San Antonio Conference: A Success Story! Submitted by Carol Cumber

Fall 2011 NACRA Newsletter

Editor: Carol J. Cumber, Ph.D.

Dept. of Economics

Scobey 504

South Dakota State University

Brookings, SD 57007

(605) 688-4849

carol.cumber@sdstate.edu

Inside this issue:

Conference Highlights 1

Outgoing President’s Mes-

sage

2

Boston, Here We Come! 3

NACRA Membership 3

NACRA Officers 2011-2012 4

NACRA Awards Winners 5

P & T War Stories 6

NACRA Grants & Governance

Awards

7

Can Cases Add Rigor to

Business Education?

8

Newsletter Distr. Changes 9

New President Address 10

Regional Associations 10

WCA Highlights 11

Harvard Agreement 12

CRJ Editor’s Report 13

NACRA Hall of Famer 14

Using NACRA Cases 15

Thank you! 16

Newsletter Contact Info 16

Sunny skies, warm weather and friendly people set the stage for a successful 2011 NACRA Con-

ference in San Antonio, TX October 13-15. Our conference home was at the lovely St. Anthony

Hotel, near the famed River walk.

Highlights of the program included:

Lively roundtable sessions for 96 cases in

17 Tracks

Mentoring sessions for 14 embryo cases

Forty participants in the Newcomer’s

Workshop

Four university sponsors

A well-attended plenary session that in-

cluded the presentation and discussion of

the video case ―Frog’s Leap Winery in

2011‖

A choice of quality concurrent sessions

Friday afternoon on themes such as online

instruction with cases, using and leverag-

ing technology, storytelling & business

education, integrating cases, and research

methodology & theory building

Dinner at the Texas Land & Cattle Compa-

ny Restaurant followed by the music pro-

duction ―San Antonio Rose Live‖ at the

Aztec Theater

Awards galore, including a new $10,000

CMA corporate governance case competi-

tion

Tupper Cawsey being honored as our new-

est NACRA Fellow

An opportunity to reconnect with old

friends and make new friends

We look forward to another great meeting at the Boston Quincy Marriott in Quincy, MA,

October 25-27, 2012. Be sure to come, and bring a colleague….or two!

Greetings to NACRA members!

NACRA made some major progress during the past couple of years. We had so many people’s

help, visibly and invisibly, for which I am grateful. Thank you all. Below is just a sample of

these accomplishments.

1) Grew NACRA’s membership: in addition to organic growth, there is some compelling

evidence that we have truly globalized our organization. Please see the membership

statistics in Table 1 below; some of these statistics may surprise you!

Outgoing President’s Message Submitted by Armand Gilinsky

Page 2 Fall 2011

“Please get active or en-

courage a colleagues to

continue building NACRA:

become a track chair or

board member! Join us at

the upcoming regional case

writing conferences and see

you at NACRA in Boston,

2012!

Armand Gilinsky,

Outgoing NACRA President

3-Year period

USA

Canada

Mexico/Latin America

Asia/Pacific

Europe

TOTAL

2009-2011 355 51 59 49 18 580 2006-2008 458 36 10 22 12 538 2003-2005 403 17 4 17 6 399 (Source: NACRA Membership databases, 2003-2011)

2) Made a seamless transition to a new Editor at the Case Research Journal — all

cases are current and should be already in your hands or soon on the way.

3) Diversified our publishing outlets beyond the Case Research Journal via a new

the European Case Clearing House (ECCH).

4) Nurtured our relationships to other academic organizations via past and present

awards for best student-authored entrepreneurship cases).

5) Supported case writers financially via the ongoing NACRA Grant program for

case researchers and travel awards for doctoral students to attend the NACRA

conference.

6) Continued to provide mentoring for novice case writers via our Newcomers’ pro

gram and Embryo case tracks.

7) Created, in conjunction with Director’s College, Alberta, Canada, the new

$10,000 Award for best case in Corporate Governance.

Thanks again to Vi Narapareddy (Program Chair), Marlene Reed (Local Arrangements),

and Marilyn Taylor (Proceedings) who collectively put in several ―person-years‖ to make

the San Antonio conference a success!

Please join us on October

25-27, 2012 for the NA-

CRA Annual Meeting.

The 2012 meeting will be

held at the Boston Quincy

Marriott in Quincy, Mas-

sachusetts.

There are multiple reasons

to put this conference on

your list--the Boston

Quincy Marriott is an

upscale property with

spacious guestrooms, a sauna, fitness center, indoor pool, and

meeting facilities that are perfect for the NACRA meeting. The

hotel is centrally located; with easy access to Boston, Quincy,

and Cape Cod should you decide to extend your stay before or

after the conference.

My own experience at the NACRA Annual Meetings reinforces

my belief that the conference represents an unparalleled oppor-

tunity for a case author to get valuable input and direction from

individuals who have taught, written, and published cases in their

discipline.

For the 2012 meeting, cases and symposia proposals have a

deadline of June 30, and embryo cases have a deadline of

September 1.

As in 2011, the Certified Management Accountants of Alberta,

Canada will fund a $10,000 award for the best case presented in

the Corporate Governance Track. Please consult the website at

www.nacra.net for updates on the conference program and spe-

cific details for case submission.

As a NACRA member, you can access newsletters online and

will receive various e-mail updates regarding the conference.

