July 3, 2018. Shanghai – The First Batch of 2018 CEIBS Case Master Development Camp was successfully held at the school's Shanghai campus on July 2-3, 2018, with sessions running simultaneously in English and Chinese. 140 faculty members from 94 business schools across China (including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), Canada, France, Hungary, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea participated in the camp.
 
CEIBS Case Center Director Prof. Chen Shimin opened the workshop with a welcome speech in which he introduced the mission and vision of the CEIBS Case Center. In his speech, Prof. Chen also emphasised the importance of the Shanghai MBA Case Development and Sharing Platform, a project commissioned by the Shanghai Municipal Government. As part of the initiative, the Case Master Development Camp and the Global Contest for the Best China-Focused Cases aim to promote the case teaching method and case development efforts.

 

Over the course of the two-day event, six CEIBS faculty members shared their insightful analysis of different cases from the perspectives of strategy, marketing, corporate finance, management and entrepreneurship. In doing so, they also illustrated their wealth of case teaching and case development experience.
 
In the Chinese-language camp, Prof. Liang Neng demonstrated the teaching process for both the "conceptual short case" and the "decision-making model of the long case". In discussing his case about Anhui Xinhua Group – which was like a "five-part series"– Prof. Liang condensed five years of continuous tracking of the company. During the session he also shared his "triangle theory" of case teaching, a theory which builds on the relationship between theory, situation and teaching purpose, as well as the "five-step framework" for selecting a case, identifying a theoretical lens, diving into the context, designing the teaching process, recording, and reflection.
 
In his presentation, Prof. Zhou Dongsheng used a case study of Chinese medical service provider Hopenoah in order to explain game theory in product pricing. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the session, however, came with the appearance of Mr. Wang Gang, the case's "protagonist", whose face-to-face interaction with the participants clearly demonstrated one of the potential appeals of the case teaching approach.
 
Prof. Zhang Hua brought his "2017 Global Contest for the Best China-Focused Cases" Best Case Award winner "Jinhuobao", which focuses on two current hot topics: B2B e-commerce and new retail. In applying the case to supply chain finance, Prof. Zhang was able to make his wealth of professional knowledge both thought-provoking and easy to understand.

 
In the English-language camp, Prof. Byron Lee used a case about a founding team splitting the equity within a new venture UpDown in order to simulate a business negotiation. During the session, participants acted as core figures of the company and negotiated in groups. Inspired by Prof. Lee's passion and humour, participants engaged in heated discussions and learned how to reach the optimal outcomes of negotiation.
 
With a case about SONY AIBO, the  first "entertainment" robot in the world, Prof. Hyun Young Park offered a comprehensive analysis of the company's performance in the global market. During the session, participants not only got the chance to evaluate SONY's disruptive positioning strategies, but were also highly impressed by prof. Park's six-board plan in case teaching. As with Prof. Lee, Prof. Park also shared her case teaching experiences, including setting expectations, getting prepared for a discussion, case selection, leading, and wrap-up the discussion.
 
Finally, Prof. Rama Velamuri brought to the camp three cases about Ichido bakeries, Hotelvp's mobile app reservation service, and nutrition and weight management group Naturhouse. In leading the session, Prof. Velamuri guided participants in figuring out what internal and external factors had influenced each venture. In addition, he talked about how to get started working on a case, framing issues and teaching objectives, communicating with companies, conducting research and interviews, writing and editing, and collecting feedback.

 
At the end of the camp, participants described their impressions of the standards and academic rigour of CEIBS and its faculty. Here are a few of their comments:

"The two-day camp hosted by the CEIBS Case Center covered a variety of case-related topics at a professional-level depth. The learning could help scholars at different stages of their career – both as a demonstration for scholars new to the case teaching method or as a refresher on case teaching and writing for a more experienced audience. The value of the case camp is tremendous.”
 
"The entire event was first-class and professionally delivered. The teaching faculty were brilliant in different ways and I couldn't be more thankful to them for the effort and diligence with which they approached the camp and for the knowledge and experience that they shared. I will recommend this to my colleagues – thoroughly enjoyable and highly useful.”

 
Ultimately, the CEIBS Case Center is dedicated to advancing case teaching and providing business school faculty with more quality case method workshops.