FAQs

1.Prioritize method over content 

• Respect the social dimension of learning
• Beware the importance of non-technical content
• Make use of humor and ensure psychological safety

2.Elevate your participants to eye-level

• Be flexible in the flow
• Don’t outsmart
• Take them seriously and trust the class

3.Experiment a lot and find your own path

• Observe others and get observed
• Bring your own personality to the class
• Find safe contexts to try new materials and methods

> See also pages 27-32 in the book

Go to https://www.thecasecentre.org. Look out for popular and prize-winning cases.

> See also chapter “Case study selection” on pages 34-40 in the book.

First of all: try to make them read the cases through proper preparation in advance – e.g. by informing them in time about the use of cases, instructing them about the functioning of the case method, and coordinating with colleagues teaching in the same program who also use case studies.

Once you start teaching, you can choose between push (stick) and pull (carrot) techniques. It is important to notice that push strategies (such as case-write ups, aggressive cold-calling, asking unprepared students to leave, grading of participation…) might fire back long-term. Pull techniques such as assigning short, engaging, relevant, and contemporary cases as well as ensuring that your case discussions are fun and engaging are more likely to ensure success when teaching more than just one or very few sessions.

> See also pages 81+82 in the book

• Reinforce rules!
• Turn away from them (don’t look at them at the end of your response)
• “I would like to give others the opp-ortunity to share their perspective.”
• Use them for a role play, e.g. to illustrate that some of their thoughts might be a bit un-reflected
• In a non-humiliating way: make a joke
• Give them a time-out
• Assign them a coaching role for more silent participants

> See also page 80 in the book

• Cold or warm calling (esp. across an entire course)
• “Next contribution from someone who has said nothing so far”
• Counting/numbering to pick student by chance (possibly through last contributing participant)
• Pair or small group discussions during class session (esp. for large groups)
• Use online tools to communicate/ connect with students 
• Grade oral participation

> See also page 80 in the book

1.Prototype rapidly

• Start to write immediately (e.g. opening paragraph)
• Work in fast iterations (’quick and dirty’)
• Stop soon if you reach a dead-end

2.Break the rules – once you master the fundamentals

• Write one or a few simple and rather traditional cases first
• Learn the craft through experience 
• Once you know the conventions – feel free to break all rules

3.Focus on learning outcomes

• Don’t fall in love with your case lead (the story)
• Only write a case if you already have some experience teaching with cases
• Ultimately a case is only a vehicle to reach a learning outcome

> See also pages 131+132 in the book

We propose to follow a 9-step process that we call the “case development funnel”. The case writing chapter in the book describes this process – and the workbook is designed as a series of exercises that follow the case development funnel.

The main idea of the funnel is that you work on case study and teaching note in parallel and in rapid iterations to avoid wasted work if the case study eventually doesn’t work out as planned.

These are the nine steps:

1. Case origin
2. Educational objectives
3. Strategic decisions
4. Tactical choices
5. Operational activities
6. Test use case in class
7. Finishing case & teaching note
8. Publishing the case & teaching note
9. Promoting your case study

> See also pages 134+135 in the book.

Yes! As soon as your case makes use of the tiniest bit of information that is not in the public domain, but that you received from the organization or your contact person, you will need to ask the organization for permission to use and publish the case study. This is usually called “release”.

> See also pages 158-164, 196, and 222-225 in the book.

You will increase the likelihood of finding great leads if you develop a case writer mindset and constantly watch out for possible leads. You can find them for example:

• News (journals, newspapers, TV, blogs, social media…)
• Own observation (e.g. neighborhood, own interaction with companies – as customer, as affected stakeholder…)
• Own experience (e.g. in prior business life; consulting projects…)
• Stories from colleagues, friends, family etc.
• Students/participants (especially in executive education)
  • Students/participants sharing stories in classroom, in coaching/consulting settings and/or informally
  • Students/participants asked to write up essays about own experience (might even be used as text basis for final case)
  • Thesis (bachelor, master, PhD thesis) by students
• Alumni (that want to give back to their school)
• Requests from companies
• Literature (e.g. textbooks…)
• …

> See also pages 138-140 in the book.

The opening paragraph of a case study is the first section of a case study and serves as an introduction that usually encapsulates a ultra-short description of the overall constellation and challenge. A good opening paragraph should usually:

• include the following information:
  • Position of case in time (ideally: specific date/time)
  • Major actors of case (ideally: protagonist plus 1 max 2 other actors)
  • Company (name, industry, size, ownership structure)
  • Immediate issue / decision to be taken / problem of the case
• be brief (ideally: stay clearly below 200 words)
• be written in the third person
• be written in past tense
• create dramatic interest and motivate readers to continue reading
• provide (via immediate issue) implicit instructions for the further reading of the case (what should the reader look for)

… and can later be used as a case summary for the teaching note!

> See also pages 171-176 in the book.

Yes, the large LLM models are usually great in reviewing case studies or drafts (and teaching notes). There is usually just one problem: Often these models have a different understanding of what a “case study” is. E.g. asking ChatGPT to draft a case study will lead to a structure that will include not only questions, but also the main learning points and takeaways. We, however, believe that these should not be in the case study, but only in the teaching note.

We have therefore developed a CustomGPT that we trained with specific instructions on what a case study is and how to assess its quality. You can find it here:

https://chatgpt.com/g/g-M9IOwZ4xG-case-writing-mentor

If you use it: please share your feedback with us. Was the review helpful? What might have been wrong?

There are several journals specializing on the publication of case studies for teaching purposes; but you will reach the broadest audience if you submit your case to one (or several) of the large case study distributors:

• The Case Centre
• Ivey Publishing 
• Harvard Business School Publishing (but ability to published limited to few partner schools)

• Translate the case into different languages to increase its accessibility and applicability in diverse educational contexts
• Develop an abridged version of the case
• Present the case at conferences to showcase it to academic and industry audiences
• Participate in case writing competitions to gain recognition and credibility
• Leverage academic networks to expand the reach, such as sharing with colleagues – especially those covering the academic content that you want to discuss in the context of your case

> See also pages 239–241 in the book.

You can download the book and workbooks from Ubiquity Press and The Case Centre free of charge:

• Textbook: Ubiquity Press; The Case Centre
• Teaching workbook: Ubiquity Press; The Case Centre
• Writing workbook: Ubiquity Press; The Case Centre

Have a look at our “About us” page.