I encourage you to share this information with your non-member

colleagues who are interested in case writing. The roundtable

format depends upon a critical mass of case writers and teach-

ers—all of us benefit as conference participation grows.

NACRA Membership Submitted by Chad Carson

Boston, Here We Come! Submitted by Kathryn Savage

Page 3 Fall 2011

Please send questions, comments

or ideas for the conference to me

at:

Kathy Savage

(kathy.savage@nau.edu),

2012 VP-Programs

Hello NACRA Friends,

We had a great conference in San Antonio and I really enjoyed

meeting many first time NACRA attendees…we certainly hope

you all come back to NACRA 2012 in Boston. Our member-

ship continues to become much more geographically diverse

and I think we as an Association need to embrace the growing

―Internationalization‖ of NACRA going forward. Here is a

snapshot of membership trends over the last 5 + years:

Membership Trends from our membership lists online:

2007 (Keystone, Co) 171

2008 (Durham, NH) 260

2009 (Santa Cruz, CA) 319

2010 (Gatlinburg, TN) 284

2011 (San Antonio, TX) 220…to date

2012 (Boston, MA) 141…to date

One last important note regarding your membership sta-

tus: In order to participate in 2011 royalties from your CRJ

cases that have been adopted and purchased by others, you

MUST be a paid member by December 1, 2011.

To Join NACRA go to www.nacra.net and click the JOIN

NOW button.

Tell your colleagues about NACRA!

Chad Carson

NACRA VP of Membership

President: Jeff Shay, Washington & Lee University

Immediate Past President: Armand Gilinsky, Sonoma State University

President-Elect: Vijaya Narapareddy, University of Denver

VP Programs: Kathryn Savage, Northern Arizona University

VP Programs-Elect: Janis Gogan, Bentley University

VP Case Marketing: Susan Peters, Francis Marion University

VP Membership: Chad Carson, Samford University

VP Communications: Carol Cumber, South Dakota State University

Secretary/Treasurer: Kay Guess, St. Edward’s University

Editor, CRJ: Deborah Ettington, Penn State University (Ret)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

Advisory Council Chair: Linda Swayne, UNC Charlotte

Advisory Council Vice-Chair: Marilyn Taylor, University of Missouri—KC

Canada: Rosemary McGowan, Wilfrid Laurier University

Mexico (ALAC): Martha Corrales, Tecnologico de Monterrey

East (CASE) Bill Naumes, University of New Hampshire

Midwest (SCR) James Camerius, Eastern Michigan University

Southeast (SECRA) Chris Cassidy, Sam Houston State University

Southwest (SWCRA) Joe Kavanaugh, Sam Houston State University

West (WCA) Jyoti Bachani, Saint Mary’s College of California

Director at Large:

Bambi Douma, University of Montana

Josep Franch, ESADE Business School

Nancy Levenburg, Grand Valley State University

APPOINTED POSITIONS:

Newsletter Editor: Carol Cumber, South Dakota State University

Webmaster: Christian Ratterman, Mountain View, CA

Archivist: Bill Naumes, University of New Hampshire

Page 4 Fall 2011

NACRA Officers 2011-2012

Past NACRA President Becky Morris

reminds us to remember the à la mode

while in San Antonio!

Temperature while at San Antonio? 85º.

Temperature in board meeting room? 45º !

Page 5 Fall 2011

A CELEBRATION OF THIS YEAR’S AWARD WINNERS:

Curtis E. Tate, Jr. Award

―Babbitt Ranches: Governance and Strategic Planning in a Family Business.‖

Lisa Majure & Kathryn Savage, Northern Arizona University

First Runner-Up

―The Backyard Harvest: Outgrowing Hunger One Community at a Time.‖

John Lawrence, Michele O’Neill, Heidi Connole, University of Idaho

Second Runner-Up

―Novica: the Arts and Crafts of Social Venturing.‖

Elissa Grossman & David Choi, Loyola Marymount University

Outstanding Newcomer Case Award

―The National Band & Trust: A Determination of Fair Market Value.‖

Keith F. Sellers, University of Denver

Ruth Greene Memorial Case Award

―Easypaisa.‖

Shazib Shaikh and Zahoor Syed, Lahore Univ. of Mgmt Science

Philip D. Cooper Award

―Controls in the NICU.‖

Janis Gobin, Scott, Boss, Balaji Sankaranaryanan, James Linderman

Bentley University

Jonathan Welch Case Award

―Autopistas del Centro‖

Francisco J. Lopez Lubian, IE Business School, Spain

Best Workshop Case: Gold, Silver, and Bronze Awards

GOLD

―A Telemedicine Opportunity or a Distraction?‖

Janie Goban & Monica Garfield, Bentley University

SILVER

―Mountainview Country Club: Who’s Minding the Store?‖

Carolyn Conn & Aundrea Kay Guess, St. Edward’s University

BRONZE

―Getting Ready to Retire: Planning for the Future at Bridge Adult Service

Centre.‖

Gina Grandy & Rhiân Stewart, Mount Allison University

Case Research Journal Editor’s Award to Outstanding Reviewers

Katherine Breward –University of Western Ontario

Tom Hinthorne, Montana State University-Billings

Lynda Livingston, University of Puget Sound

Susan Sieloff –Northeastern University

Gerald Weinstein-John Carroll University

New NACRA Fellow Tupper Cawsey, Wilfrid Laurier University

Promotion & Tenure War Stories….. Submitted by Armand Gilinsky

Page 6 Fall 2011

OK gang,

Here's what my experience has been with

cases and tenure committees, and you all

are welcome to share your stories with

our VP Communications/Newsletter edi-

tor Carol Cumber

carol.cumber@sdstate.edu for an up-

coming issue. And it's based upon some

advice that Marilyn Taylor may or may

not recall giving me on the deck of the

Delta Queen many years ago at a NA-

CRA conference in Lexington KY/

Cincinnati OH.

