WRITING A CASE

This is an extremely interesting activity, for the wmer, and the reader. For the student who will
eventually study it and leam from it, teaching by the case method will develop all sorts of skills:
analy1ica l, decision making , application, oral and v.rrinen communication, time management,
social, creative. Which are all things that the case writer needs to keep in mind when writing the
case in the first place. For the case writer it will develop logical thinking, planning and
investigative sk ills. Some important tips :

• Always use the past tense throughout the case, except in direct quotes and exhibits.
• Keep your writing style clear and concise, withou t idioms or colloquialisms . I understand
that it'll s~eem awkward in the beginning but we'll a ll get used to it~
• Cse information the company will' approve the release of. If you're going to use a
disgl!ise , make sure the informat ion can stiIl be clearly understood.
• Give your case a neutral title : it does not need to be creative

The Case

The Opening Paragrapb

The most important pan of the case is the opening paragraph . In the words of James Erskine. the
internationa lly renowned case wri ter and teacher: " The opening paragraph can be seen as an
e:epiece or a le ns that directs the reader of the case through the subsequent information" It is the
bas ic introduction to the case, and tells the reader what the problem is , and w hat the sen ing is : it
puts the whole case in context. Therefore , it needs 10 be the most focused part of the case.

And it must:

a) Ident ify the decision maker by name and position

b) Iden tify the time of the case
c) Identify the location of the organization
d) Identi fy the issue / decision / problem / opport.u.ni!:·.
e) This must be interesting enough for class discllssion, or , as in this case, for publication
in an international journal
f) Identi fy the action trigger: what was it that made the decision maker decide to do
something about h is / her issue / decision / problem / oppo rtunity?

Try to keep the opening paragraph to about 60 words . Don't foltow th is rule slavishly, but
generally everythir.g that needs to be sa id in the opening paragraph can be said in about 60 words .

Look at this opening paragraph :

•
It ""as 7'h October, 2002, and FaisaI Hussain was sining in his office star ing at the sun
sen ing behind the mountains, through his window . He was going over his company's
annual progress report . ~orthern Artisans was in trouble: they had become unable to
market the local art isans' products they had been selling for the past five years and their
profits were down . Hussain was wondering hov. to bring the sales back up .

This paragraph has seve.al weaknesses:

 L We don ' t know who F aisal Hussain is, so we don't know h is dec ision making power.
2. The fact that the sun is setting behind the mountains is completely irrelevant to the case .
(This kind ofWTiting is especially attractive to beginners, hut please avoid it~)
3. There is no action trigger. The company's sales have gone down, but we need to know
whY: and what Was it that suddenly made Faisal Hussain decide that something should be
do~e about the situation? Why now, why not six months ago, or a year?
4 It's too long (72 words), yet there is vital information missing. This means that we'v::
Llsed words unnecessarily: what we could have said in five words, we've said in ten.

~ow look at this revised opening paragraph:

7'h October, 2002 : Faisal Hussain, CEO of ~onhern Artisans, was sining in his office in
Gilgit~ going over the company's annual progress report . He was disturbed at the thought
that marketing the local artisans' products was nOW going to be extremely hard, because
international tourism had fal1en off after 911 I . Hussain wanted to develop an appropriate
program.

This is a bener opening paragraph because it contains:

1. The date
2. The decision maker ' s name
3 The decision maker's position in the compan)­
4 The location of the company
5 The problem
6 The action trigger
7. It is short, sharp and succinct. \).,.·ords have :lot been wasted: it has all the infor;-r.a:ion "'e
:Jeed, yet it is 57 words only

2 Company Background

Here you can "'Tite about company history, financial status, who started it and why. This is
classic background information : it wil l be used by the students, in part, to learn about the business
environment of the country, so ..... e can use some extraneous information as well. But it's
important to remember that w·e must not· inundate the reader with information: relevant issues
only shou ld be discussed . For example, in an accounting case pertaining to balance sheets ..... here
the discussion will revolve around Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, lengthy company
background will not be relevant.

3 Specific Area of Interest

In many cases, the issue / decision / problem.' opportunity lies in one specifIC area of the
company: marketing, human resources, production, etc. You can include the history of the
• department in question, recent changes, relations with other departments, main responsibilities,
challenges . If it's a marketing case, ~. . ou can "'rite about marketing strucrures, etc.

4 Specific Issue / Decision / Problem / Opportunity

The specific issue can be given greater discussion here . For example, if the specific issue is :ne
launch of a product, you can discuss issues the product manager might be grappling with, like
whethe:- the product should be launched nationwide or not, what response is expected from
competitors, will this new product lead to cannibalization of the company's existing products.

2
5 Alternatives

This is optional. Although most decisions involve a choice between alternatives, it is up to the
case writer to decide whether he / she wants to give them to the students or to make the case more
difficult by making the students themse~ves :::ome up with alternatives. It will vary case to case .

6 Conclusion

Make it short and to the point. It is useful to reiterate the problem and talk about the way forviard
But DO ~OT go beyond the date given in the opening paragraph - that date is your final date, the
date at which the case E~DS. We cannot talk about any action that took place after this date.
Consider this conclusion to the same case as the opening paragraph we looked at earlier:

The products the artisans made were good quality, traditional wares which had been
extremely popular with foreign tourists. ~ow, in the absence of such tourists, Faisal
Hussain knew that new markets and new promotion alternatives had to be found.

