Opening Paragraph
Writing the opening paragraph or case introduction is challenging because its purpose is to identify the focus of the case. The opening paragraph of cases that focus on a situation faced by a specific person should include the following information: the name of the manager, their position in the firm, the time and location of the case and the problem or decision. To check the content of your opening paragraph, ask yourself the following questions:
- Who is the decision maker?
- What is their position in the firm?
- What is the time of the case?
- What is the problem or decision I should be thinking about as I read this case?
- Where is this company located?
- Why is this issue appropriate to this course and interesting?
As the case writer, you should also be able to describe why the time frame that you have chosen is appropriate. Ask yourself how moving the case time frame forward would affect the case. Backward?
Here is a sample opening paragraph from a case that focuses on a specific person:
With the June 1, 1999 edition of the Wall Street Journal spread before him, Dave Pottruck, president and co-CEO of Charles Schwab Corporation (CSC), headquartered in San Francisco, contemplated a piece of news that was about to send shock waves through the brokerage community. The newspaper had just announced Merrill Lynch's decision to launch online trading on December 1st, 1999. Customers at Merrill Lynch would be able to trade online for $29.95/trade or, for a minimum annual fee of $1,500, make as many trades as they wanted. Now that Merrill Lynch had joined the online trading revolution, Pottruck wondered, how would this affect Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Schwab), and what should the company do in response?
Many cases provide an overview of changes experienced in an industry. Here, the case introduction should identify the time period of the situation, the companies involved, the event that has precipitated the change and the problem that companies portrayed in the case are grappling with.