When I first came on the scene at Sono-

ma State University, no one was writing

cases nor using cases much except as

"end of the chapter" vignettes. Profs

would play the "sage on the stage" and

analyze the case vignettes for students. I

was alone in using textbook cases to cre-

ate dialogues in both capstone strategy

and entrepreneurship/small business

courses. Our new Dean was receptive to

promoting case writing, but he had very

little sway over the department and

school tenure committees. My first tenure

review was a mess, because the depart-

ment committee for some reason omitted

my personal statement consisting of

teaching philosophy and how my case

research program had begun to provide

content as well as provide extraordinary

learning experiences for students.

My "aha" moment came when I decided

to write cases about local organizations

and ask the chairs of both department and

school tenure committees to participate

as co-authors on two separate case pro-

jects. I invited these senior faculty mem-

bers to participate in the field interviews,

help correct errors of fact and data in the

early case drafts, take notes during the

initial classroom tests, and make correc-

tions to the draft of the case and IM dur-

ing the final editing process before jour-

nal or textbook submission (or during the

revision and resubmission phase for jour-

nals). And they mostly took me up on it!

At that time, our School of Business and

Economics was getting ready for AACSB

initial accreditation and many senior fac-

ulty had not published in a long while (if

ever). So, co-authoring a published case

was a home run for them, and for me, at

least a "double," as now some members

of the tenure committee understood what

was involved in the process of crafting a

publishable case and teaching note. Oth-

ers soon asked if they could work with

me and get involved and (of course) pub-

lished.

At the university level, however, it was a

bit more complicated, as the then chair of

the university tenure committee was a

long-time faculty member from the polit-

ical science department and a person not

necessarily "friendly" with the business

school. I invited this faculty member to

come to my class and do a peer evalua-

tion. Many of my colleagues warned me

not to do this. The prof watched me lead

a dialogue with 50 students on the "Robin

Hood" case and even got deeply involved

in the discussion. After class, the prof.

came to me and ask if I might do a case

study on a community non-profit organi-

zation co-founded by himself, his wife,

and another political science professor. I

received tenure and promotion to full

professor; the non-profit case was even-

tually published in the Case Research

Journal and several textbooks; royalties

that I receive (or at least can identify)

from that case are sent to the non-profit

each year as my annual donation. Since

then I have given several case writing

and case teaching "professional develop-

ment" (brown-bag lunch) workshops for

our business school faculty.

In case you all were wondering, Marilyn

Taylor’s advice to me was to "play the

politics of inclusion when you are writing

cases — get colleagues and the commu-

nity involved." Thanks! That worked.

Editor’s Note: When case writers come together, we talk about our passion for the case method, both in relation to writing and

teaching. We also discuss the importance of “spreading the word” to bring new case writers into the fold. That inevitably leads to

a conversation about whether or not case research “counts” for promotion and tenure. With that in mind, Armand Gilinsky, im-

mediate past-president of NACRA, shares his story and encourages you to do the same.

―….play the politics

of inclusion when you

are writing cases….‖

NACRA Grants for Case Research Submitted by Jeff Shay

Page 7 Fall 2011

Congratulations to the recipients of our fifth round of $10,000 Case Research Grants! Last year NACRA’s Board decided to allocate

up to $10,000 for one case research grant and to allocate up to $10,000 for travel grants to encourage doctoral students, MBA stu-

dents, and undergraduates to submit a case and attend our meetings. Remember that these grants are possible because of the royalties

earned by cases YOU publish in the Case Research Journal and YOU adopt for use in your classes. Thank you for helping us sup-

port excellence in case research and foster the development of the next generation of case researchers through our travel grants. We

hope that by inspiring these scholars and supporting the expenses of their work we will help demonstrate the importance and credi-

bility of case research to all of our constituents.

2011 Funded Proposal:

The Role of Institutional Environment in the Transfer of Best

Practices in Cross- Border Inter-firm Networks: The Case of

Miratech Lviv and Rusbitex

Principal investigator: Ekaterina Turkina, Assistant Professor,

Department of International Business, HEC Montreal; visiting

professor at Political Science Department, McGill University

Ekaterina Turkina attended the 2011 meeting in San Antonio to

review her initial progress reports with the grant review commit-

tee. She will present results of their research at the 2012 meeting

in Boston.

2011 Funded Travel Grants:

We received three requests for NACRA Travel Grants and all

three were accepted. The following individuals received these

grants:

John Skardon-Clemson University

Janelle Mann-Queens University

Yongseok Jang-University of Florida

Corporate Governance Awards Submitted by Marlene Reed

For a number of years, NACRA has had three corporate governance awards provided by McMaster University and designed for use

in its Governors College program. This year, the Certified Management Accountants (CMA) of Alberta introduced a new award

which utilized cases submitted and presented at the NACRA annual meeting. The new award was for $10,000. The cases nominat-

ed for this award were reviewed by NACRA reviewers as well as CMA and Governors College reviewers.

