for each key stakeholder early in the transformation. Here is a simple approach to identifying the main benefits of your change projects:

• Develop a benefits card, which is a checklist of the potential benefits of change projects. Here is an example of the potential benefits of a digital transformation project:

See more HBR charts in Data & Visuals

• Instead of you defining the expected benefits of your project, meet your key stakeholders and with the help of the benefit card, ask them which benefits they would like to obtain from your change project. For instance, in a digital transformation project, the sales manager would like to see an increase in revenues from top customers.
• Ask the key stakeholders to tell you how to measure the benefits, and when they would like to see the benefits delivered. For example, you could have a benefit of enhancing customer experience by increasing the net promoter score from 50 to 80 in five months.
• Show the link between your change initiative, its benefits, and the organizations’ strategy to help reassure your stakeholders of the project’s credibility — for example, how your digital transformation will help your organization increase its competitive advantage.
• Plot the benefits into a benefit plan, which you should use to show progress when communicating with key stakeholders.

By using this approach, you’ll see that the level of engagement and buy-in on your initiative will significantly increase.

Today, organizations need to change regardless of whether they are successful or not. They can not wait years to start obtaining benefits; leaders need to create value faster than ever. Constant transformation has become a top priority. Therefore, change management is now an essential business priority that can’t be overlooked or set aside; leaders must start adopting new concepts like purpose and benefits. And they need to urgently develop change and project management competencies across all levels of an organization, from employees and managers to senior executives. Some visionary leaders have already embarked on this transformation, and if you hesitate or wait too long, you might be putting the future of your organization seriously at stake. If there’s one thing that’s certain about the future, it’s that change is here to stay.

• Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is the author of the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook , the HBR article The Project Economy Has Arrived , and five other books. His research and global impact on modern management have been recognized by Thinkers50. A pioneer and leading authority in teaching and advising executives the art and science of strategy implementation and modern project management, Antonio is a visiting professor in seven leading business schools. He is the founder of  Projects&Co  and the Strategy Implementation Institute . You can follow Antonio through his  website , his LinkedIn newsletter  Lead Projects Successfully  and his online course  Project Management Reinvented for Non–Project Managers .

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