Case Study Research

[akhilmahajan0007]

The current global COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which emerged in December 2019
in China, has to date resulted in an estimated 3,000,000 deaths worldwide. The impact of the virus on human and
economic life has been so significant that people have started to refer to a ‘new normal’.
The case study research approach, which you have learned about, lends itself nicely to investigate the
complexities of the pandemic’s impact on human and economic life.
1. Briefly explain why the case study research approach can be suitable to investigate the pandemic’s impact
on human and economic life. Which specific type of case study design is more, and which is less suitable?
Include the advantages of the approach as well as possible disadvantages in your discussion.
2. Apply the case study approach and pick two maximally different for-profit-organizations to explore the
impact of the pandemic on employees’ work life (e.g., tasks, context, mindset, daily routines) by considering
organization-level factors (e.g., structure, culture, technology) and employee-level factors. Compare and
contrast the two organizations in order to arrive at stylized impact categories, contingencies, and coping
mechanisms at the organization and employee levels. For each organization, conduct a minimum of two indepth interviews with key informants

[Neveracrossword]

How can ABers 'conduct interviews' for you?

[Buenchico]

For the first bit, start here and modify the content to meet the specific requirements of research into the impacts of Covid:
https://brandongaille.com/12-case-study-method-advantages-and-disadvantages/
(OR simply use your lecture notes, which ought to tell you much the same thing).

For the second bit, you're going to need to identify two commercial organisations in your own country (which I suspect might not be the UK, where this website is based) that operate in very different sectors (and thus where the impacts of Covid might be very different). For example, if you're in India, Big Bazaar operates in the retail sector, whereas Tech Mahindra is in the field of technology. You'll then need to contact senior executives within those companies to seek their assistance and structure interviews to elicit the relevant responses. (In practice it might be far easier to contact, say, the owners of a local chain of restaurants and of a local plumbing business. All that really matters is that the businesses are large enough to employ a reasonable number of people and that they operate in totally different sectors).

BTW: You might point out to whoever set you this task that it would be better if he/she used up-to-date data. The number of reported deaths from Covid (as counted by WHO) is approaching 6.5 million but many analysts believe that the real total is actually closer to 15 million.