Structure & Elements of
Noteworthy Cases
March 27, 2012
Teaching Innovation Fund presentation
Cheryl Kirschner,
Babson Case Center Editor-in-Chief
Scope and Purpose
Scope
• Discrete topic (e.g., Blue Herron)
• Capstone
• multidisciplinary exploration
Types of cases we are encouraging
• Entrepreneurial Thought and Action
• Social, Economic and Environmental Responsibility
and Sustainability
• Russia-related
• Video bricks or video teaching notes
• Global focus
Writing the Case
Length
• Single digit pages, excluding exhibits
Style
• Crisp, clear, engaging, current, tightly-written and readable
• Level of stylistic sophistication should be appropriate for
publication in the Wall Street Journal.
Format
• Harvard Style Guide
• Leave open-ended, unresolved questions and issues
Read through three lenses:
• The student
• The teacher
• The editor
Teaching Note
• Lesson Objectives
• Lesson Plan (e.g., Blue Herron)
• Anticipate students’ questions, “pain points” for
students, teaching approaches
• Include related activities such as homework
assignments, discussion questions, group
projects, in-class exercises, etc.
• Goal: Show faculty how this case can be used,
but also get faculty to begin brainstorming on
other ways they could use it.
Copyright Do’s and Don’ts
Don’t assume that:
• anything on the web is fair game. Almost all websites are
copyrighted (exceptions: “works of the US government,”
court cases)
• because you are using copyrighted material for an
educational purpose, it is excepted
• because you aren’t going to charge for it, it’s not a copyright
violation
• your use of copyright is enhancing the value of the
copyrighted material, so there’s no harm.
Do:
• get written copyright permission (email is OK) from the
copyright owner
• ask if you are in doubt.
Who Do You Need Permissions From?
• companies and people whose material was
provided to the author
• individuals who were interviewed in the
preparation of the case
• data and graphics taken from the web or other
sources (photos, financial charts, drawings,
graphs, etc.) which are incorporated into the case.
What Sells?
By discipline? Harvard and ECCH sell the most cases in the disciplines of Strategy
and General Management, followed by:
• OB, then Finance, then Marketing (Harvard)
• HR/OB, then Finance and Accounting (ECCH)
Relevance of Teaching Note?
• All 450 of Harvard’s “Premier Case Collection” have teaching notes.
• While only 52.5% of ECCH cases had a teaching note, those that did sold an
average of 135 more copies, nearly doubling the chance of adoption.
• 80% of the 50 most popular ECCH cases have teaching notes.
ECCH statistical analysis of 3,895,002 case copies sold by ECCH from 1993 to 2008
revealed:
• Field-researched cases sell “significantly better” than those based on published
sources.
• Of all the variables ECCH used in this study, the one with the biggest impact on
sales is an available video, selling an average of 413 more copies than one
without, more than tripling the chance of adoption – yet only 3% of cases offered
videos.
• After 10 pages of text, sales decline steadily for each additional page.
Editorial and Publication Process
Author writes case and ensures that it:
• conforms to HBS Style Guide
• has a teaching note
• has all copyright clearances and permissions.
Case is submitted to Kathy Esper at the Babson
Teaching Center and is assigned to a case editor.
Case is reviewed and case editor corresponds with
author regarding suggested revisions.
When complete, case is formatted and sent to ECCH
and/or Harvard for publication and distribution.
Babson College Author Agreement
Author will provide all releases and copyright clearances.
Babson holds the copyright. This allows Babson to:
• publish, distribute and sell the case
• convert the case to another format
• translate the case into another language.
Author has a personal, royalties-free, worldwide license to:
• use the case in his/her class (at Babson or elsewhere)
• publish in a textbook which the author has written, edited or
contributed to
• publish in a compilation of cases
• publish in whole or in part in a journal article.
Author may not license or sublicense the case.
Resources
ECCH study What Drives Case Sales?
http://www.ecch.com/files/downloads/research/whatdrivescasesale
s.pdf
ECCH online guidance on case writing:
http://www.ecch.com/educators/submitcases/guidance/resources
ECCH online guide to obtaining permissions when writing cases:
http://www.ecch.com/educators/submitcases/guidance/caserelease
Ten Big Myths About Copyright Explained, by Brad Templeton. Good
copyright overview (linked by kind permission!):
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
The definitive copyright site: http://www.copyright.gov/ (see
especially: “Copyright Basics”)