In 2001 the Sloan Foundation, the Coleman Foundation, the Kauffman Foundation, Inc. magazine, and a consortium of business schools committed funds to produce a new type of business education called the Real-Time Case (RTC). By placing a full-time business journalist inside a new, high-growth company for a semester, RTC told the story of company-building in more depth and realism than ever seen before in a university course. The case was launched on a password-protected website in September, 2001.
In the fall of 2004 a new
real-time case was created (see details
below). Faculty from a dozen schools
utilized the case material in their
classrooms.
Here is the course description that students from all the
schools encountered:
As you read this, the managers of a new high-tech company are striving to achieve the entrepreneurial dream. On a special website you will follow that company, and see their progress week by week. But you will do more than just watch. You will be actively engaged with the company, analyzing its problems, and making input. You will be participating in the world's first in-depth, real-time case study.
Unlike traditional case studies, this real-time case will dig deeply into one company during an entire semester. At this moment, a case writer is stationed full-time at the case company. Each week the writer will provide us with the information we need to analyze a particular problem or question about the company. But our goal is not analysis for its own sake. Instead, we want to go beyond critiquing, and make valuable recommendations to the company. The company is counting on us to perform, and we want to deliver.
The Real-Time Case was conceived by Dr. Jim Theroux, the Flavin Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. Dr. Theroux developed the concept in collaboration with faculty members at the consortium of founding business schools, including the University of New Brunswick (Fredericton, Canada).
Results indicate that students find the real-time case appealing: two-thirds rated it equal to or better than any course they had taken previously. Steps are being taken to make a new real-time case each year, and to use it for teaching a wide range of business subjects.
The 2004 Real-Time Case
Academic Purpose: By focusing on a new high-tech company for a semester, the real-time case study provided students
with an in-depth view of the challenges and opportunities facing such
companies. The primary case material
required problem analysis based on business theory. The theoretical material (published articles
and book chapters) was provided to students alongside the case material.
Prerequisites: The material is appropriate for graduate students
and outstanding undergraduates. Students
who have taken business courses will bring more to the case analysis, but those
without previous courses will be provided “just-in-time” conceptual articles
that will quickly bring them up to speed.
Materials Required: Each student was given a password to a website
that contained all the written and multimedia materials of the case
study. Cost per student
was $60.
Schedule: The case began September, 2004.
Thirteen weekly installments of the case were delivered Saturdays at 6:00pm ET on the course website to all participating
students.
Interschool Activity: Twelve universities simultaneously
utilized the case study. The case website became a forum for
inter-school communication. Students
from all the schools were able to compare their analyses with each other. Competitions were held among the schools
to develop the best recommendations for the case company.
Supplemental Classroom Activities: During the real-time case, each faculty member supplemented his or
her course with activities that were not directly related to the case study.
Dr. James M. Theroux, Flavin Professor of Entrepreneurship
Isenberg School of Management University of Massachusetts
Jim Theroux is the Flavin Professor of Entrepreneurship at UMass-Amherst. Before becoming a professor in 1991, Dr. Theroux had a business career in the
cable TV industry that began with a large national company, Time-Warner Cable. After several years at Time-Warner he went out on his own by raising $20
million of venture capital to start a new cable company in the Cleveland Ohio area. His entrepreneurial venture utilized for the
first time in America a microwave technology called “wireless
cable.” The business grew to 150 employees, and was sold in 1991, just prior to Dr. Theroux’s coming to
UMass. Dr. Theroux’s depth of business
experience makes him unique on the UMass business school faculty.
At UMass Dr. Theroux has continued his passion for business by partnering with
scientists to form new companies. He is a co-founder of two biotech companies and the co-founder of a food science
company. In addition to his ongoing involvement with these companies, Dr. Theroux is an advisor to numerous
businesses in the area of strategic planning.
Prof. Jim Theroux is a specialist in bringing new pedagogical techniques to business education. For his experimental work in teaching
inventors he was designated one of the top ten entrepreneurship educators in America
by Ernst & Young and the Kauffman Foundation. He has received three
national awards for the real-time case concept, including the USASBE Award for
Innovative Pedagogy.
Theroux received his MBA at Harvard University and his doctorate in educational technology at the University of Massachusetts.
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