Developing and Using Cases in Graphic Novel Format for Management Education

Debapratim Purkayastha
Director, IBS Case Research Center, Hyderabad, The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, (Deemed to be university u/s 3 of the UGC Act 1956), Hyderabad, Telangana, India. E-mail: debapratim@icmrindia.org

In recent years, cases in innovative formats, such as graphic novel formats, have attracted the attention of management instructors. Leading case publishing schools, including Harvard Business School, ICFAI Business School Hyderabad and IMD, have experimented with this exciting format. While the early adaptors have taken these cases to their classrooms and benefitted from better engagement with the students, unfamiliarly with this case format has prevented many others from availing of the benefits provided by this rich visual medium. Way back in 2006, Professor William A Fischer (Fischer) of IMD and Research Associate Rebecca Chung developed two cases in graphic novel format as part of a suite of cases that formed a major part of a course on doing business in China. The two cases 'Michael Faye Gets a New Assignment' and 'Antonio Scarsi Takes Command' were in an innovative cartoon illustration format, and went on to become award-winning cases. This paper is prepared based on an in-depth interview with Fischer regarding his motivation in developing this cases series in a graphic novel format. It also strives to understand the process of developing these cases and how to use them effectively in order to realize the learning outcomes. Fischer's experience in developing this case can provide vital learning to other instructors interested in pedagogical innovations, whether it is to develop such cases themselves or in using graphic cases in their own classroom.

Instructors in management schools have always wanted to make their classrooms more vibrant and engaging for the students. There are many distractions for students both inside and outside the classroom whether they are undergraduate or graduate for executive education students. Even educators who rely on the relatively more engaging case method of teaching have expressed concerns over inadequate preparation of students, their reluctance to read the assigned case and their relatively lower attention spans (Purkayastha, 2019).

To make their classrooms more engaging and effective, we have seen instructors from top case publishing schools such as Harvard Business School, ICFAI Business School Hyderabad and IMD, experimenting with cases in graphic novels format. Short and Reeves (2009) posit that management schools can benefit from graphic novel format, as it is a visually enhanced and engaging medium, providing benefits over text alone, and thus, appropriate for today's generation of business students. This begs the questions whether cases in such cartoon illustration format can make case teaching more effective and drive learning outcomes. In what ways do cases in graphic novel format aid learning? What are the issues and constraints in developing such cases and using them in the classroom? Are there limitations, and how to overcome these limitations?

The paper, prepared from an in-depth interview with William A Fischer (Fischer), Professor of Innovation Management at IMD, narrates the thought process that led to the development of the two cartoon cases "Michael Gets a New Assignment" (IMD-3-1695) and "Antonio Scarsi Takes Command" (IMD-3-1696), that he had coauthored with Research Associate Rebecca Chung in 2006. Both these cases were hailed as innovative and went on to become award-winning cases. Fischer's experience in developing and deploying this case can provide vital learning to other instructors interested in pedagogical innovations, whether it is to develop such cases themselves, or to employ cases in graphic novel format in their class.

Cases in Graphic Novel Format
Both the graphic novel cases developed by Fischer and Chung were decision-oriented cases, putting the participants in the shoes of an executive grappling with the unique challenges posed while doing business in China.

In the new millennium, China had emerged as a key market and there was a lot of interest in the country. But there was still pretty little that was known about the country and how to do business successfully in the country. At that time, Fischer was involved in several "Introduction to Doing Business in China" courses and he wanted to deliver the content to his executive education students in a way that they could relate to it. According to Fischer, "At the time that these cases were written, China was fast coming to dominate the conversations of so many of our executive participants, usually as the market of the future. They knew that they needed to learn more about China, but were unsure how to go about it....I wanted to not only provide content and insights, but to vary the way that the content was delivered and to make the material personal, as well."

In the Spring of 2006, Fischer and his wife were on holiday with friends in the Caribbean, when a member of their group unexpectedly received word that he was going to take charge of the China operations for his firm, a well-known technology producer. Fischer, who by then had more than two decades of experience in case writing and teaching, was naturally intrigued. "I was with him when he received the call and we both were surprised, in fact, astonished! He had no China background, and yet was given what was generally considered to be their "market for the future." How was he going to learn enough to arrive in China a few weeks hence, appearing credible? He would have to begin while we were still on holiday. I decided then and there that a case about how he went about learning, rightly or wrongly, would make for a catalytic session on 'how am I going to learn about China?'."

