Yale SOM uses a multidisciplinary approach in teaching the Yale integrated MBA curriculum. The school’s team of case writers continually work on developing new teaching materials that require students to understand and view business problems from multiple disciplines and perspectives, unlike traditional business cases, which typically present a business problem from a single point of view.

SOM’s pioneering web-based “raw” cases are open-ended, multi-perspective presentations that can feature thousands of pages of relevant material that students must analyze, such as 10-Ks, analyst reports, news articles, stock charts, and interviews with key players. This format reflects the way managers must access and analyze information to make informed business decisions.

SOM professor Will Goetzmann, one of the originators of the “raw” case format, observes: “There is no substitute for engaging somebody in a problem that uses real information and then having them confront that challenge, feel the stress of uncertainty about what direction to head, and then form a view and take a position, and then defend it with data they collected. We think it makes for better learning.”

Veteran case writer Jaan Elias has directed the case study research department since its creation in 2006. This year alone they will develop 40 new case studies.