This conclusion reiterates the problem, and talks about the way forv.ard. Most importantl:-, it
brings us back to the time and place of the opening paragraph.

Don 'I be overly concerned if yOUT case 15 brief Brief is good it simp'-", means, nine limes 02.11 of
len Ihal you've managed 10 organize everylhing .... ell

In his book "hiling Cases , Jim Erskine recomr.lends organizing your case as follows:

Opening paragraph

Company baclcround

Specific area of interest

Specific problem

Altematives

•
This is your case out line. The triangle illustTates the main headings, and also demonstrates the
requiri!d detail, in terms of length , of each part of the case: after the opening paragraph, the
greatest detail should be on company background, with specific area of interest slightly shorter,
and so on.

Use headings. They will make Ihe case ciearer, easy for Ihe reader 10 undersland and easy for
wrile JUSI remember thai overdoing il can be distracting.
,\:02.1 10
 Editing Your Case

:\"ow that you've written your case , you need to check it over, usi~g this checklist:

I Are there any gaps left in the story you've told?

2 Have you used the past tense throughout the case? Are the words, especially
names of people and places, spelled correctly?
J Would some information appearing in the case body, for example tables and
charts, be bener presented in the form of an exhibit?
4 Sometimes, information is easier for readers to understand if it is in tables or
charts rather than paragraphs. Would some of the information in your case,
presently a paragraph. be bener understood as part of a table or chart?
5 Are the words chosen used in everyday language?
6 Does your case have many abbreviations? T oo many of these will confuse t'he
reader: if an abbreviation is explained on the first page only, by the t ime you · re
on the third page you've forgonen what it means . Wherever possible, ....Tite the
name out in full.

There should be enough work in Ihe case jor Ihe studenlS 10 do as preparalion for the case for
aboUl r.-.'o hours . A rypical class is of 70 minutes: [he case should keep students and instructor
busy for the duration of the class .

Your case is no.... complete. All you have to do is get the release and finalize the teaching note ,
and you're in business .

WRITI~G THE TEACHI1'G ~OTE

This is an integral part of the case, without which the case 1S not complete and will not be
accepted, by a university Dt a publ!cation.

Remember: the case has been written because we have a speciiic objective in mind. We wan: to
teach a certain function, and we 'll teach it through the case. Also remember that it is difficu'lt to
have a good case without a good teaching Dare.

\\'ithout a good idea of what the teaching note will involve, it's impossible to write a good
case. For this reason many case writers write the teaching note before they write the case.

In a case, everything revolves around why the case is being wrinen . The teaching objectives are
the most important aspect of the case: first you decide the teaching objectives, then, to illustrate
them, you write the case. For example, the instrJctor wants to teach a certain aspect of
management in an :\"GO . He will search for a potential case somewhere in the :\"GO sector, a case
which involves the kind of problem he wants to discuss. Then he'll have it VvTinen out.
•
The teaching note must contain the following:

Brief synopsis of the case, including immediate issues: the decision maker' s ke:­
concems, within the company. The main problem can be discussed here .

2 Teaching objectives: what exactly will the case teach the student? Analytical skills.
managerial, what? These should rearl y be thought out before you begin to write the case :
 they are the reason you're writing the case . We use the case as a vehicle to teach a point.
It must be applicable to other, similar situations: otherwise .it's just a story.

The case writer shou ld be extremely clear about which teaching objective the case was
wrinen for. The case has to be linked with a certain module that the instructor wants to
teach, for example, the four Ps of \1arketing . The instructor could have several cases for
each P.

Typically, the case should teach for example an aspect of management which has
applicability not just to the case situation but many other situations as well. A case so
unique that it can't be applied to a:1other simation may make a good story, 'out is not
useful as a teaching tool.

J Suggested student assignment - the usual practice is to ask the student to put him /
herself in the position of the focal person of the case, the person identified in the opening
paragraph, and to make a decision. Additional ' assignment questions can be more
specifically related to the course content: "What is your analysis of the production
processT and "What is the profitabil ity of the proposed investment':'" and "Who are the
key stakeholders in this case and hov.· will each react to the proposal':'''

4 Suggested additional reading / data gathering

5 Possible teaching aids such as samples, advertising material, photograph5. articles:

videos, computer progra:ns, CDs. visitors to class

6 Discussion questions for use in c lass , to faciliUite c lass discussion .

i Case analysis - answers to the suggested student assignment . You need to analyze the
case in detail beyond which you"d ex.pect a good student to dc . This should give you an
ind ication of whether the case has enough material to reach its objecti\es . If j, doesr. ' t
you might have to revise the case .

8 Suggested time plan - how much time w ill the teacher need to teach the case':' What
should he / she emphasize on , which parts of the discussion should take the mos: I least
time':'

\:ow your case, and your leaching nOle , are complete. \:exI step : send them to me ~

Editor
Case and Research Centre
Lahore Cniversity of \1anagement Sciences (LC\1S)
Opp Sector C . Defense Housing Authority. Lahore , Pakistan
• Tel: 092 042 S722670-9 . ext 280 I
Email: ayesha.khan~lum5.edu . pk

~ote: for more detailed information see Writing Cases

by \1ichiel R Leenders ,
Louise A \1aufene-Leenders and James A Erskine