The two resulting cases went on to be the third in a series of four consecutive years in which Fischer (and for three of these years, Chung) managed to win the prestigious EFMD Case Award for cases in the 'Emerging Chinese Competitors' category. The cases included "Alcatel in China: Business as an Adventure" (IMD-3-1301), coauthored with D Simon, K Xin and J Carmosky in 2004; "Wendy Simpson in China" (IMD-3-1573), coauthored with Chung in 2005; the Michael Faye and Antonio Scarci case series in 2006; and, "The War for Chinese Managerial Talent" (IMD-3-1806), coauthored with Chung in 2007. "In a very real sense, we were building a suite of case material that could form a major part of a course on China business activities," added Fischer.

Fischer explained how each of these cases touched on a major issue of doing business in China, and also utilized a different content delivery approach. So, while the 2004 Alcatel case was about a bold joint-venture strategy and was presented in a more or less standard case format, the 2005 Wendy Simpson case was about the challenges facing expatriate women in leadership positions in China ventures and built around a sequence of video clips. The 2007 case was a video-supported role-playing exercise.

However, for the Michael Faye and Antonio Scarci cases, Fischer wanted to experiment with cartoon cases. The Michael Faye case describes the first two weeks after Michael Faye (disguised), an expatriate executive, takes over as president of the ongoing China operations of a leading Western multinational corporation. A Zimbabwean by birth, with considerable Asian experience, Michael had little firsthand experience in the China market; so, his challenge lay in quickly climbing a steep learning curve to find the easiest and shortest path to fulfill his twin goals of repositioning the operations within the China market and repositioning China within the multinational corporation's mindset. The case also had an accompanying video, featuring an interview with Michael, which provides participants insight into how he sees his role, as well as his learning and networking approach.

The Antonio Scarci case describes the first week after Antonio Scarsi (disguised), an expatriate executive, takes on the role of CEO in a poorly performing and demoralized domestic Chinese company. Although Antonio had extensive China experience, including considerable language capabilities, he knew little about this company, in which he was the only non-Chinese employee, and had never before worked outside of the support network of a major multinational corporation. He aimed to turn around the company in six months. His challenge was how to learn about the firm as quickly and effectively as possible and signal his intentions to revitalize it to the employees.

Fischer was inspired by earlier cartoon cases developed at IMD. In popular media, it is noted that Jeremy Short, a Professor of Management in Texas Tech University's Rawls College of Business, was the first to adapt a case study in graphic novel format for Harvard Business School's case collection (Cranford, 2009). This is far from truth, as while the 'iPremier (A) Denial of Service Attack (Graphic Novel Version)' may be Harvard's first case in graphic novel format, it is not the first case developed in this innovative format. According to Fischer, "We had seen earlier examples of cartoon cases at IMD in the 1990s and perhaps even before, and thought that for 2006 this would be an engaging and different method for delivering the material, especially if all four cases were part of the same program.

"There was, as well, concern over how much reading an executive education participant could or would do while in a program, and we thought that the animated cases (cartoon cases) would be much more inviting than a normal case."

Learning Objectives and How to Use the Case
While the two cases can be used individually or together depending on what the instructors wanted to achieve in the class, together the two cases focus on the theme "Learning About Leading in China", and encourage participants to consider the very different learning styles and common leadership traits of two expatriate executives facing compelling managerial challenges in growing their China business. The cases stimulate participants to reflect on:

What their own leadership and learning styles are like, and their implications;
What they could do to become more effective and efficient leaders and learners in any new assignment; and
How to learn from one another during class discussion.
Fischer added: "The Michael Faye case was designed to probe how a manager learns about a new assignment or a new challenge. In fact, we have used it well beyond China-specific contexts. It is all about how would you go about learning about a topic that you have no prior familiarity with?

"The Antonio Scarsi case raised the challenges of working for a wholly-owned-Chinese-enterprise (woce) at the time, and the special challenges of being an expatriate manager in such a situation."

