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Teaching fashion with the case study methodology: comparison between Spain and Canada.
Abstract
Case studies in the fashion industry can be a method to introduce students to real issues of fashion companies. Case studies are especially valuable as they provide the opportunity to describe the events surrounding a specific situation in an in-depth manner (Yin, 2011).
The goal of this paper is to analyze the practice of fashion case studies across time and countries, to establish learnings and improvements in this teaching methodology.
First, we establish that case studies involve a triangular work in the world of fashion between companies, students, and schools. To organize such a three-way relationship a precise timeline is needed, as well as a neat role distribution.
Thus, with a sample of 118 cases in Spain since 2004, seven locally written in Canada, sustainability and entrepreneurially focused cases, this paper analyzes: a) the process and timeline to create a good case study; b) leadership and roles of different key players in the case study and c) topics and interest evolution. The comparative work between academic institutions in Spain and Canada allows to get clearer and general conclusions, beyond the specific experience.
With the results of the analysis, we can go deeper into the triangle relationship. For the fashion students, confirming this method as a bridge to learning about the industry; for the academia, not just having some orientation about how to approach a case study but also a better understanding of the needs and pains of the industry; and even for fashion companies to check trends and knowledge from their peers. The evolution of the different topics and the varied approaches in the cases studied across this period of time shows the connection between the past and present, allows us to learn from the past and from the real situations in the industry, and helps envision paths for the future.
Case studies are a recognized method to teach and learn in a business school, as they provide the students with the opportunity to analyze real situations in companies in an in-depth manner.
The goal of this paper is to describe a novel methodology of co-creating fashion case studies among students, professors, and companies in a fashion business school, and to establish learnings and improvements in this teaching methodology.
Two are the methods used to create the cases: one top-down, triggered by fashion companies, and the other bottom-up, based on the students’ interests. The analysis of a sample of 133 cases elaborated in ISEM Fashion Business School of the University of Navarra (Spain) since 2005 shows both the evolution of the challenges faced by the Spanish fashion industry and the permanence of some topics across time. Moreover, it highlights the contribution of students and academics to the companies’ development.
The 21st century is seeing dramatic shifts in the business environment. In order for organizations to adapt to these shifts, they must be more flexible and learning oriented. To thrive in this environment, organizational leaders must facilitate and build the capacity for learning throughout the organization. Organizational leadership is looking for employees to bring more than technical competencies or subject-matter expertise to their work; they are requiring specific learning-oriented competencies such as critical thinking, problem-solving, agility, adaptability, initiative, communication, and collaboration among others. To that end, business education is under heavy criticism for failure to produce the workforce needed to meet the demands of the 21st century. We set out to develop a conceptual teaching and learning model anchored in transformative and constructivist perspectives of learning that engages the whole learner in learning, reflective practice, and interactions with learning facilitators, other learning agents, and actors in a learning context.
We develop constructs to evaluate the factors influencing the degree of students' acceptance of cases. In our proposed framework, student acceptance is affected by the case selection, intensity of faculty use, training, course type and level, level of instructor expertise, teaching atmosphere, and the faculty's beliefs about the usefulness of the case method. Our sample includes faculty teaching quantitative or qualitative courses across several disciplines in undergraduate business administration. Responses to a survey are analyzed using factor analysis and regression. The quantitative analysis is complemented by interviews with a subset of expert faculty using a two-round modified Delphi technique. This study may be limited by the fact that it measured faculty perceptions of the degree of students' acceptance of cases, rather than student acceptance directly. Future research might survey students or use students' courses evaluations to validate or contradict our results.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to position the business apprenticeship model (a work-based learning model where student managers alternate between academic and workplace learning) at a political, institutional and student level in order to explain how it fits within the French business education landscape and how it is considered as a viable business model in management education.
Design/methodology/approach
Business apprenticeship is analysed through the prism of Osterwalder and Pigneur’s (2010) Business Model Canvas to evaluate the nine dimensions of the business model: customer segments, value proposition, customer channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partners and cost structure.
Findings
Two major advantages of the model are identified, namely, the potential for widening participation and affordability and three concerns are outlined: the corporate vision of the apprentice, the recent governmental reforms on funding this model, and the potential synergies between theory and practice.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is useful for all those who wish to develop an apprenticeship track within their business schools and for employers who are considering the development of apprenticeship partnerships with business schools.
Originality/value
This paper provides insight into business apprenticeship as a work-based learning model.
While the topics of business ethics and social responsibility education have received much attention in scholarly and pedagogical literature (although less in the pedagogical literature), the authors argue that the core teaching problem has not been discussed, that is, the worldview underpinning all of management education. The authors discuss this worldview, propose a more ethics-friendly worldview, and provide some considerations of its implication.
