The Pre-Class Case Note: A Framework For Decision-Ready Case Preparation

Vishal Mehrotra, Amy Kenworthy, George Hrivnak, Colette Southam

Product #:W53008

Supplier:Ivey/Bond

Discipline:Communications, General Management

Setting:Australia, 2026

Details:Note (PDF) • 8 pages • 2026-10-29

Subjects:

Geography:

Australia Australia and Oceania

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$10.54

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Teaching cases require students to exercise judgment under uncertainty, incomplete information, competing priorities, and consequential trade-offs. Yet pre-class preparation is often less clearly structured than the discussion that follows. This technical note offers a concise framework for turning preparation into a visible, decision-ready position before class begins. It helps students move beyond summary and indecision, arrive at an independent view, and enter the discussion ready to test, defend, and revise that judgment. The note can be used for individual preparation, pre-class submission, and as a reference point for richer case discussion.

Learning Objectives

This technical note can be used in undergraduate, postgraduate, master of business administration, and executive courses that use decision-focused cases.

The student technical note and associated pre-class exercise are designed to help students do the following:

Distinguish a pre-class case note from a formal written case report in purpose, audience, and form.
Identify the key decision in a case, stated as a decision rather than a topic, together with its timing and stakes.
Evaluate realistic alternatives and commit to a provisional position before the discussion begins.
Select the case evidence that does the most work in supporting their decision, distinguishing inference from what the case states outright.
Formulate a specific, testable defeat condition and use it to monitor, defend, or revise their reasoning during discussion.