Using case studies in university-level marketing education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that can be used by marketing educators to evaluate the appropriateness of case studies for inclusion in a course.
Design/methodology/approach – This viewpoint paper represents the views of the author alone.
Findings – Selection criteria for the possible inclusion of specific case studies in a marketing course will be affected by the characteristics of students (prior experience, familiarity with subject matter), characteristics of the course (academic level, subject matter, managerial or non-managerial orientation), and by characteristics of the case study (degree of realism, complexity, knowledge content, skills content, degree of decision orientation).
Originality/value – Suggests a practical way forward for marketing educators, particularly those new to the profession, when selecting case studies for incorporation into their course.