By Estefania Santacreu Vasut, Associate Dean for Pedagogy, and Sophie Magnanou, K-lab Director.

On October 15th 2024 ESSEC Dean’s office, K-lab and Together team organized an event about case writing and publishing.This event was an opportunity to gather the ESSEC case writing community and reiterate the importance of using the case method in business schools. It was also an opportunity to embark new colleagues, sharing good practices and presenting the resources and support available for ESSEC professors interested in writing and publishing cases. Last but not least, the event provided inspiration to colleagues by celebrating ESSEC Professor Harris Kyriakou’s recently awarded case. 

Professor Harris Kyriakou shared insights regarding the writing and publishing process in the context of his recent awards by the Case Centre which was represented by Kate Cook, Director of Training and Events. Kate Cook presented the Case Centre 2024 Overall Award and the Outstanding Compact Case competition Award for his case ChatGPT vs Google and the Future of Search. 

The awarded case has been taught to around a thousand students in nearly 20 organizations across 13 different countries. Instructors’ feedback after using the case was very positive, stressing how the case relies on real world context to analyze AI issues by encouraging critical thinking and discussions. The judges of the Compact case competition also stressed the usefulness of the material designed to help professors teach the case, and the novelty and accuracy of the case with potential broad applications of the theory*.

The Case Centre is a 50 years non profit organization based in the North of London dedicated to disseminate the case method worldwide, and has been an ESSEC partner and distributor since 2002. Cases from the ESSEC case collection have already been distinguished with 6 awards. Kate Cook acknowledged the quality of ESSEC Case Publishing Support. The recognition portfolio of the Case Centre enables to shine light each year on the cases most sold, or long lasting over the years and of course to attribute awards to individuals writing or teaching cases. The Case Centre awards cases in four competitions : Outstanding Case Writer or New Case Writer, Outstanding Compact Case (5 pages or less) and Outstanding Case Writer on Hot Topics (”Generative AI Business and Society” for 2024/2025).The Case Awards recognize most adopted cases published at least since 5 years in nine management plus a free case and Overall categories.

The ESSEC case collection was created in 2003 at the Case Centre (Cranfield) and in 2009 at the CCMP (Paris). The collection currently counts nearly 300 cases, mostly in english. To promote case writing and publishing, the K-lab supports the School’s Faculty members along the entire length of the case writing process: Learning structure, case storyline, translation, editing and proofreading, graphic design, case deposit, referencing and SEO, communication via internal and external partners and partnerships, follow up on sales and royalties. 

In addition, and as part of the school’s strategic emphasis on sustainability, also known as Together, and in cooperation with CY University, ESSEC provides support to help faculty write cases about sustainability. This support takes the form of a case writer which works with faculty. During the event, Maud Chassande, Head of Ecological Sustainability, animated a round table with the presence of Professor of Management Practice Dorothée Sidokpohou, and with Professor Arthur Gautier. Both benefited from such support and shared how their interactions with the case writer were pivotal in getting them to publish their cases. 

The goal of the Sustainability case Factory is to contribute to the transformation of management education in order to support the necessary ecological and social transition of our economies. To do so, it supports the development of new educational material, adapted to teaching this new approach to management to build more sustainable and virtuous economies. Selected faculty benefit from the support of a case writer in writing a case project on a sustainability topic. Today more than 13 cases are already published and used by ESSEC students.

To conclude, at Pedagolab, we took advantage of this event to undertake an in-depth interview with ESSEC’s Sustainability Case Writer, Patrick Lenormand : 

Can you detail your profile in a few words?

After teaching English and French as a foreign language, I switched to journalism, working as a writer and an editor for print web media. I specialize in environmental issues (renewable energies, sustainable development) but I would say my main specialization… is being a generalist professional. Addressing any new topic/issue with fresh eyes, adopting the future reader’s view with simple, essential questions is an everlasting pleasure for me. Aside from this activity, I’m a teacher in journalistic techniques, I write guides and I became familiar with academic research when doing my Phd in Information and Communication Sciences.

How do you adapt to the different projects presented by ESSEC teachers?

I arrange a meeting or exchange with the teacher to try and understand first his/her area of expertise. Second, I try to identify the different trends and issues of his/her area. Then I start asking him/her questions about the issue he/she has in mind, trying to understand what is at stake in order to define the best angle for the case. I also ask questions and request information on the company or organization chosen to best illustrate the case, before finding information on my own.

Are there any specificities in writing a pedagogical case?

The basic principles are the same as in many written productions. First, you have to think about your target audience. In this situation, there are 2 future readers: the student and the teacher who will use your case… they are the ones who matter, and not the communication or HR Department of the company… Then, you have to identify the best angle to approach the issue, the topic you want to illustrate with this company or organization. The case writers also have to keep one thing in mind: can the information provided be useful to illustrate a larger view, detached from the limited perspective of the company or organization that was chosen for the case? Also, will the article enable the student to answer the future questions from the teacher?

From a more general point of view, teachers should consider their future case as a synthesis, some carefully selected information and not an exhaustive, academic-style article. As I said, the angle is the key: it will help us build the structure, choose (or discard) the information and organize it. It’s a mix of 3 things, actually: it relies on the writing and editing techniques of journalism, it looks like a crystal-clear informative text with its plain, pedagogical writing style but has the rigor and discipline of an academic production with its preliminary abstract, its appendices and illustrations. Last and not the least: it’s also a lot of fun, and very rewarding too!

* Harris Kiriakou will hold a free webinar with the Case Centre on Thursday, 21st November, The Ingredients of an Award-Winning Case.