WEAVING-FEEDBACK SYSTEMS THINKING INTO THE CASE METHOD - AN APPLICATION TO CORPORATE-STRATEGY

The limitations of managers' cognitive capabilities, as compared to th e complexity of the systems they are asked to guide, diminishes the va lue of the traditional case method in developing strategy skills. To h elp teach strategy cases from a point of view that deals explicitly wi th dynamic complexity, we propose the use of a model-supported case ap proach. This approach uses causal maps and concepts of feedback system s thinking in case discussion with participants to help them visualize dynamic complexity. After reviewing the contributions and limitations of both cases and simulation games, we illustrate our approach for we aving feedback systems thinking into the case method with a corporate strategy case covering diversification in a mature industry. We provid e specific examples of causal maps derived from the case material and report our experiences from a trial run with an MBA class.