First case conference in Cyprus

Early this month, I was delighted to attend the first case conference taking place in my homeland – Cyprus. It was the 2nd conference of The Case Hub at the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business, AUB, which took place this year at the AUB Mediterraneo campus in Paphos. I much admire the energy of Randa Salamoun, the Director of The Case Hub, who organised such an informative and useful conference for regional faculty. 100 participants from 16 countries – congratulations for this impressive achievement, dear ?Randa!!

The Case Hub strives to be the central hub for impactful business cases tailored to the Arab MENA region. It aims to establish a vibrant community of case writers, refine skills, and promote the growth of case writing capacity in the region.

My most sincere appreciation to Randa for inviting me to speak in my current role as North American Case Research Association (NACRA) President. NACRA?is a nonprofit, voluntary professional association whose mission is to promote excellence in case research, writing, and teaching in business and other academic disciplines. Our premier publication is Case Research Journal distributed via Harvard Business School Publishing. As part of our mission, we are happy to support the work of colleagues globally when it comes to case research, teaching, and writing – and thus we salute the mission of The Case Hub.

The Second case conference, 2-3 February, in Cyprus, was an exceptional opportunity for me:

-????????to listen to distinguished speakers Nadine de Gannes (Ivey Business School) and Tawfik Jelassi (IMD Business School) on what makes a good case and the impact of case teaching,

-????????to meet with several Deans from the region - Yusuf Sidani, Alain Daou, Rana Sobh, Patrick Fitzgerald - who spoke strongly in support of case writing as an important educational research activity by faculty,

-????????to witness interesting panel discussions covering such topics as ‘Strategic Role of Cases in Business Education’, ‘Case Centers in the Region’ , ‘Award Winning Cases: Tips and Tricks’,

-????????to participate in the Finance Roundtable and give feedback to the colleagues who submitted their cases for the conference discussion – I see new talented case writers coming from this region!

-????????to (re)connect with so many colleagues and friends, during the many informal activities during and around the conference – Vicky Lester, CEO of The Case Centre, Candis McInnes and Violetta Gallagher from Ivey Publishing, Fida Afiouni, Lina Tannir, Rola Chami and David Matta from Suliman S. Olayan School of Business at AUB, Dario Pontiggia, Marios Katsioloudes and Anayiotos George at AUCY - The American University of Cyprus, Larnaka Campus, Sofronis Clerides and George I. Kassinis at University of Cyprus, Waldemar Pfoertsch, Maria Charalampous, PhD, Efthymios Lykopoulos from University of Limassol, Engy Magdy, Director of the El-Khazindar Business Research and Case Center, Dr. Kathy Ning Shen （申宁）from United Arab Emirates University.

I see a great potential for further collaboration between NACRA and The Case Hub, and I am looking forward to working together to advance the case method globally and to inspire and support faculty when it comes to case research, case teaching, and case writing.