The winners are:

CMA Alberta Award

―Apple Board’s Steve Jobs’ Dilemma‖ -Debapratim Purkayastha, IBS Hyderabad

Governors College Awards

First Place Winner

―Lehman Brothers‖ - Randall Harris, California State University at Stanislaus

Honourable Mention

―Ferris Valley Foods Company: Corporate Social Responsibility and Reentry‖ - Nancy Levenburg, Grand Valley State

University and Lisa Eshbach, Ferris State University

―Getting Ready to Retire: Planning for the Future at Bridge Adult Service Centre‖-Gina Grandy and Rhiân Stewart, Mount

Allison University

Recently, two articles written

by David Glenn questioned

the value of business educa-

tion: ―The B-School Blahs,‖

New York Times Education

Life, April 17, 2011 and

―Business Educators Struggle

to Put Students to Work,‖

Chronicle of Higher Educa-

tion, April 14, 2011. Glenn,

a senior writer for The Chron-

icle covering teaching and

curriculum, pointed out that

even though business majors

accounted for one out of five

majors in the U.S., they spent

the least amount of time pre-

paring for class (only 11

hours per week) and scored

the lowest on writing and

reasoning skills. The empha-

sis by business schools on

group projects/papers

(primarily due to large class

sizes and the increasing focus

on research over teaching in

faculty P&T decisions) has

led to lower writing and rea-

soning skills. One 2003 study

found that business professors

have been steadily reducing

the math and analytic-

thinking requirements in their

courses as they increased

requirements related to com-

puter and group presenta-

tions.

Such criticisms of business

education are nothing new. A

1979 survey by Hunger and

Wheelen of deans, personnel

executives, and MBA direc-

tors (An Assessment of Un-

dergraduate Business Educa-

tion in the United States,

McIntire School of Com-

merce Foundation, University

of Virginia, 1980) found the

primary objective of business

education to be developing

problem-solving and analyti-

cal abilities. The leading

weaknesses of business bach-

elor’s degree graduates: They

were perceived to be imma-

ture and impractical (39%),

lacked communication skills -

oral and written (29%), and

had a narrow orientation

(10%). According to the sur-

vey, the top training need of

business bachelor’s degree

graduates for combined initial

and long-term job success

was writing. Interestingly,

the top perceived strength of

business bachelor’s degree

graduates was their

knowledge of basic business

principles and concepts.

The Role of Cases in Busi-

ness Education

All of us who use cases in the

classroom are aware of their

value in developing analytical

and communication skills.

Unlike the usual lecture/

discussion teaching model so

prevalent in American higher

education, the case method

encourages students to deal

with an actual business situa-

tion. Since many of our cas-

es emphasize a decision point

and a protagonist with whom

students can identify, the stu-

dent is put into the position of

having to make a decision and

propose a solution. Written

and oral case analyses gener-

ally demand that a student not

only analyze the case situa-

tion, but also chose one alter-

native out of many. Well-

developed communication

skills are essential if a written

or oral analysis is to be per-

suasive - crucial for effective

decision-making in the ―real

world.‖ Since these benefits

of the case method are gener-

ally known and accepted in

most business schools, why

are our students still criticized

for their poor writing and

analytical skills? Why do we

continue to emphasize the

lecture/discussion method of

teaching when its primary

rationale is the efficient teach-

ing of principles and concepts

– something that our students

already excel in learning?

(continued on page 9)

Can Cases Add Rigor to Business Education? Submitted by J. David Hunger

Page 8 Fall 2011

“According to the

survey, the top

training need of

business bachelor’s

degree graduates for

combined initial and

long-term job

success was writing.”

Editor’s note: Guest columnist J. David Hunger is Professor Emeritus, Iowa State University, Strategic Management Scholar in

Residence, St. John’s University/College of St. Benedict, and a Past-President of both NACRA and Society for Case Research.

Can Cases Add Rigor to Business Education? (concluded from page 8)

Page 9 Fall 2011

Even though the case method serves to

build analytical and communication skills,

its use has never been as widespread in

business education as has the lecture/

discussion method. There are reasons for

this. One weakness of the case method is

its inability to teach the kinds of principles

and concepts that can be quickly measured

via standardized tests. Another weakness

is the decline in student participation and

learning in case discussions when class

size increases beyond a certain point. As

the number of business bachelor degrees

increased from 143, 436 in 1976 (15% of

all bachelor degrees) to more than 325,000

by 2010, deans and faculty have been

forced to steadily increase class sizes to the

point that the case method becomes inef-

fective. More students combined with

steadily increasing business faculty sala-

ries and a greater emphasis on empirical

research invariably led to larger classes

and a greater use of temporary instructors

(who are often not prepared to use cases).

With larger class sizes, the use of cases in

the classroom has been shifting toward

easily graded team assignments such as

computer simulations and oral case presen-

tations. Written case analyses are becom-

ing rare unless they are done by teams of

students. Thus, even though lip service is

often paid to the case method in business

schools, there is increasing pressure upon

business faculty to either forego using cas-

es in favor of the more efficient lecture/

discussion method or utilizing team pro-

jects.

