The Case Compendium was developed by the Center for Equity, Gender & Leadership (EGAL) at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business as part of its mission to educate Equity Fluent Leaders™ to ignite and accelerate change.
Inspiration
Analysis by EGAL of a sub-section of cases, from a variety of sources, identified the following findings:
- there is a lack of cases with protagonists that are not white men
- the majority of cases catalogued with diverse protagonists focus on white women
- the majority of cases on topics of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) also focus primarily on gender
- identities beyond gender (particularly cis female) and/or race/ethnicity are lacking, with some identities rarely seen.
This was further borne out by the testimonies of Haas students:
A full analysis can be found in EGAL’s The State of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Business School Case Studies report1. The report also offers recommendations for case writers and faculty, business schools and case publishers.
Purpose
Recognising the gaps identified above, and the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in business school education (see the report for research around why DEI in case studies matters for student success), EGAL created the Case Compendium.
The Case Compendium includes cases with diverse protagonists, and cases that build ‘equity fluency’ by focusing on DEI-related issues and opportunities. The goal is to support professors at Haas, and business schools globally, to identify cases they can use in their own classrooms, and ultimately to contribute to advancing DEI in education and business.
Process of compilation
EGAL defines diversity as incorporating the wide variety of shared and different personal and group characteristics among human beings. This includes, but is not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender, age, ability, religion, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status.
To identify cases for inclusion in the compendium, EGAL undertook a detailed discovery and selection process looking at results from the search engines of 20+ leading case publishers.
To enable easier searching and selection of cases for faculty, as well as to help identify trends and gaps, the cases were then categorised into the following topics: discipline, industries and sectors, identity/ies of protagonists (for diverse protagonist cases), identity/ies of focus (for DEI-related cases), and geographic breadth.
Using the compendium
The full Case Compendium can be viewed on EGAL’s website. It includes two sets of cases: those with a diverse protagonist, and those with a DEI focus.
To help you find appropriate cases for your context the compendium includes a range of filters: discipline, industries and sectors, identity/ies of protagonists (for diverse protagonist cases), identity/ies of focus (for DEI-related cases), and geographic breadth.
Other key information, such as learning objectives, is also included. The cases included in the compendium have not been vetted for quality by EGAL, however award winning/nominated cases are highlighted.
All cases included in the compendium are also tagged within The Case Centre’s database. Browse cases with:
Adding cases
If you can’t find a case to match your needs in the compendium please enter the details using this online form. EGAL review the survey monthly to respond to faculty needs and requests.
If you think your case should be included in the next edition of the Case Compendium you can also get in touch with EGAL to let them know via this online form.
Take the Professor Pledge
EGAL recently launched a Professor Pledge for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in Business School Case Studies. The Pledge is a commitment from professors at business schools globally to utilise and advance case studies with diverse protagonists and cases on topics related to DEI. Find out more and take the pledge here!
1 Smith, G and Chavez-Varela, D. (May 2020) The State of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Business School Case Studies. [online]. Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership, University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business. Available from: https://haas.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/EGAL-_Case-Compendium_-Analysis_Final.pdf [Accessed 02/08/24].
This article was published in Connect, Issue 49, January 2021.
