The Case Writing Initiative (CWI) at SMU celebrated its 2^nd anniversary on 27 November 2013 and its publication of 70 high-quality business case studies in that short time. Moreover, the team has hosted 12 case writing and case teaching workshops around the region, in Brunei, India, Malaysia, The Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.  It also won 1^st and 2^nd place in the Emerald Emerging Markets Case Competition 2012 and had two case studies featured in the Financial Times.

CWI is a joint venture between the Centre for Management Practice, the Office of Strategic Planning, and the Centre for Teaching Excellence said Dean of Postgraduate Professional Programmes, Executive Director of the Centre for Management Practice and Director of CWI Dr Philip C. Zerrillo. Dr Zerrillo was clearly delighted by the success of this collaboration when he spoke at a ceremony and presented plaques to recognise the achievements and contributions of his team, faculty members and others in SMU, as well as corporate and academic partners. The walls of the function room were covered with abstracts from field-research based case studies of companies and brands such as Audi, Cisco Systems, DBS, Dimbulah coffee, Kingfisher beer, Microsoft, Minh Long ceramics, Novartis pharmaceuticals, NTUC Income, Oreo, Sentosa, Tata, Tiger Airways and Unilever.

It was highlighted that these case studies have been used in 52 universities and seven corporations in 24 countries around the world – on every continent save Antarctica.

CWI was set up to address a critical need for cases based on the Asian context in international curriculums, Dr Zerrillo explained in his address, and some 89% of the cases written cover Asian subjects. He added that the University enjoys a unique pedagogical advantage in having faculty members teach using their own local case studies. At CWI, he said, the case writing process also allows SMU faculty to develop a rich experience with the business community as they apply academic ideas to real world situations.

In his address, Professor Rajendra K Srivastava, Provost and Deputy President (Academic Affairs), mentioned that those interested in Asian case studies are the academic and corporate sectors not only in Asia, but also those from the rest of the world. This realisation was one of the drivers in setting up CWI, as this need gave SMU the opportunity to raise its reputation and international profile and pursue its strategic goal of becoming an Asian knowledge hub for research centred on the world of business and management.

He also pointed out that case writing is one initiative that unites all three faculty tracks – research, education, and practice – as they can all contribute to and benefit from it.

[Photo: Members of the CWI Team (L-R): Irene Soh, Office Manager; Havovi Joshi, Head of Communication and Dissemination; Adina Wong, Case Writer, Dr Philip C. Zerrillo, Dean of Postgraduate Professional Programmes and Executive Director of the Centre for Management Practice; Christopher Dula, Case Writer; Sarita Mathur, Case Writer; and Yuan Yuan Giam, Assistant Manager.]

[Featured photo: Dr Philip C. Zerrillo, Dean of Postgraduate Professional Programmes and Executive Director of the Centre for Management Practice presents a commemorate plaque to Professor of Marketing Srinivas K. Reddy ,Lee Kong Chian School of Business, who has had two case studies featured in the Financial Times.]