Methodology used to prepare the case Proceedo: finding the right CEO for future growth.

This article describes the process of preparing this case study. The roles of the case authors are discussed, and key decisions concerning the structure and content of the case are described. The general rationale and recommendations for case preparation are not argued here; for this discussion, we recommend the excellent summary included in the appendix to the article "Hickory Ridge Golf Club" (Valentine, Amason, & Chrisman, 1992, pp. 87-89).

The Role of the Authors

The first author was an assistant professor in Stockholm at the time of writing the first draft of the case. As described below, she was committed to developing a number of cases for use in the classroom. Her role in this project was in initiating the project, designating budget, reviewing, testing, and finalizing the case text, and preparing the teaching note. When the case focus was chosen, the second author was then recruited from among the master's students in the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), the International Graduate Program. Aside from the initial interview, the second author conducted all the interviews independently, collated other data, wrote the case text, and identified potential exhibits to request from Proceedo. Preparation for an international audience required extensive additions and rewriting, which was completed by the first author.

Case Focus

The case was initiated by Proceedo's public relations officer, a graduate of the SSE who approached the first author. At the time, the first author was preparing materials for a new course at SSE, Growing Young Firms, and was frustrated by the lack of good cases relevant to the entrepreneurial context of Stockholm. In August 2000, Stockholm was still experiencing a start-up boom in Internet, wireless, and other high technology companies, despite the relatively recent bust of the IPO market for Internet companies. Proceedo fit the needs of the course well, since nearly any issue facing this young company would engage course participants.

An initial meeting was held with the CEO, Lars Lundstrom, and the PR officer, to identify and eventually select the case focus. The meeting identified a number of critical decision crises the company had faced and was facing. The first author chose to focus the case on the decision to hire an outside senior executive as CEO, both because the decision was controversial among the employees and because the situation highlighted the problems of credibility and legitimacy facing young companies in emerging industries. As we explored the decision issue and the reasoning behind Proceedo's agenda, it became clear that the specific desire for an older and experienced CEO was driven by problems with the sales strategy and with the relations to their venture capitalist. This interdependency of problems, illuminated in the specific decision (or "symptom") of recruiting a new CEO, fulfilled the ideal for teaching cases. As Valentine, Amason, and Chrisman argue,

... a good case should reflect the situation as it actually

occurs, retaining as much of the complexity of that situation as

possible. Nevertheless, having a specific decision focus is both

appropriate and necessary for an effective case. (1992, p. 87)

Also, the situation was very current, as Proceedo's founders had not yet initiated a search process. This immediacy would allow the case writers to capture the differences of opinion within the company, as well as the collective fuzziness regarding what type of person the new CEO should be. The negative aspect, of course, is that the founders were reluctant to release the most recent financial results. Fortunately, the financial data became available later and are included in the case.

Case Information

Once the focus on recruiting a new CEO was selected, the first author hired the second author as a case writer. Working with the PR officer who coordinated the interviews, he met with several of Proceedo's founders and employees in every functional area, both long-term and more recently hired staff. This wide-ranging interview process was designed to capture the history of the company, the nature of the technology and product, potential competitors, existing customers and pilot projects, and internal operational issues. Each person was also asked for his or her opinion about the need for a new CEO.

In addition to the interviews, Proceedo supplied a number of documents, including six-month-old financial data and organizational data (such as that included in the text and exhibits of the case). EProcurement was relatively unknown at the time, so public sources of information within Sweden were limited, but the second author did investigate the key U.S. competitors named by Proceedo. Finally, in the course of a separate research project during this period, the first author was able to interview a strong local competitor that was unknown to Proceedo at the time. All these sources provided important contributions and clarification to the interview data, which formed the major source for the case.

The process of interviewing and collecting other data was designed to gather rich detailed information about the case focus, as well as the broader strategic factors and operating situation essential to understanding the dynamics of the business at the time the decision was being made.

Case Organization and Writing

The first draft of the case was prepared by the second author, and revised following a review by the first author. The case was then subjected to a test class in the Growing Young Firms course, with the CEO, Lars Lundstrom, present. The discussion in the class helped identify three key points, which were not clear in the case, and additions and revisions were made by the first author to correct these weaknesses.

Writing Style. The second author wrote the first draft of the case independently, following a discussion about the outline of the case. His first goal was to create an interesting narrative, pulling the reader through the story by creating tension and hinting at information that is later revealed in detail. From this perspective, the case is very successful, as it required very little rewriting and was often complimented by readers outside Sweden. Nonetheless, changes became necessary to make the case accessible to readers outside the Swedish context. Also, the idiom needed to be made more universal.

His second goal was to achieve a moderate length, ideally five to seven pages single spaced. This length addresses the growing consensus that good cases need not be very long cases. Also, European and foreign students often prefer shorter cases, as reading in English takes them somewhat longer than native English speakers. By limiting the length, the case may be used in a wider variety of circumstances, including foreign classes and executive education. Unfortunately, the need to clarify several contextual issues has lengthened the case somewhat, but we hope it has become more accessible to international audiences in the process.

The third goal was to ensure that the readers would have enough data to allow conflicting judgments about the key decision in the case. Interestingly, the test teaching of the case (once to a combined masters/senior undergraduate class and once with Proceedo employees) showed that this goal was achieved. In both sessions, a strong minority argued that a new CEO was not necessary, but other actions should be taken--and they supported their position from the case data.

REFERENCE

Valentine, H., Amason, A.C., & Chrisman, J.J. (1992) Hickory Ridge Golf Club. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 16(4), 69-90.

Alice de Koning is an assistant professor of management at Georgia State University.

Edward Maravanyika developed the first draft of this case study under her supervision while a graduate student at the Stockholm School of Economics.

Please send all correspondence to: Dr. Alice de Koning, Department of Management, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 4014, Atlanta, GA 30030 USA. Her email address is alice@dekoning.ca.