Comprehensive cases also challenge the students from the outset. 2 Many instructors prefer the opposite opening strategy. They use a relatively simple case, seeking to minimize possible confusion at the start of the course and to give even novices a sense of accomplishment on the opening day. At the close of a course, comprehensive cases help review the terrain covered by the course and build student confidence. Cases in the areas of mergers and comprehensive financial policy invite a good synthesis of valuation, capital structure, and financing tactics.
Variety enlivens student participation and learning.
Students appreciate a mixture of both number-crunching problems and situations in which interpretation and the exercise of managerial judgment are important. Other cases are rich enough to be taught over two class periods if time permits detailed exploration. This collection contains a number of relatively ambiguous, less directive cases which are useful vehicles for problem identification, for which the case method is excellent exercise. Habitually assigning supporting readings, however, might signal to the student that the case is an extended problem meant to exercise a specific technique in the reading, which no true case study will do effectively. The instructor can encourage the voluntary formation of these groups simply by suggesting the idea and letting motivated individuals do the rest.