Informing Science: the International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline

During 2002-03, fifty-three undergraduate students from the University of Zagreb participated in the development of case studies on strategic decisions facing Croatian enterprises at a critical juncture in the country’s history. This paper describes the informing patterns among students, faculty, and business executives that were formed during the case writing process and examines the impact of these informing patterns upon the educational experience of the participants and their subsequent careers. The paper begins by describing the context in which a small group of Croatian students took the initiative to learn about the case method in the absence of formal university support. It then documents the process by which a workshop on the case method led to the search for companies willing to receive groups of undergraduate students conducting case research in the field, to the development of a case collection, the discussion of selected cases among leading Croatian executives, and to their use in international settings. The paper presents information on the influence and benefits of the experience as perceived by the participants ten years later and draws conclusions regarding the influence of student case research on management practice.