Case Studies of Systems
Regular Paper Case Studies of Systems Engineering and Management in Systems Acquisition
George Friedman and Andrew P. Sage* 1 , 2 Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 1 Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research, George Mason University, Fairfax VA, 22030-4444 2
C AS E S T UDI E S OF SY ST E M S E NGI NE E R I NG AND M ANAGE ME NT I N SY ST E MS AC QUI S I TI O N Received 6 April 2003; Accepted 22 September 2003, after one or more revisions DOI 10.1002/sys.10057
ABSTRACT This paper discusses the role of case studies in systems engineering and systems manage- ment, especially case studies that involve systems acquisition. We first provide a brief overview of case studies, including some of the analysis techniques useful for the conduct of case studies. Next, we discuss a two-dimensional framework for systems engineering and management case studies. The framework is in the form of a 9 row by 3 column matrix. We present a number of vignettes of case studies, at least one for each of the 27 cellular entries in this matrix. The hope is that this will be a stimulus and precursor of additional systems engineering and management case study efforts, both in terms of appropriate frameworks for these and in the actual conduct of case study research. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 7: 84–97, 2004 Key words: case studies; case
George Friedman and Andrew P. Sage* 1 , 2 Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 1 Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research, George Mason University, Fairfax VA, 22030-4444 2
C AS E S T UDI E S OF SY ST E M S E NGI NE E R I NG AND M ANAGE ME NT I N SY ST E MS AC QUI S I TI O N Received 6 April 2003; Accepted 22 September 2003, after one or more revisions DOI 10.1002/sys.10057
ABSTRACT This paper discusses the role of case studies in systems engineering and systems manage- ment, especially case studies that involve systems acquisition. We first provide a brief overview of case studies, including some of the analysis techniques useful for the conduct of case studies. Next, we discuss a two-dimensional framework for systems engineering and management case studies. The framework is in the form of a 9 row by 3 column matrix. We present a number of vignettes of case studies, at least one for each of the 27 cellular entries in this matrix. The hope is that this will be a stimulus and precursor of additional systems engineering and management case study efforts, both in terms of appropriate frameworks for these and in the actual conduct of case study research. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 7: 84–97, 2004 Key words: case studies; case
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