Both the cases are accompanied by a teaching note for instructors - a combined teaching note for both the cases titled "Learning to Lead in China" (IMD-3-1635-T). On his decision to opt for a cartoon case and how this format ensured the learning outcomes, Fischer said, "We believed that the Michael Faye case would suffer by being presented in words only, since a portrayal of learning is not exactly scintillating reading. Hence, we turned to graphic illustration to enliven the plot and emphasize the drama of a fast-changing location. The case protagonist (Michael Faye) was not an instinctive reader, so this made for a pictorially interesting depiction.

"Ironically, the Antonio Scarsi case was so dramatic in real life that we thought an illustrated case would be a perfect way to make the drama even more vivid." Fischer had this advice to instructors who would want to utilize this case series with students: "With the Michael Faye case, I would suggest that you can keep this one in your pocket and pull it out in whatever situation personal learning is involved; the China situation is almost irrelevant. The graphics format means that reading it will go very quickly, so your use of it can be almost impromptu.

"Antonio Scarsi is a closer, not an opener. It is about a small, wholly-owned Chinese firm, but more than that, it is about the chance of a lifetime to be a CEO, despite the sort of unsavory situation at the firm. While it is fun to read, it was certainly not fun for the real 'Antonio Scarsi' who is a good friend of mine. As a result of all of this, I think that it is best used at the end of a discussion, or course, rather than at the outset. After one reading, the class will be asking: 'Why am I even flirting with finding myself in such a situation?'"

Methodology
The case was developed from field research, but the name of the company, protagonist and other key players are disguised. However, this does not take the case away for the reality of the situation from a learning perspective. Fischer said that to understand the situation well and to build rigor into the case, he had conducted in-depth interviews of the case protagonist. "I must admit that I haunted his every move trying to identify and characterize how his learning occurred. It turned out that he was not a natural reader, so the learning journey he embarked on was far from what mine would have been, but that made it even more interesting," he quipped.

Process of Developing the Graphic Novel Case
Fischer said that he encountered few obstacles in developing the case, as the real subject of the case loved the idea and he found that finding an artist to develop the case was easier than he anticipated. He said that Chung, wrote both the cases under his supervision, and her role was to translate his "direct experience in both cases into a graphical format. She also found the artists and oversaw their efforts. The great thing about working with Rebecca was her instinctive creativeness."

While both the cases are comic illustrations, the artist and the form of art used for the two cases were different. Michael Faye case was prepared with pen/brush with ink, while the Antonio Scarsi case was prepared as pencil sketch. The professionally drawn cartoons ensured that the cases were visually rich with images of a menacing Chinese dragon and the Great Wall of China appearing as allegories of the gigantic challenge business managers faced in China (See Exhibit I for a frame from the case). The Antonio Scarsi case depicted the roots and branches of the trees in a woodland hike as symbols of the complex and difficult path the protagonist would need to climb in China (See Exhibit II for a frame from the case). However, the author also made use of brief conventional text appendices to introduce the audience to the protagonists' background and that of his company and products. Purkayastha (2019) had pointed out how in graphic cases, it is not just sufficient to convert the case text into images (visual art); it is also important to combine literary and cinematic techniques involving but not limited to a plot, point of view, character development, metaphor, allegory, flashbacks and flashforwards, speeding and slowing time, close-ups, long views, and so on. So is the case with this case series, as Chung admitted in an article that she felt more like a movie director than a case writer while developing the case series.

Fischer said that all the cost associated with developing the case was covered by IMD. He also credited IMD, which was one of the world's top case publishing schools along with Harvard, INSEAD, ICFAI Business School Hyderabad and Ivey, of recognizing the importance of case writing to its mission of executive education.

Recounting the challenge of developing the graphic novel cases, Fischer said, "Once we had converted the story into a graphical format, and found the artists, everything went very fast. It took only a couple of months for each case. The longest step in the process was our having to figure out how to organize the process.... Perhaps the biggest challenge was envisioning what we wanted to be expressed graphically, and then writing the word bubbles for the case format."