As a society we have witnessed a slew of repre- hensible corporate activities over the past few years. The unethical behavior that surfaced with the scandals at Enron, WorldCom, and Adelphia added new entries into a Hall of Shame that soci- ety had assiduously ignored. As these unethical activities were revealed, society's tireless denial transmogrified into a search for blame, often focus- ing on the responsibility of management educa- tors. As a business ethics professor, I struggled with my own responsibility. Over and again I was asked, "What are you teaching these students?" The implication was not subtle: Business faculty were not teaching students ethics and were to blame for the wrongdoing that ravaged society's trust. Certainly, there is enough blame to generously blanket many groups. Substantive culpability goes to parents who failed to teach their children the basic decencies of being human. In an era where television educates, parents failed to add to Ses- ame Street's basic facts—the three Rs overtook everything. With ample time spent on soccer prac- tice and Cotillion lessons, children learned the right athletic moves and dance steps for college scholarships and social acceptance. Unfortu- nately, there was little time left to teach them em- pathy or how to think morally.
The case study approach allows in-depth, multi-faceted explorations of complex issues in their real-life settings. The value of the case study approach is well recognised in the fields of business, law and policy, but somewhat less so in health services research. Based on our experiences of conducting several health-related case studies, we reflect on the different types of case study design, the specific research questions this approach can help answer, the data sources that tend to be used, and the particular advantages and disadvantages of employing this methodological approach. The paper concludes with key pointers to aid those designing and appraising proposals for conducting case study research, and a checklist to help readers assess the quality of case study reports.
Fashion Business Cases: A Student Guide to Learning with Case Studies allows students to apply what they are learning in the classroom to real-life situations in the global fashion industry. Adapted from the Bloomsbury Fashion Business Cases (BFBC) online resource, this text will aid instructors in providing high-quality examples from scholars around the world. A mix of introductory, intermediate, and advanced cases ensure that students of all levels can develop the business, communication, and problem-solving skills required of fashion industry professionals. Topics range from corporate social responsibility and sustainable fashion to transparent brand communication and cultural sensitivity. This book is designed to foster critical and ethical thinking as students enter the fashion industry.
Key Features:
- 40 cases studies, of introductory, intermediate, and advanced level
- Learning Objectives and Business Questions included with each case
- An introductory chapter teaching students how to use case studies effectively
- Instructor’s Guide with Teaching Notes
Whether you’re investigating fashion as a material object, an abstract idea, a social phenomenon, or a commercial system, qualitative techniques can further your understanding of almost any research topic.
Doing Research in Fashion and Dress begins by guiding you through a brief history of fashion studies, and the debates surrounding it, before introducing key qualitative methodological approaches, including ethnography, semiology, and object-based research. Detailed case studies demonstrate how each methodology is used in practice. These case studies include Japanese subcultures, fashion photography blogs and semiotic studies of fashion magazine shoots and advertisements. This second edition also features a new chapter on internet sources and online ethnography, reflecting the adoption of social media tools not only by industry practitioners but also by academics.
By contextualizing history, theory and practice Doing Research in Fashion and Dress offers:
- A systematic examination of qualitative research methods in fashion studies in social sciences.
- A practical guide to anyone wishing to conduct fashion research in academia or in the business world.
- An accessible grounding in contemporary fashion studies literature.
As applied linguists know very well, how we use language both constructs and reflects our understanding. It is therefore important that we use terms that do justice to our concerns. In this presentation, I suggest that a more apt designation than
multilingual
or
second language acquisition (SLA)
is
multilingual
or
second language development (SLD).
I give a number of reasons for why I think SLD is more appropriate. Some of the reasons that I point to are well known. Others are more current, resting on a view of language from a complex systems perspective. Such a perspective rejects the commodification of language implied by the term ‘acquisition’, instead imbuing language with a more dynamic quality, implied by the term ‘development’, because it sees language as an ever-developing resource. It also acknowledges the mutable and interdependent norms of bilinguals and multilinguals. In addition, this perspective respects the fact that from a target-language vantage point, regress in learner performance is as characteristic of development as progress. Finally, and most appropriately for AILA 2011, the term
second language development
fits well with the theme of the congress – harmony in diversity – because it recognizes that there is no common endpoint at which all learners arrive. For, after all, learners actively transform their linguistic world; they do not merely conform to it.
The selection of an appropriate and effective pedagogy has been a central theme in management education for decades. There currently exists a wide range of pedagogical options designed to match course content with the most appropriate technique(s) for effective learning outcomes. Most recently, a variety of experiential learning methods have been employed to provide students with real-life experiences and applications in the overall class design. Live case analysis is typically identified as one of a series of options within the domain of experiential learning methods. This paper examines the live case approach as a tool for achieving desired outcomes in management education. Perspectives are offered from multiple stakeholder groups that highlight both the challenges and prospects in the use of this method of teaching. Results demonstrate the usefulness of the live case approach for achieving assessment objectives and measuring important program outcomes.
For over a decade, a number of employers have been sounding warnings to the higher education sector that a “skills gap” was emerging at the employer/graduate interface. Some graduate recruiters no longer perceived academic competence alone to be sufficient and began calling for higher education to produce graduates with highly developed and recognisable transferable skills. Increasingly the graduates of the late 1990s are being asked to display far more than subject-specific knowledge and are asked to prove that this skills development activity has occurred, usually by demonstrating that they have taken additional responsibility for something or someone during their higher education experience. This work examines what higher education can do to facilitate the development of transferable, and especially managerial, skills amongst the undergraduate population using extra-curricula schemes.
