(Or... how you can use stories to make network meetings more effective)

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• To provide a focus for network meetings
• To help business people to 'get' the importance of the WTO system
• To introduce complex topics in a concrete way
• To sharpen your own understanding of the WTO rules
• To build relations with the business community

To provide a focus for network meetings

Business people are usually occupied with their own business, so they usually won't come along to a meeting unless they think it might help their business.

It's almost impossible to convince people who have no idea what the WTO is - or only a rough idea from reading the newspapers - that the WTO system means much at all to their business.

The issues in the trading system are just too complicated and the decisions taken in the WTO seem just too remote from what matters most to any business - buying and selling. "Who cares!" they say - and maybe you agree with them, just a little bit.

One thing you know from experience, however, is that business people are always interested in finding out more about how others are doing in their business and perhaps in picking up a few clues about how to do better themselves. There's nothing more interesting than a good business story. That's what sells the business magazines, for example.

So... the first reason for writing 'business case studies' is to work up some stories that will interest business people and to make them the focus of your network meeting. There's nothing like a good story to get the attention of your target audience.

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To help business people to 'get' the importance of the WTO system

A business case study is not 'gossip' and it's not just a good story. It has a more serious purpose: that is, to help readers to understand a complex problem - such as the issues that arise where business and the world trading system meet.

Stories, if well written, can help most people to grhtml complex facts. Just think of the last 'thriller' novel you read, or the last movie you saw. It probably had a host of characters and a complicated plot with a lot of things going on in the main story and in the background at the same time. But if the story was good you followed it all without any trouble.

Now think about a story that recalls how a business manager feels when confronted for the first time by the need for decisions on a trade strategy

• How difficult it is to find out what the relevant regulations are
• How unfair the regulations seem
• How hard it is to find out about alternative strategies
• How risky the choices seem to be

There a just so many rules and regulations and documents and agreements and protocols and policies and..... whatever.... to take into account.

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To introduce complex topics in a concrete way

A business case study is a story about

• a business manager facing complex or risky choice
• the choices he or she makes
• what happened as a result of his or her choices.

Notice:

• The story is about some real person who has to make a real business decision. Its a story but its not fiction.
• The story focusses on the choice that this person makes and what happened next. So something happens in the story: its not a "portrait".
• The choice that has to be made is not about something trivial but about a decision that has real effects on a business. There's something at risk here that makes the story interesting.
• The manager's choice probably implies some complex reasoning related to his or her experience or knowledge. There is almost always more to the story than appears on the surface.

As you read the case study you usually put yourself in the place of the manager - as you would while reading any good story. 'What would I have done_'

Afterwards, the complex matters behind the story can often be seen in a more objective way.

Did the manager make the best choice in all the circumstances_ What were the other choices_ What different outcomes could there have been_ How could the manager have found out about the other opportunities or strategies_ Could the manager avoid having to make this choice in the future_ Can the manager affect the environment of his or her decision to improve the chances of a favorable outcome_

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To sharpen your own understanding of the WTO rules

What you do with a business case study at a network meeting is to lead participants through an analysis of the story, helping them to grhtml the relevance of the WTO trading system to their business strategies. That is, to real business decisions that lead to profitable outcomes or non-profitable outcomes.

The story helps participants to put the complex issues of business strategy and world trade in a form that is easier to understand and relates them to matters that every business person considers important: profits.

The case study can also help you, as the case study writer, to come to a better understanding of the connections between business strategies, national policies and WTO provisions.

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It's a great way to build relations with the business community

This means you can turn most meetings with a manager on a possible business case into a good contact opportunity for other purposes. For example, if you work for an industry association , you could use the meeting to also invite the manager to come along to an industry association or chamber of commerce function.

Experience shows that if you show a positive interest in their work, you can get positive responses from your contacts on other matters, too, whether or not they agree to be part of a study.

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