Stephen Downes

The Harvard Business School method of using case studies is well known to management students. The cases are drawn from real-world examples and students are asked to imagine themselves in the position of a protagonist (usually the CEO) and to argue for what ought to be done. This article offers an interesting history and a trenchant criticism. By focusing on narrow business interests, argues Lila MacLellan, the students ignore the wider social consequence of their actions. "If the history of business education had taken a different path, the pressure to do well by the world would have been coming from the corner office all along."