In a business school in Puebla, Mexico, numerous methodologies were introduced to create a more active learning environment as part of the new educational model. One of such methodologies was the use of case studies. Initially, cases were bought from different case centers, and/or adapted from books, which was costly and did not necessarily help students from rural communities and small villages understand the reality that businesses in the region were facing. An initiative was established to develop a writing group integrated by faculty members. Integration was fast and smooth, and the initiative turned into a writing club that produced case studies based on local businesses and businessmen, and specialized in rural and marginalized communities that have developed different entrepreneurial projects. The process in which the group was organized and the methods used to promote collaborative writing are described including the tricks of the trade of the group, which in only two years has created a repository of over 50 cases. The cases will be published as a book in 2019.
TopBackground
One of the most recurrent problems when analyzing the case method is the difficulty to reach a commonly accepted definition. This is due to the vast diversity of notions and concepts that have been generated around the case. In general, a case is considered as a written document with different variants that show a real situation lived by a person or a group, which is useful to develop personal and collective reflection, conducing to the acquisition of practical knowledge.
Nevertheless, different authors have set forward their own ideas. The case is no longer restricted to written materials, it can use new technologies like video, audio, video conferencing, and others; and there are even in presence cases, in which the protagonist explains the case. The case method has meant teaching methods, activities, documents and tools (Leenders, Mauffette-Leenders & Erskine, 2001, p. 2).
References based on the case method show multiple concepts or notions that can be associated with it including: case, case study, scene, case report, case system, (Floyd-Thomas, 2010); case story (Hamel, Dufour y Fortin, 1993); case work (Johansson, 2003); incident (Wright, 1996); life story (Boisen, 1946); case method (Leenders, Mauffete-Leenders & Esrkine, 2001); business case (Kellogg, 1985); mini case or short case, etc. Some of these concepts have been used as synonyms of the case method but can also be used as specific distinctions of it. Short cases are used to attract attention towards a particular topic, and are one of the most frequently used kinds of cases, as most text books include a section of these.