Background of CWAM

Prior to the establishment of CWAM, managers in the Malaysian public sector , the private sector and institutions of higher learning had little choice but to use foreign cases, mainly from USA and UK, for the purpose of teaching and learning from the case study method. At times, some of these foreign cases were found to be culturally incompatible with the local social norms and values, rendering them less effective than the intended objectives. Consequently, a group of people who attended a case trainers' workshop conducted by Professor Martin Laurence in 1985, decided to form a case writers' association. Thus, the Case Writers' Association of Malaysia came into being in 1986 with the aim of encouraging the development of local cases which are relevant, suitable and useful for Malaysian managers, officials and trainers.

The Objectives of CWAM

The objectives of CWAM are:

  1. to encourage the writing of original Malaysian management cases
  2. to provide a platform for strengthening and furthering the art of management case writing through training programmes in Malaysia
  3. to set standards of approval for the cases submitted
  4. to eventually carry out the functions of a Case Clearing House
  5. to assist in related areas such as case writing competitions, publication of cases, case workshops and evaluation of new cases submitted
  6. to participate in any activity that will contribute towards the development of case writing in Malaysia.

CWAM Activities

  1. Case Writing and Case Leading Workshops
    Since its establishment in 1986, CWAM has conducted several workshops to encourage the writing of case studies and the use of case studies for teaching and learning purposes. The organizations included those in the private sector, the public sector and institutions of higher learning. They are:
    • Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM)
    • National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN)
    • Universiti Putra Malaysia
    • Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
    • Universiti Tenaga Nasional
    • International Islamic University of Malaysia
    • Universiti Malaya
    • Universiti Utara Malaysia
    • Open University of Malaysia
    • Telekom Malaysia
    • Malaysian Customs Academy

  2. Case Writing Competitions
    In 2002, CWAM held its first case writing competition. The response to the competition was encouraging with 30 cases received. CWAM is grateful to the Open University of Malaysia for its generosity in contributing five thousand ringgit (RM5,000.00) as prize money for the competition. The second case writing competition was organized in conjunction with CWAM's International Conference in May 2006.

  3. Publications
    1. Through collaborative efforts with the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM), two volumes of Malaysian cases were compiled and published. Volume One of the "Malaysian Management Cases" was published in 1986 and Volume Two was completed and published in 1990, together with their Teaching Guides.
    2. Recognising the need to encourage more Malaysians to write local cases, "A Guide to Case Writing" was written and published in 1989. CWAM has also translated this Case Writing Guide into the Malay language and it is currently in the process of being published in 2006.


Message From President


Welcome to the website of the Case Writers' Association of Malaysia (CWAM). On behalf of the members of the Executive Committee of CWAM, we thank you for visiting us.

CWAM was established in 1986 after some members from the first few workshops on case writing felt that there was a need for such an association. They valued the skills that had been imparted by the trainer and felt strongly the need for an organized movement to generate and enhance the use of local management cases.

Trainers and educationists in management who use cases for their choice of pedagogy see the need for good and effective cases. They also know that to use cases from text books which in most cases are foreign, is not an ideal situation. Translating them into a local scenario would not be easy and appropriate either. However, many use it as the last resort.

Since its establishment, our main objective is still to increase the number of Malaysian cases to be used for education and training. This is done through conducting workshops and seminars on case writing and related activities so as to increase the number of skilled case-writers. With an increased number and the right incentives, we feel that they can then start on a journey to write cases that are relevant to their needs.

It also took quite a while for the local academic institutions to recognize case writing as an academic exercise. But slowly and surely, most university authorities have finally acknowledged and have given it due recognition. Today cases are found in many management journals and there are some journals which solely cater for cases eg. Case Research Journal.

CWAM has been conducting Case writing workshops regularly through its public programmes or upon institutional requests. Our drive to increase memberships through graduates from such workshops will continue and hopefully will assist in making the overall objective a success. We also invite writers/trainers to submit written cases and if they are approved, they will be included in our list for sharing with potential users. The details are in our 'publication and services' icon of this website. Publication of case texts in the form of a book or a journal will be considered in our next phase of development.

We welcome each and everyone to our website.

Thank you.

ZAINAL ABIDIN MOHAMED

President, CWAM.