A review of case studies publishing in Management Decision 2003‐2004

Purpose – This paper aims to specify a set of methodological stages to conduct case studies. It presents a graphical representation of these stages, describes how it assists management researchers to build theory from data gathered in the field, and outlines its value for achieving sound management research. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of nine cases published in Management Decision within the last two years (2003‐2004) is selected in order to illustrate these processes. Findings – The paper's major contribution to research methodology is to specify a set of guidelines for conducting case studies and being explicit in how to apply a series of quality criteria for evaluating case studies in practice. The proposal not only helps to conduct research, but also documents the links between the research topics (in the conceptual framework), data (observations and interpretations in the field), data analysis (coding using the concepts in the conceptual framework and emergent themes) and the theory and knowledge accumulated through the research process. Practical implications – The increasing use of case studies in management, and the desire to build theory from qualitative data, has highlighted a gap between existing proposals and the criteria for rigorous case studies. This contribution helps to close this gap by providing guidelines and the practical application of the quality principles. It assists management researchers working in these paradigms to build theory from qualitative data. Originality/value – The proposal adds to the tools that management researchers can follow to produce sound research. This paper illustrates several case studies in order to show their epistemological approach, and to evaluate their quality level by applying our principles.