A great article on the European Case Clearing House web site (www.ecch.com), Developing countries on the case, shows developing world students eager to acquire practical business skills, and pushing their faculty to offer locally relevant cases.

Why do they need to be pushed? Because "for many faculty, teaching with cases is a new experience."  Because researching cases costs the schools money.  And in some countries, because case teaching isn’t recognized by higher education government authorities.

Participant-centered pedagogy such as the case method is a powerful tool that brings real-world management decision-making into the classroom. Students become what emerging markets need most: problem-solvers.

Significantly, even though India, Malaysia, Colombia and Rwanda, the countries mentioned in the article, are vastly different in culture and business climate, the demand for case teaching is strong in all of them. One of the biggest issues for educators is training on case teaching and finding cases, so some are getting creative.

"In Rwanda, Dr Gaurav Bajpai, Senior Lecturer at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology, finds he does not have the capacity to write his own, much needed, local cases from scratch, because of the considerable research time and attention required, however he has developed a creative approach: ‘Taking existing cases and adapting my teaching of them to fit my course modules and the precise needs of my students has proved most effective,’ he says."

Since inception, GBSN has encouraged faculty development in case writing and teaching.  It’s heartening to see how cases are increasingly being used around the developing world.

For more on case study method, check out the archives of our “Case Method Month” (September 2011).

Guy Pfeffermann is the CEO and founder of the Global Business School Network.