News/Events

WDI Publishing is organizing and administering a case writing competition to celebrate and commemorate WDI’s 25th anniversary and its long history of developing market-based solutions in low- and middle-income countries around the world.

The global competition is open to individual students or student teams, as long as they enter in collaboration with a faculty member from a degree-granting university or college. Faculty or faculty teams may also enter as long as they are currently teaching at a degree granting university or college. Other individuals may also enter, provided they do so in collaboration with a faculty member from a degree-granting university or college. Case study topics must describe a dilemma or challenge faced by a company or organization related to creating, implementing, evaluating, and/or disseminating market-based solutions in developing countries.

To learn more about key deadlines, entry requirements, judging criteria, and to access entry forms and submission documents, click here. For resources on how to write a case study and a teaching note, along with other helpful information, click here.

“We look forward to receiving case study submissions from around the world which provide examples of identifying, adapting and deploying best practices from the private sector into low- and middle-income countries,” said Sandy Draheim, manager of marketing and case publishing at WDI. “And, by formally publishing the winning cases, these examples can be taught and shared in classrooms globally to better prepare future business leaders as they implement sustainable solutions in emerging markets.”

The first place team or individual will win $3,500. The second place team or individual will win $2,500, and $1,000 will be awarded for third place. Additionally, each winning case will be professionally published by WDI Publishing.

Entry forms are due Sept. 29, final documents need to be turned in Dec. 8 and the winners will be announced March 15, 2018.

Judges for the competition are: Kim Bettcher, senior knowledge manager at the Center for International Private Enterprise; John Branch, clinical assistant professor of business administration at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business; Gautam Kaul, professor of finance and the Fred M. Taylor Professor of Business Administration at Michigan Ross; and, Jordan Siegel, associate professor of corporate strategy at Michigan Ross.

WDI Publishing has organized and administered past case writing competitions. From 2011-2015, NextBillion, an affiliate of WDI, and NextBillion partner Citi Foundation sponsored competitions for the best-written case studies about business strategies aimed at alleviating poverty – especially at the economic base of the pyramid.
In 2017, WDI is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Institute’s founding. The year-long commemoration will culminate with a campus-wide talk by Nobel Laureate Sir Angus Deaton.