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With demand rising for country-specific business cases, the William Davidson Institute, in collaboration with USAID, delivered its fourth case writing workshop for university faculty in the Philippines – the second held this year in the country.

In the past, one workshop was held annually. But this year, a second was added for Sept. 5-7 as previous workshop participants have increasingly begun to teach cases they developed, creating a greater demand from Filipino faculty who have not had the opportunity to attend the workshop and write their own case studies.

The workshop is part of the Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development – or, STRIDE – initiative, a five-year, multimillion-dollar effort funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with RTI International. Its goal is to foster economic growth and development in the Philippines through support of education, research and industry partnerships in high-growth economic fields, including science and technology.

“Many participants have heard about the workshops from their colleagues and have seen case studies being taught successfully at their schools,” Daniel DeValve, project administrator for WDI’s Grants Management team, said about the workshop’s popularity in the Philippines. “Plus, working with small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on real-world issues and learning the case teaching methodology also improves teaching pedagogy, which leads to increasing demand.”  

Thirty-two professors from a variety of disciplines and representing more than 15 colleges and universities were chosen from 45 applicants to attend the three-day workshop in Cebu City. After hosting the first two workshops in Manila, the past two have been held outside the capital city to capture the experience and input of professors at universities from around the country. Last April’s workshop was held in Iloilo City.

Julie Felker, a WDI case writing consultant and former associate dean at the University of Michigan-Dearborn College of Business, led the September workshop. She said the participants were very enthusiastic and committed to getting their cases published.

“They really appreciated that not only would their own students benefit from the cases, but through WDI Publishing’s global network, students from all over the world could be exposed to the opportunities and challenges facing Filipino SMEs,” Felker said.

Each faculty member arrived at the workshop with an idea for a case study that examines a company or organization in the country. During the three-day workshop, Felker and WDI case writing consultant Andrea Meyer assisted the professors in drafting their case studies.

“The participants really seemed to appreciate the systematic approach that we took to case writing and took full advantage of the time set aside for actually drafting sections of their case,” Felker said. “My goal was to have them write as much as possible during the three days we spent together so they would have a solid foundation on which to complete their first drafts.”

The professors continue to receive guidance from Meyer after the workshop and once their case study is complete, they will send the draft to WDI Publishing for additional editing and feedback.

WDI Publishing Manager Sandy Draheim also attended the workshop and gave attendees a view into what happens with their business case when it arrives at WDI and is put into the pipeline for formal publication.

“Throughout the workshop, I was able to share ‘real world’ examples of what happens throughout the case publishing process,” Draheim said. “Additionally, Professor Felker would periodically look to me to share anecdotes with the attendees about common case writing challenges, legal approvals, and what makes a good case.”

Completed cases will be featured on the Philippines Case Collection hosted by WDI Publishing and available for free to faculty around the world. To date, 52 cases and mini-cases written by previous workshop participants are available. Visits to the case collection web page continue to grow, and Draheim consistently markets the cases to a growing list of professors in the Philippines as well as those around the world.

The cases are some of the first to be written by Filipino professors about domestic companies, and discuss the challenges and successes of companies and organizations in a variety of fields – including healthcare, software, ecotourism, microfinance, marketing, and many others. The cases will help prepare students for careers in these high-growth sectors by exposing them to real-life challenges and dilemmas of Filipino companies, and encouraging them to use creative problem-solving skills.