Conclusion

Given the need for business students to

acquire more communication and reason-

ing skills, the case method seems a very

appropriate way to develop these skills in

the classroom. Increasing pressure from

accrediting associations for better assess-

ment of student learning is forcing educa-

tors to rethink their traditional emphasis on

lecture/discussion in large classes to teach

principles and concepts. Those of us who

use the case method in the classroom

should support more rigorous assessment

of communication and analytical skills and

less emphasis on multiple choice tests to

assess the memorization of concepts and

principles. We should push for more case

method teaching throughout the business

curriculum, not just in the capstone strate-

gy class. In addition to demanding smaller

classes, all of us should require less team

written and more individually-written case

analyses in our own classes. Team oral

presentations should be continued as a way

of building oral communication skills, but

they should not replace individually-

written case analysis. It’s time that busi-

ness schools get serious about becoming

―professional schools‖ and work to turn

our students’ weaknesses into strengths.

Used appropriately, cases can add rigor to

business education. We know how to do

it; let’s get going!

“We should push for more

case method teaching

throughout the business

curriculum, not just the

capstone strategy class.”

NACRA Newsletter Changes Distribution Method

Our newsletter will be available solely through our website at

www.nacra.net. Adopting an e-version format will allow NA-

CRA to be better stewards, both financially as well as environ-

mentally.

Our new process will require that you have your current

email address updated in your membership profile on the

NACRA website, www.nacra.net.

You will receive an email that includes a link to the newsletter

section of the NACRA website. You will be able to read the

newsletter online or print out a hardcopy if you prefer.

If you know of someone who does not have computer access,

please let them know of this distribution change and/or print

out a copy for them. If you provide me contact information, I

would be happy to get a hardcopy to them.

Carol Cumber

VP-Communications/Newsletter Editor

carol.cumber@sdstate.edu

Regional Associations

Greetings from NACRA’s New President Submitted by Jeff Shay

Page 10

Southeastern Case Research Association (SECRA)—Feb 16-18, 2012, Myrtle Beach, SC

Program Chair: Lindsey Morrow Hamil, hamillm@musc.edu

President, Susan Peters, speters@fmarion.edu www.secra.org

Southwest Case Research Association (SWCRA)—Feb 29-Mar 1, 2012, New Orleans, LA

Program Chair: Irfan Ahmed, irfanahmed.shsu.edu

President: Rodney Vandeveer, vandevee@purdu.edu www.swcrahome.org

Western Casewriters Association (WCA) —March 22, 2012, La Jolla, CA

Program Chair: Leslie Goldgehn, lesliegoldgehn@gmail.com www.westerncasewriters.org

President: Duane Helleloid, duane.helleloid@business.und.edu

CASE Association—May 9-12, 2012, Philadelphia, PA

Program Chair: David Desplaces, desplacesd@cofe.edu

President: Peggy Naumes, margaret.naumes@unh.edu www.caseweb.org/index.php

Latin American Case Research Association (ALAC) —May 30-31; June 1, 2012 Santiago,

Chile

Program Chair: Sergio Olavarrieta, solavar@unegocios.cl

President: Camilo Mejia, cmejia@uninorte.edu.co www.gda.itesm.mx/cic

Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC)—June 9-12, 1012, St. John’s,

Newfoundland, Canada

Division Chair: Janice Foley, Janice.Foley@uregina.ca www.busi.mun.ca/asac2012/

Midwest– Society of Case Research (SCR)—March 21-23, 2011, Chicago, IL

Program Chair: Karen Berger, SCRChicago@gmail.com www.sfcr.org/

Fall 2011

For those of you who attended, our San Antonio conference was a huge success. I hope that you were all just

as energized as I was as a result of the conference.

This year we’ll continue to pursue several initiatives, including:

Launching a campaign to educate deans, department chairs, and doctoral students as to the scholarly rigor

involved with case research

Continuing to build strong strategic alliances with key academic organizations that offer potential syner-

gistic benefits, both in North America and abroad

Fostering continued support for students to submit cases and attend our conference through travel grants

Working with the Case Research Journal to continue to explore new opportunities for special issues and

ways in which we can get more of our cases into classrooms around the world

Introducing a new case teaching award called the Jeff Ellis Excellence in Case Teaching Award that will recognize case teach-

ing performance in the classroom

Some of these may surely be lofty goals, but with the strength the NACRA membership working with me, I’m confident we’ll

achieve great things in the coming year. Don’t just watch from the sidelines…get involved…become a track chair, board member,

reviewer for CRJ, etc. Contact me or one of the officers to let us know how you want to get involved.

I look forward to seeing you ALL in Boston next year!!!

Western Case Association (WCA) Submitted by Jyoti Bachani

The Western Casewriters Association (WCA) was formed in

1989 by by Dick Eisenbeis, at the Western Academy of Manage-

ment (WAM). Since then, the association has convened an annu-

al case-writing conference in association with the annual WAM

conference. The confer-

ence attracts newcomers

as well as loyal regulars

who welcome and men-

tor the newcomers.

In recent years, there has

been an effort to revital-

ize and renew the organ-

ization. At the twentieth

annual conference, held

in Midway, Utah, in

March 2009, then Presi-

dent Jyoti Bachani,

asked Joan Winn to

share some of the histo-

ry of the organization

with the participants.

