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Case Studies in Operations Management

This editorial discusses the value of case studies in operations management research. It notes that case studies can serve four research purposes: exploration to identify new research areas, theory building to develop new models and concepts, theory testing using larger data sets, and theory extension/refinement to apply existing theories to new contexts or refine theoretical details. The editorial argues that case studies that help identify new research needs, develop models, or implement existing theory are particularly valuable for the journal Production Planning & Control by directing research toward addressing industry needs.

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Rajni Arora
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70 views

Case Studies in Operations Management

This editorial discusses the value of case studies in operations management research. It notes that case studies can serve four research purposes: exploration to identify new research areas, theory building to develop new models and concepts, theory testing using larger data sets, and theory extension/refinement to apply existing theories to new contexts or refine theoretical details. The editorial argues that case studies that help identify new research needs, develop models, or implement existing theory are particularly valuable for the journal Production Planning & Control by directing research toward addressing industry needs.

Uploaded by

Rajni Arora
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ISSN: 0953-7287 (Print) 1366-5871 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.

com/loi/tppc20

Case studies in operations management

Stephen J. Childe

To cite this article: Stephen J. Childe (2011) Case studies in operations management, , 22:2,
107-107, DOI: 10.1080/09537287.2011.554736

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2011.554736

Published online: 18 Feb 2011.

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https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tppc20
Production Planning & Control
Vol. 22, No. 2, March 2011, 107

EDITORIAL
Case studies in operations management

Production Planning & Control welcomes case studies, Another area where cases can make a contribution
as most readers will know. But I often hear (or read) is in theory extension/refinement. Once a theory
queries about the research value of case studies. What becomes established, further cases can extend its
can we learn from one or just a few companies? application into new areas or refine the details such
The answer seems to lie in the aim of the research. as improving the definition of variables. In operations
The widely-used paper by Voss et al. (2002) looks at management, theories that become accepted in the
case research and identifies four broad categories of experimental or simulation world may require con-
research purpose – exploration, theory-building, theory- siderable refinement to allow them to be implemented
testing and theory extension/refinement. One of the in practice under conditions of time and cost pressure,
interesting aspects of working with industry is that it is lack of resources and lack of data in the real world.
sometimes possible to identify the need for a new This may mean that there are more variables than the
avenue of research. This might be when technology is model accounted for, or it may draw our attention to
being applied in a new setting, such as a different implementation issues, which are worthy of investiga-
industry. We might not have a solution to offer to that tion in their own right.
company, but can report back to the research Cases that help us to identify new research needs,
community. This might lead to exploratory research, develop models and implement the existing theoretical
in which the research questions are refined. For this work are particularly welcome in Production Planning
kind of research, it might be possible to show a need & Control. If the Journal helps direct research that
for new knowledge from just one exploratory case addresses the needs of industry, it is performing a
study, together with context and literature back- useful function.
ground, developing propositions and challenges.
Often, cases may be used to develop new models or Stephen J. Childe
concepts that help researchers and managers under- Editor
stand or deal with a situation. This kind of work can be
deemed to be theory building. This kind of research
depends on data from the real world that can illustrate
linkage and relationships, and perhaps also show, for
example, which variables can be controlled by man-
agers. Theory-building papers put forward models,
Reference
stating the phenomena under investigation, and suggest
relationships between variables. They may compare Voss, C., Tsikriktis, N., and Frohlich, M., 2002. Case
different companies or different cases within the same research in operations management. International Journal
company, simplifying some contextual variables. For of Operations & Production Management, 22 (2), 195–219.
theory to become accepted, it requires more testing.
Theory-testing papers tend to use large amount of data
such as from surveys or from aggregating cases.

ISSN 0953–7287 print/ISSN 1366–5871 online


ß 2011 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/09537287.2011.554736
http://www.informaworld.com

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