Results and Discussion
According to Fischer, the case series did well with the target audience. In Fischer's words: "Both cases have been extremely well received, and we have enjoyed the confidence

that goes with knowing that everyone in the room has read the case!" After all, it was an open secret that many students, particularly executive education students, find it hard to prepare cases that might be more than 30 pages long. Many of them are juggling with the requirements of their jobs, or are otherwise stressed or lacked "the mind space, or energy, to do a traditional case justice before the class, often reading between fire fighting calls to the office and late-night calls home". It is also a known fact that improper preparation of the case before a class would render the class ineffective by affecting students' ability to learn from the case discussion.
The case series became perhaps the first case in a graphic format to win in a major case writing competition. It won the prestigious EFMD Case Award in the year 2007, and was also featured in The Case Centre (then called the European Case Clearing House), as a fresh and innovative case format. These cases inspired other instructors to follow suit with their own cases in graphic novel format. For instance, in addition to the i-Premiere (2009) case, Harvard came out with other cases in graphic novel format-"Jazzed Up: A Global Strategy Manga Novel" (2013), "Eureka Forbes Ltd.: Managing the Selling Effort (A)" (2013), and "Apple's Core" (2013). ICFAI Business School came out with more colorful versions of graphic novel cases-"Firing a Hero?" (2014), "It's Bank Policy!" (2014) and the award-winning "Turbulence on the Tarmac" (2019). These cases have received considerable media attention for their innovative format. For instance, Raphel (2016) wrote about the Harvard cases in graphic novel format and featured the "Apple's Core" case saying how these cases are innovative and complement case method of teaching in MBA programs. All the three IBS cases have been featured in The Case Centre for their innovativeness, and "Turbulence on the Tarmac" won the 2019 "Outstanding Compact Case Award" at the prestigious Case Centre Awards. McCracken (2020) called these IBS cases an "innovation, groundbreaking and widely admired", and said, "I know from speaking to faculty at conferences around the world that it has gathered enormous respect for its engaging format with real, insightful and impactful learning in the classroom."

Apart from anecdotal evidence, Fischbach's (2015) study that explored the use of graphic novels as an innovative form of training made a quantitative comparison of the graphic novel method and the traditional written case study. It was found that ethical efficacy increases with the use of the graphic novel case study, and the greatest improvements were in the individual's level of self-efficacy and understanding of principle-based ethical issues. In addition, the participant's level of industry experience may play a factor in applying the graphic novel technique.

Limitations
Fischer said that he could not think of any negative aspects of doing these graphic novel case studies, and said that he would gladly do this again if the situation arose. He added, "I really love these cases and believe that they lead to memorable learning experiences... I think that graphical cases lead themselves to bigger-picture discussions, without the details that traditional cases typically contain. So, instead of getting bogged-down in details, you are having exhilarating discussions of big things that really matter. That said, in retrospect, I would have loved to have taken both cases one step further to examine the outcomes. However, that would have taken too much time, as both were written fairly early in the unfolding drama that they portray. I am happy with them as they are!" In the past, Purkayastha (2019) had noted how a graphic case may not always be a perfect substitute for a full-length text-heavy case, and not all types of cases are suitable for the graphic novel format. Moreover, cases in cartoon format may be taken less seriously by an instructor or even a student. Fischer's advice to anyone assigned his graphic novel case: "Disregard any sense of irrelevance from reading 'comics' rather than prose. These are real cases, describing real, exciting managerial situations and deserve the same serious application as any case deserves. In fact, since there is both prose and graphics, make sure that you are learning from both depictions of what is going on."

Conclusion
The case series by Fischer and Chung in graphic novel format come across as an innovative way to engage the student, particularly in an executive education class. It shows how learning can be fun, and using such innovative formats ensures that the case is used as a tool that enhances learning rather than frustrating it. Use of graphic cases can enliven a classroom by engaging students and ensuring that they have read the case before engaging in case discussion. This is crucial as reading a case is crucial to have a better case discussion experience for all the participants, and impact their learning. As such, cases in graphic novel format can greatly complement case method of teaching.

