Merging the Case Method and Simulation in Management Education: Is It Possible?

Jorge Alberto dos Santos, Tainá Rodrigues Gomide
(Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil)

Abstract: The case method and simulations are widely used in management education. Despite their generalized acceptance, these methods of teaching are commonly used as two different tools, either in different disciplines by different teachers or in the same discipline with the same teacher but during different moments. In researching the characteristics of the case method and simulations, the authors question whether these two methods could be integrated into one single tool. In this paper, the possibility and feasibility of the merging is analysed and supported. The authors call this new method “Simulations with Cases”. They also believe that such a method would be an advancement in management education since it would allow students to integrate the generality of simulations with the specificity of a case. In the end, however, it is claimed that the new method would have to overcome some difficulties, since it would need to integrate sometimes irreconcilable characteristics.

Key words: case studies; simulation; business games; management education

JEL code: A23