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Case studies are widely used in business education as an action-oriented teaching method to develop students’ problem-solving skills. While they are popular in the classroom, the authors know little about how best to design and use case studies and whether they improve students’ learning experience and outcomes. This paper aims to investigate whether pedagogically developed case studies lead to better student learning outcomes than do traditional case studies.

This large-scale, international quantitative research surveyed students (N = 159) at four major faculties of business and economics in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland to determine whether integrating pedagogical principles into the design phase of teaching cases and adhering to pedagogical principles in case study design affected students’ learning outcomes.

This study finds that pedagogically developed case studies have a more positive impact on student learning compared to traditional case studies. In addition, the authors found that students who have had previous experience with case-study work and who have positive perceptions of it had even better learning outcomes compared to students who have had no previous experience with case-study work and have negative perceptions of it.

Anecdotal accounts of using case studies in business education suggest that they have a positive impact on the teaching-learning process and learning outcomes, yet very few studies have surveyed students themselves to evaluate whether case-study teaching and learning does in fact lead to better learning outcomes. By empirically showing that teaching with pedagogically developed case studies leads to better learning outcomes, the study suggests that developing case studies using these methods can improve student learning. In addition, the study suggests that students with no prior experience with case studies or with negative prior experiences may need greater preparation and support to fully benefit from case-study work.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the productive analyses of logistics alliances in the literature have led to a multitude of heterogeneous contributions. These should be consolidated and systematized in order to synthesize the existing findings in a meaningful way and guide future research for effective design and management; and improve logistics alliance performance in practice.

The authors use a systematic literature review to screen and consolidate current knowledge on effective design and management of logistics alliances.

This paper categorizes the logistics literature on vertical and horizontal alliances into four key areas in order to systematically consolidate key performance factors, their sub-constructs and performance effects to identify implications for both research and practice.

Within the research agenda, the authors develop concrete research opportunities in four areas: horizontal logistics alliances; vertical logistics alliances; transfer of new research streams into the context of logistics alliances; and the incorporation of impediments and negative effects.

By consolidating existing research results, the authors provide guidance for managers looking to establish or adapt logistics alliance structures and management systems.

The consolidation of key performance impact factors on logistics alliances (both vertical and horizontal) provides a platform for further research. The developed agenda offers specific research opportunities to improve the understanding of logistics alliance performance.

Due to the continued high failure rate of logistics alliances, the purpose of this paper is to propose incorporating the widely neglected dynamic capabilities approach into the explanation of logistics alliance performance.

The authors identify specific characteristics of logistics alliances that are used to argumentatively develop a framework of logistics alliance management capabilities.

We propose an initial framework of logistics alliance management capabilities, based on the dynamic capabilities approach of strategic management, with the aim of improving logistics alliance success.

The presented framework offers a basis for a wider range of empirical studies. Qualitative researchers are encouraged to further specify and better understand the sub-processes that underlie logistics alliance management capabilities in different alliance settings. Quantitative studies could help to reliably assess the differences and performance implications of these capabilities.

The authors ' conceptualization supports managers in their relevant strategic and organizational attempts to enhance logistics alliance success.

This paper contributes to the logistics literature by making a more general yet established construct accessible to logistics scholars and practitioners. The roots of the authors ' logistics alliance management capabilities construct in dynamic capabilities provide a framework that is new and potentially more comprehensive than the collection of somewhat isolated alliance success factors that have hitherto been proposed in the logistics literature.

The impact of e‐commerce on the business environment is often praised but seldom analyzed with scrutiny. In this paper we try to depict the underlying logistically relevant aspects of e‐commerce and their impacts on logistics service providers. This seems to be of considerable importance, as logistics is seen as the back‐bone of e‐commerce operations. However, the firms specializing in this field are commonly neglected. We argue that the logistical implications of e‐commerce can be differentiated into two main categories: the rise of e‐marketplaces; and the elimination of supply chain elements (disintermediation). By analyzing these two categories and their major logistical implications in detail we deduct strategic consequences for logistics service providers.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the specific types of coopetition between small and medium-sized craft breweries and related businesses, as well as its drivers and outcomes.

Qualitative research was carried out using in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 18 different small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) combined with site visits and secondary data analysis.

The results reveal that craft breweries are engaging in coopetition in several different ways. Mutual benefit, trust, commitment, and sympathy are the crucial drivers for coopetition; whereas innovation development, market reach and marketing, as well as firm growth represent the key shared outcomes of coopetition.

This study suffers from two main limitations, including the focus on coopetition of craft breweries operating in German-speaking countries only and the risk of subjectivity in analysis and interpretation due to the qualitative, explorative nature of the research.

The findings reveal insights into the uniqueness of SMEs – specifically craft brewers – regarding coopetition, which is currently of strong cooperative nature. This study completes prior coopetition knowledge by revealing the importance of coopetition for small, micro and resource-constrained firms operating in dynamic and innovative but traditional (here craft) industries; presenting the cooperation-based type of coopetition as a good competition strategy under fierce competition from large, more established and global business rivals; and identifying sympathy as an important coopetition driver.