During the coffee break,

Joan made a quick

phone call to Dick Ei-

senbeis to get some spe-

cifics that she shared during her impromptu presentation during

the business meeting. At that meeting, it was decided that West-

ern Casewriters should have a permanent website. Jyoti Bachani

is grateful to her colleague Barry Eckhouse of Saint Mary’s Col-

lege of California for generously providing the expertise and re-

sources needed to build, host and maintain

www.westercasewriters.org. Prior to this, there were attempts to

have WCA websites at the President’s host universities every

year. The first one was created by Jeff Shay for the conference in

Missoula, Montana, and then it moved every year. Recreation and

redesign of the website every year was problematic as valuable

information was lost and there were invariable delays in getting

approvals from the Universities to host it every year. By having a

permanent home, the WCA website has created one centralized

place to have archives, history and call for cases and information

about the conference and organizational activities in one place,

where it is always available. The institutional memory is

strengthened and the community is growing stronger. It also al-

lows the incoming officers to focus their energy on pursuing new

initiatives as they can hit the ground running with the basic con-

ference information and calls readily updated and available. Past

participants can contribute to marketing the organization to their

colleagues by referring them to the permanent website.

At the 2010 conference in Ha-

waii, then President Stephen

McGuire initiated published

proceedings and awards for best

case and best student case men-

tored by faculty. He also initiat-

ed discussions about potentially

starting a new peer reviewed

journal. At the 2011 Meeting,

held in Victoria BC, under

President Issam Ghazzawi, the

proposal to launch a new online

journal for the organization was

passed.

The current President Duane

Helleloid reports that, ―WCA

had a very successful confer-

ence in Victoria, BC, on March

24, 2011. Twenty cases were

presented, with authors from all

over the Western states, as well

as Nova Scotia, Turkey, Washington DC, and Hawaii. The WCA

also decided to launch a new online journal, with the first issue

coming out sometime in the next year. Steve McGuire

(smcguir@exchange.calstatela.edu) will be the editor. Keep an

eye out for the call for submissions to the journal, as well as the

call for next year’s conference on March 22, 2012, in La Jolla,

California. Leslie Goldgehn (goldgehnl@usfca.edu) will be

program chair. As always, submission guidelines and conference

information will be provided at www.westerncasewriters.org. ―

WCA Introduces New Journal!

The new peer reviewed online journal will be called The Journal

of Case Inquiry and Research. In Steve’s words, it is described as

follows:

―The Journal of Case Research and Inquiry (JCRI) is a publica-

tion of the Western Casewriters Association

(Continued on page 12)

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of newsletter articles that highlight our regionally affiliated associations.

Page 11 Fall 2011

V. Sheshan, Steve McGuire, a WCA participant, Jim Spee, Jyoti

Bachani at the WCA conference in Midway, Utah, 2009

Western Case Association (WCA) (concluded from page 11)

Page 12 Fall 2011

(www.westerncasewriters.org). The

Journal of Case Research and Inquiry

publishes peer-reviewed teaching case

studies (cases) prepared from primary and

secondary research, as well as pedagogical

notes and scholarly articles concerned

with case research and teaching with cas-

es. The journal publishes one issue per

year starting spring 2012, and if submis-

sions so merit, may publish additional

issues with editorial board approval. Cas-

es, notes, and articles published in the

journal are available online, full text, and

free of charge at www.jcri.org.

1. Scope of Journal

The journal publishes cases that address

significant contemporary and perennial

issues faced by organizations and manag-

ers in the areas of business and public

administration, nonprofit management,

and social entrepreneurship. All cases are

accompanied by instructor manuals (IMs)

that are not published but may be provided

to the instructors upon request. All cases

and IMs are double blind peer-reviewed

by at least two reviewers.

2. JCRI open source availability policy

Cases, notes, and articles are available

online at www.jcri.org at no cost to in-

structors and students at state and non-

profit educational institutions, who shall

be granted the right to reproduce them for

educational purposes. The journal shall

encourage instructors to include in their

course syllabi links to the JCRI website so

that students can easily access cases,

notes, and articles.

For reproductions for commercial purpos-

es in textbooks or elsewhere, authors shall

retain all rights.

The call for cases for the new journal is

now in circulation (contact Steve at smc-

guir@exchange.calstatela.edu).

The growth in WCA has also led to closer

ties with NACRA and other regional asso-

ciations, as well as efforts at the national

level. Jyoti Bachani initiated and orga-

nized case-based professional develop-

ment workshops at the Academy of Man-

agement meetings in Montreal in 2010 and

again in San Antonio in 2011. Colleagues

from NACRA, Eastern and Southwestern

Case writers associations as well as Eu-

rope joined in supporting these workshops

that have been sponsored by the Research

Methods and Management Education Di-

vision of the Academy of Management.

The participants at these workshops rated

these to be 4.7 on a 5 point scale, with 5

being the best. There are plans being dis-

cussed for an All Academy Symposium

for this year’s Academy meetings, with

Vijaya Narapareddy

and Mikael Sonder-

gaard as the lead

organizers.

NACRA Signs New Distribution Agreement with Harvard Business School Publishing! Submitted by Deborah Ettington

We are pleased to report that NACRA has signed a contract with our newest distribution partner,

Harvard Business School Publishing. We know from the case usage survey we conducted last year

that many of our members use Harvard cases and the HBSP website for their courses, and this agree-

ment will make it easier to adopt CRJ cases along with others through the Harvard site. If you visit

http://hbsp.harvard.edu/ and search on ―NACRA‖ you will see the list of cases currently on the site

(about 30). We have sent most cases from Volumes 28-30 (2008-10), and will add newer cases after

expiration of the one-year exclusive period we grant XanEdu as the publisher of the CRJ. Harvard is

willing to consider including older cases with strong market potential, so if you use an older CRJ case in your course and would

like to adopt it through Harvard, please contact Debbie Ettington, Editor, Case Research Journal (dettington@nacra.net).

