Session PowerPoint file - Agricultural Economics

Case Study Scholarship Monday, January 14, 2013 Noon CST Session audio delivered via phone - type your phone number into the popup window or dial (866) 552-9877 This webinar is co-organized by the Agribusiness Economics and Management (AEM) section of AAEA and TLC, hosted by the Purdue University Agricultural Economics Department and Center for Food and Agricultural Business

Housekeeping Details  Josh Detre, Emcee – 12:05 – 12:20 Lisa House – 12:20 – 12:30 Q & A – 12:30 – 12:45 Mike Boland – 12:45 – 1:00 Q & A  Questions? Type into the chat window to all participants or ask over the phone.  Emcee will manage Q & A.  Please mute your phone if not asking a question.

Today’s Presenters Lisa House • Florida Agricultural Market Research Center, University of Florida • Former Chair, AAEA Invited Case Study Session Committee

Mike Boland • Food Industry Center, University of Minnesota • Co-authored over 80 agribusiness case studies

AAEA and Case Studies Lisa House University of Florida Former Chair, AAEA Invited Case Study Session Committee

Objectives  Overview AAEA and case studies – Invited paper case study session – Annual call for cases – Evaluation criteria

 What make a good case?

History of AAEA and Case Studies  Review of Agricultural Economics – Change to Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy (AEPP)

 Introduction of Invited Case Study Session  Journal of Natural Sciences Education http://www.aaea.org/publications/jnrlse-callfor-submissions

Invited Paper Case Study Session  Goal to have 3 case studies per year in an invited session at the AAEA meetings  As with other invited sessions, potential for publication in the AJAE  Selection of cases is based off 3-5 page (2,000 word max) proposals and is conducted by a committee selected by the AAEA Board (blind review)

Annual Call for Cases  Show how the application of economic principles to decision making in the public and/or private sectors leads to better decisions – Focus on economics

 Emerging issues encouraged  All fields (not just agribusiness)

Evaluation Criteria  Deals with a problem that has a high level of importance/interest/relevancy to members of AAEA  Clear and concise teaching objective(s) and target audience(s) (e.g. undergraduate students, graduate students, extension audiences)  Case summary that presents solutions and explanations of how the learning objectives are realized  Leads to a better understanding of how the application of economic principles improves decision making  A general description of the teaching plan for presenting the case to include expected student use of reference material

What makes a good case? (Part 1)  Teaching note – – – –

Identify audience Summarize case Identify learning objectives Present teaching strategy

 Case study – – – –

Value of topic New topic or novel approach to analysis Written in an understandable manner Ability to obtain information necessary for analysis

Further Suggestions  Look at examples of published cases in AJAE, RAE, and IFAMR journals  IFAMR article on case standards for publications: – https://www.ifama.org/publications/journal/vol3/cms docs/369-379.pdf

 Some typical problems with past submissions: – Not written as a case study – No economic issue – No clear purpose

Thoughts on Writing Case Studies Michael Boland Food Industry Center University of Minnesota

Motivation  Have historically taught capstone type courses using an active student / participant-centered learning style – Agribusiness / Food business curriculum

 Teach in a number of executive education style programs with non-degree seeking students – Case study type courses

 Ray Goldberg protégé – Harvard Business School philosophy – Study an industry and how a firm operates in that industry

 Economics of organizations – Cases are a useful way to work in this area

 Product of my environment – Doctorate at Purdue University / influence of CAB – Career at Kansas State – Current job at Minnesota

Objectives  Discuss case study as a scholarship activity – Research – Teaching

 What make a good case – Best practices

Case Study as Research Scholarship  Firm is unit of analysis within an industry (e.g., NAICS code) as opposed to price – Coase and others discuss reasons why – Penrose’s classic case on Hercules – Used in agribusiness economics and management • Boland and Crespi AEPP article on dissertations found more than 15 dissertations using this type of approach • Wysocki dissertation is a good example

 Requires careful consideration of industry and firms – Public and private data

Example: Suppose you wanted to study variables associated with sustainability efforts in food economy  Choose an industry (e.g., retail supermarkets, etc.) – More than 300 retail grocery stores chains in USA • Segment firms

– Dissect CSR statements into stakeholder categories using Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) categories • Employees, community, consumers, education, resources, etc.

– Measure ‘weight of effort’ used for each category – Stakeholder theory suggest that there are three types of demand for sustainability: regulatory (descriptive), cognitive (instrumental), normative. – Each firm’s ‘weight of effort’ can be placed in one of the three demands. – An economic model that uses sustainability of demand as a function of these different GRI categories can be described (not econometrically estimated) – Academic journal are available for publication

Case Study as Teaching Scholarship  Decision cases – User of the case must have a decision to make – Integration of subjects such as accounting, economics, finance, marketing, strategy, etc. – Requires information to help student learn • Unique characteristics about the industry including production, processing, distribution, and sales. • How the firm operates as an organization

 Requires primary and secondary data

Example: suppose you wanted students to understand why a firm has persistent profitability over time  Identify the learner outcomes that you want the user to understand – I always work backwards; generally include spreadsheet exercises

 Begin with a firm that exhibits this type of behavior – Identify the reasons why • Industry and firm effects

 Prepare case draft of the industry and firm using public data (including teaching note) – Contact firm leader, describe what you seek to do, and what you need from them. • Interview them (invite to class if possible)

– Prepare final draft • Ask your contact to have someone read and sign off on factual issues in case

 Numerous books and journals to publish in

What makes a good case? (Part 2)  Interesting industry and interesting firm  Ability to bring it to life  Accurate and in-depth teaching note – Remember any instructor than yourself has little or now knowledge of the industry or case • Get the learner outcomes right and include tips on using case

– Make it easy for user to use the case – As a case writer, be available if an instructor using your case asks you to chat for five minutes on phone or skype – Review cases for academic journals! Learn a lot being a peer reviewer. – Get involvement of the company – Don’t underestimate the readability factor

Other Notes  Most of my cases involve students – Ideal project for a first semester graduate student • Tight deadline and deliverable in one semester • Teaches writing skills • Learn independent and critical thinking skills

 Develop some discipline – I try to write two cases a year for use in class

Follow-up  A link to the archived webinar will be emailed and linked on the web page by Tuesday morning  https://www.agecon.purdue.edu/cab/programs/webinar/case_studi es/

Thank you for attending!