Introduction
This document will guide you through the production, editing, and posting processes. Please read it through carefully, and note that not all your team members need to be involved in all aspects of production. However you choose to organize your team, at each step of the way, our MSC team will be here to facilitate case development. Ultimately you and your team make your own destiny. By following these guidelines, and communicating closely with us, we can produce your MSC smoothly, publish it swiftly, and promote it widely.
Each MSC tells a story. Readers are presented with a real-world problem and a challenging decision or turning point. Most cases center on a real-life decision maker. In this way, MSCs differ from research papers and textbooks that you are probably familiar with, and may even have written. Many case authors come to us with an idea for a case study drawn from experience gained in a job or work completed on a research project. These ideas make for compelling cases! The case authors’ task, then, is to transform this knowledge into a story about a problem that has no clear solution.
Therefore, as you begin to make your MSC, consider the following:
- What is interesting or exciting to you about this case? Why did you think it would make a good MSC?
- Where should case users invest their time and thinking? Why?
- Who is the decision maker?
- What is the decision to be made?
- Who might be the audience for this case?
Finally, remember that each MSC is a project that will have a life of its own. You may not always know where you are going, and you make take several turns along the way before coming to the end. That’s OK! Michigan Sustainability Cases staff are here to help you. Enjoy the journey.