This book presents a disciplined, qualitative exploration of case study methods by drawing from naturalistic, holistic, ethnographic, phenomenological and biographic research methods. Robert E. Stake uses and annotates an actual case study to answer such questions as: How is the case selected? How do you select the case which will maximize what can be learned? How can what is learned from one case be applied to another? How can what is learned from a case be interpreted? In addition, the book covers: the differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches; data-gathering including document review; coding, sorting and pattern analysis; the roles of the researcher; triangulation; and reporting.
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to evaluate the inclusion of team case analyses and presentations in undergraduate finance courses that usually focus on analyzing provided financial statement data.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper the authors argue the early use of a local company case can illustrate key course concepts while offering students or participants in an academic or vocational training program a preview of the pedagogical techniques of case analysis. It is also argued that the use of a local company case can be extended to other business courses to improve students' interest and understanding. A survey of student perceptions was conducted at the end of the semester.
Findings
Overall, students preferred working on a local company case rather than a textbook case. Most felt the local company case helped them understand the theories and concepts of financial statement analysis from the course and prepared them for future case analysis. The student respondents also perceive a better understanding of the strategic issues facing the industry and of the use of, and interpretation of, financial ratios after completing the case. While the exploratory analysis did indicate student preferences for use of a local company case, further study and analysis is needed to move beyond perceptions of satisfaction to determine the actual improvement in learning of the key course concepts
Research limitations/implications
Future research should study the benefit of using a local company case throughout the business degree and study how it allows students to apply principles learned early in their curriculum to strategic analysis and decision making in capstone courses. Research could determine if students will build upon their previous knowledge of the company and business concepts in much the same way as business managers gain business and industry knowledge as they advance through their career. In addition, the benefit of using a local company continuation case through the upper division courses in the business curriculum should be investigated.
Originality/value
This article highlights the steps involved in preparing a local company case for classroom use and presents an analysis of student perceptions of satisfaction with a case‐enriched course and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the case. The article also discusses ways to create a similar local company case for other business disciplines.
Considers the research and writing of strategic management cases which are intended to develop student’s problem-solving abilities. Identifies a number of benefits associated with the writing of teaching cases. Proposes that the concepts and techniques of strategic management are consistent with a systems perspective and that strategic situations can be modelled as systems. Develops a systems -based method for the research and writing of case studies and examines its application to a particular case study. The method may be transferable to other management disciplines.
This article explores case study practices within a specific management discipline, that of international business. The authors contrast the case study debate in the general methodological literature to how this method is practiced within this particular scientific community. They review 135 case study—based articles published in four international business journals from 1995 to 2005 and 22 from 1975 to 1994, finding the disciplinary convention in these journals to be exploratory, interview-based multiple case studies, drawing on positivistic assumptions and cross-sectional designs. Alternative perspectives on the case study that the authors identify in the methodological literature have had little impact on this field. Even the most commonly cited methodological literature is not consistently followed. Given these limitations of the disciplinary convention, the authors argue for greater methodological pluralism in conducting case studies and provide suggestions for researchers seeking to adopt alternative case study traditions.
This paper builds on a number of ideas concerning the nature, management and representation in case studies, of moral issues and dilemmas as experienced by people in organisations. Drawing on some cases used in teaching business ethics, and utilising a checklist of questions derived from the more general theoretical analysis, suggestions are offered regarding the contributions which such cases can make in developing students'' understanding and potential for performative competence in real life situations. The distinction between issues and dilemmas is emphasised, and different types of issue are identified. The status of self-interest as an issue, and as contributory to personal dilemmas, is given particular attention. The paper also addresses the distinction between cognitive and non-cognitive attributes required by individuals if they are to deal with such situations. Within the cognitive category attention is paid to the contribution of ethical and other theory, and to the need for moral imagination and judgement.
This paper describes the process of inducting theory using case studies-from specifying the research questions to reaching closure. Some features of the process, such as problem definition and construct validation, are similar to hypothesis-testing research. Others, such as within-case analysis and replication logic, are unique to the inductive, case-oriented process. Overall, the process described here is highly iterative and tightly linked to data. This research approach is especially appropriate in new topic areas. The resultant theory is often novel, testable, and empirically valid. Finally, framebreaking insights, the tests of good theory (e.g., parsimony, logical coherence), and convincing grounding in the evidence are the key criteria for evaluating this type of research.
This paper describes a live ethics case project that can be used to teach ethics in a broad variety of business classes. The live case differs from regular cases in that it involves a current situation. Students select an on-going or current event that involves ethical violations and write a case about it. They then present their case and run a debate about the challenges and issues outlined in the case and the actions that could have or should have been taken. The dynamic project fulfills the key criteria for effective ethics education since it increases awareness of the complexity of ethical challenges, allows application of concepts, creates a personal emotional engagement in the case, is relevant, holds students accountable for their position, and creates a setting that encourages students to think critically about ethics. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006
The Imaginary Dress. An Interdisciplinary Fashion Approach Among Sociological, Anthropological, and Psychological Orientations
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