To adopt our newest cases, XanEdu remains our exclusive distributor for one year in recognition of their role in publishing the

CRJ (http://www.xanedu.com). Older NACRA cases can be accessed through XanEdu or our other distributors: ECCH (http://

www.ecch.com), Laurier Institute ( http://www.wlu.ca), McGraw-Hill (http://catalogs.mhhe.com), Pearson (http://

www.pearsonlearningsolutions.com), and Study.net (https://www.study.net.)

Note that teaching notes can be reviewed online by registered instructors at most of these sites. You may also contact Susan Pe-

ters, VP Case Marketing, directly for permission to reprint in course packs (SPeters@fmarion.edu).

Editorial Transition

I am delighted to be serving as your

editor for the Case Research Journal

for the next three years, having taken

over from Tupper Cawsey in June.

Tupper did an outstanding job with

the journal, especially in bringing the

issues up-to-date. Lynn Southard

continues as assistant editor (thank

goodness!) despite her recent retirement from UNC-

Greensboro. She is working diligently with XanEdu and

authors of accepted cases to meet our goal of having all

Volume 31 (2011) cases in members’ hands by the end of

the year.

I am also very fortunate to be supported in my role by con-

tinuing associate editors Steve Dawson and Arieh Ullmann,

and webmaster Christian Ratterman (whom many of us met

for the first time in San Antonio after working with him

virtually for eight years)!

One of the ways Tupper was able to get the journal current

was recruiting guest editors who did a terrific job soliciting

and nurturing cases for special issues. Anne Lawrence pro-

duced Volume 30:4 (Social Responsibility) and 31:2

(Business Ethics), while the Canadian team of Rosemary

McGowan, Donna Stapleton and Bob Blundon edited Vol-

ume 31:3 (Canadian cases). To stay on schedule, I also

have several special issue ideas in the works, and am open

to proposals from editorial ―champions.‖

Special Issue of Cases in Spanish

Professor Jorge A. González from Tecnológico de Monter-

rey, Mexico (jgonza@itesm.mx or (52) 3336-693000 Ext.

2264) will be editing a special issue of cases written initial-

ly in Spanish. This issue will have a two-phase review pro-

cess; the first phase selecting finalist cases that will then be

translated into English and reviewed by CRJ subject area

reviewers. Deadline for the special issue is February 6,

2012. If you can help distribute the call for papers or sug-

gest reviewers fluent in Spanish, please let Jorge or I know.

CRJ Reputation

One of my roles as editor is to continue to work on enhanc-

ing the reputation of the CRJ. I am often asked if the jour-

nal is ranked. To my knowledge, there is not a recognized

ranking of journals publishing teaching cases (if you know

of one, let me know)! Journal rankings are generally based

on citations, which do not apply to teaching cases. Many in

the case writing community share our belief that the CRJ is

the premier journal publishing teaching cases based on: 1)

Longevity (31 years of publication); 2) Rigor (11% ac-

ceptance rate after double-blind peer review of both case

and instructor’s manual (teaching note); and 3) Impact/

Reach (wide distribution through XanEdu, publisher of the CRJ, and

after one year through our other distribution partners including

ECCH, Laurier Institute, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Study.net, and most

recently, Harvard Business Publishing. In addition, CRJ cases are

reprinted in textbooks and course packs. How can you help? Show

CRJ cases and especially the IM’s to your colleagues, especially those

on P&T committees. Adopt them yourself for your courses. Suggest

them to your favorite textbook author. Let us know if you have other

ideas!

Reviewing for CRJ

One of the first things I appreciated about CRJ as a case author was

the timely and developmental review process. Last year our average

time from submission to author feedback was 51 days, beating our 60-

day target. We are all indebted to our reviewers who invest considera-

ble time and thought in this often thankless job. We need more re-

viewers of this caliber, so if you’re not already receiving review re-

quests from me, please let me know and I’ll sign you up! Seeing other

reviewer comments is a great way to improve your own case writing,

as well as to give back when you have benefited from the time invest-

ed by others in your work.

While we appreciate the efforts of all reviewers, we recognized five

individuals for especially outstanding work this year, based on nomi-

nations from Tupper and the associate and guest editors. These folks

received the very fashionable CRJ denim shirt, and our sincere appre-

ciation: Katherine Breward, Tom Hinthorne, Lynda Livingston, Susan

Sieloff, and Gerald Weinstein. We also wrote a note to their deans

recognizing their outstanding contributions.

Submitting to CRJ

Of course outstanding journals start with outstanding submissions. I

hope the energy I witnessed at the roundtables in San Antonio will

soon translate into cases revised and submitted to the CRJ. In addition

to submitting your own case, you can help by encouraging the authors

you met at your roundtable to submit theirs- maybe even make a pact

to follow-up with each other until you do it! I should mention that we

recognize not all conference cases fit the CRJ’s editorial emphasis on

decision-focused cases grounded in primary research. We can consid-

er truly outstanding cases that are more analytical or based on second-

ary research, but these are not our specialty. Feel free to contact me to

discuss exceptions. Hopefully your roundtable discussants also let you

know about other journal outlets, and the route of sending your case

directly to textbooks, if the CRJ is not the target for you. Wherever

you distribute it, don’t let it decay in

your desk drawer. And keep writing,

with next year’s conference in Boston

in mind.

