Using the CPPD Method of Analysis for Teaching Case Studies in the Marketing Management Class

Abstract

Teaching and research in marketing draw on tools from a number of disciplines. This paper adapts a framework from literary criticism, the CPPD Method, for use in teaching case study and demonstrates its role in enhancing the development of critical thinking skills. Following a review on the use of case study in marketing pedagogy and the usefulness of the methods of literary criticism for insight and innovation in the development of marketing theory and pedagogy, the epistemological value of this heuristic is discussed. Specifically, the CPPD is shown to be a mechanism for bridging the inductive-deductive gap in the structured-unstructured continuum of case methods as developed by Klebba (1999) and expanded on by Greiner, Bhambri, and Cummings (2003). Finally, a guideline for integrating the use of this teaching method into an MBA-level marketing management case course is described.