While the two cases developed by Fischer were meant for executive education students, such case in the graphic novel format could also benefit graduate and undergraduate students in management programs. In fact, such engaging medium is ideal for the millennial generation (Short and Reeves, 2009). From Fischer's approach to using different formats of cases for the program, it is evident that to obtain better learning outcomes using the case method, participants should be exposed to different types of cases, including text, video, as well as graphic novel format. In graphic novel format itself, different art forms may be utilized to bring in diversity. In addition to making the case visually rich and less dependent on voluminous text, cases in graphic format can enable even cases that would otherwise lend to dry reading and help convert them into an interesting and engaging read. While cases in the graphic novel format may not be entirely free from limitations, it still makes a lot of sense for an instructor to employ this innovative format in their class. The benefits of using these cases in graphic novel format far outweigh any potential risks.

However, not all case subjects and situations can translate well into the graphic medium. Situations involving drama and a compelling story having the elements of truth, suspense and human connection will translate well into a graphic novel format (Purkayastha, 2019). So, while the topic of the case is important for developing a graphic novel case, the case writers need to be creative about how to tell the story in a compelling way by utilizing literary and cinematic techniques. They should be prepared to work collaboratively with the artist, and it is always great if they have access to any other resources required to flesh their idea out to the actual case in the visual format. Fischer has some handy advice to instructors wanting to develop a case in the graphic novel format: "Just do it! Even if you have to sketch stick figures in order to develop the pacing and wording, try it and experiment, see what you come up with; then, when you are close, hire an artist to put it into a more professional expression of your idea.... And, I would write the teaching note in parallel to ensure that you are making the points you intended." He encouraged them to engage in experimentation: "Why should cases have to be boring? Why do they have to have a visage that is like every other case? Always build an experiment into every case project you embark on. Tell no one, but see how it works out."

After all, it is only this spirit of experimentation that will help the graphic novel format case to evolve and gain increased adoption; it is only this spirit of experimentation that will help new and innovative case formats to emerge and make learning fun, while at the same time not compromising the rigor associated with the case method.

References

1. Cranford L (2009), Professor Snags Harvard Business Case with Graphic Novel. Texas Tech University, August 26. Retrieved from
https://today.ttu.edu/posts/2009/08/harvard-business-case-study-graphic-novel
2. Fischbach S (2015), "Ethical Efficacy as a Measure of Training Effectiveness: An Application of the Graphic Novel Case Method Versus Traditional Written Case Study", Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 128, No. 3, pp. 603-615.
3. McCracken R (2020), "Teaching Cases: Vision, Realisation and Impact", Case Folio - The IUP Journal for Management Case Studies, Vol. XX, No. 1, pp. 77-81.
4. Purkayastha D (2019), "Designing and Deploying Case Studies in an Innovative Comic Book Format: Reflective Essay for the Case 'It's Bank Policy'", South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 11-26.
5. Raphel A (2016), Graphic Novels for MBAs, The Caravan, June 14. Retrieved from https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/graphic-novels-mbas-public-books
6. Short J C and Reeves T C (2009), "The Graphic Novel: A 'Cool' Format for Communicating to Generation Y", Business Communication Quarterly, Vol. 72, No. 4, pp. 414-430.

Suggested Readings

2. Austin R D and Short J C (2009), iPremier (A): Denial of Service Attack (Graphic Novel Version). 609-092, Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
3. Choreographing Executive Communication with Experimental Cases, The Case Centre. Retrieved from https://www.thecasecentre.org/educators/casemethod/resources/features/choreographing
4. Fischer W A and Chung R (2006a), Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Gets a New Assignment, IMD-3-1695, Lausanne, Switzerland: IMD.
5. Fischer W A and Chung R (2006b), Learning to Lead in China: Antonio Scarsi Takes Command, IMD-3-1696, Lausanne, Switzerland: IMD.
6. Purkayastha D and Ghosh S (2019), Turbulence on the Tarmac. MKTG392. IBS Center for Management Research, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
7. Purkayastha D and Ghosh S (2014a), Firing a Hero?, HROB166. IBS Center for Management Research, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
8. Purkayastha D and Ghosh S (2014b), It's Bank Policy!, BECG135. IBS Center for Management Research, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
9. Wasserman N and Alexander T (2013), Apple's Core (Graphic Novel Version).
814-059. Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.