Debbie Ettington

Editor, Case Research Journal

dettington@nacra.net

CRJ Editor’s Report Submitted by Deborah Ettington

Page 13 Fall 2011

Atlanta Sports Hall of Famers include athletes Hank Aaron,

Walt Frazier, Evander Holyfield ….and our own well-

deserving NACRA Past-President Tim Singleton!

Tim was inducted into the 2011 Atlanta Sports Hall of

Fame class. Its mission is to be ―dedicated to honoring At-

lanta’s sports heroes, remembering the great moments in

Atlanta’s sports history, and preserving the past from

which future generations can learn and take pride.‖

Tim, the founder of Atlanta’s Peachtree Road Race, is an

athlete who began running as a five year-old. Track became

his passion, and in high school he won the Senior South-

eastern AAU 400-meter hurdles championship, an achieve-

ment he replicated at the collegiate level while at Georgia

Tech.

Tim ultimately earned

a Ph.D. and became

Dean of Men and

coach of the cross

country team at Geor-

gia State University.

Each year he took the

team to compete in the

Medal of Honor Race

at Fort Benning. The

experiences at the race

became the genesis for

his founding the first ―Peachtree,‖ which has been de-

scribed as a ―six-mile jaunt down Atlanta’s main thorough-

fare.‖

During his years as an avid runner, Tim completed 73 mar-

athons and more than 500 road races from two to 50 miles.

He also ran across the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim 11 times.

Runners who coached him included Gayle Barron, 1978

winner of the Boston Marathon and winner of the women’s

division at the 1st annual Peachtree Road Race.

Our NACRA connection with Tim is strong. A self-

proclaimed ―Old Bear,‖ he is a three-time Fulbright Schol-

ar, a NACRA Fellow, former president and two-time recip-

ient (with co-author Bob McGlashan) of the prestigious

Tate Award.

In his own words, ―NACRA was my external home for

more than 30 years. Most of my scholarly activity involved

research, writing, and teaching, using the case method. I

was fortunate enough to publish about 40 cases in about

100 outlets. I have enjoyed every minute of my NACRA

activities.‖

NACRA’s Own Atlanta Sports Hall of Famer! Submitted by Carol Cumber

Page 14 Fall 2011

TIM SINGLETON

Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame 2011 Inductee

1st Road race competition at Georgia Tech

1955

Induction Ceremony

2011

Using NACRA Cases in Your Courses Submitted by Susan Peters

Page 15 Fall 2011

Finding the case you need

All cases published in the Case Research Journal also have a brief abstract on NACRA’s Webpage (www.nacra.net). These list-

ings are also searchable to help you find the case easily.

Adopting cases through NACRA distribution partners

We encourage NACRA members to take advantage of the services offered by our distribution partners. This approach also has the

ease of combining NACRA cases with cases from other sources, textbook chapters, business publications, and the instructor’s own

material.

NACRA currently has agreements with the following distributors:

1. Xanedu (Proquest) (www.xanedu.com) is the publisher of the Case Research Journal-

an important service for NACRA. They receive a one-year exclusive on new cases.

2. Ecch (www.ecch.com)

3. Pearson Custom Publishing (www.bookbuild.com/Pearson/pcp.htm)

4. Primis (McGraw Hill) (www.mhhe.com/primis/online)

5. Study.net (www.study.net)

Adopting cases through textbooks

Another approach to using NACRA cases in your courses is to adopt a textbook that includes our cases. If your favorite text does

not include NACRA cases, send the title and author to the NACRA Vice President Case Marketing.

Still can’t find the case you need?

a. Cases presented at the conference, but not published in the CRJ are not in these databases. Sometimes, if the authors are not

pursuing publication (in CRJ or elsewhere), they are willing to grant permissions for the case. Please contact the Vice President

of Case Marketing for assistance.

b. If the case was in the CRJ, remember that Xanedu currently has a one-year exclusive agreement.

c. And, if all else fails, please contact the NACRA Vice President of Marketing.

NACRA Vice President Case Marketing:

Susan D. Peters, PhD.

Forrest S. William Professor of Entrepreneurship

Francis Marion University

PO Box 100547

Florence, SC 29505

Phone: 843 661 1102

Fax: 843 661 1118

e-mail: speters@fmarion.edu

In addition to

NACRA’s heart-

felt ―Thank-you‖

to everyone who

made the October 2012 conference in

San Antonio, TX a success, NACRA

would like to especially make note of

the support of the University of Den-

ver, which subsidized the flash drives

on which the NACRA Proceedings

were recorded, Baylor University,

which provided conference bags, the

University of New Hampshire, which

houses the NACRA Archives, and the

University of Missouri—Kansas City,

for their support with development of

the NACRA Proceedings.

NACRA Newsletter

Thank You!

Page 16 Fall 2011

Photo Credits: Peggy Naumes, Carol Cumber, Becky Morris, Kathy Savage, Melby Photography, Jeff Shay, Armand Gilinsky,

University of Denver, Baylor University, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Francis Marion University, San An-

tonio Visitors Bureau, Quincy, MA Visitor’s Bureau, Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame, Tim Singleton.

The NACRA Newsletter is published twice yearly by the North American Case Research Association.

Please send announcements and article suggestions to NACRA VP-Communications/Newsletter Editor

Carol Cumber at carol.cumber@sdstate.edu.