Storytelling of Sustainable Business Practices – BINUS UNIVERSITY Case Study Center

01 December 2019

The BINUS Case Center has been documenting best business practices since 2007 to help industry branding and create a body of knowledge for the business schools operating in this part of the world.

Mr Sukma Putra, who has an M.Ed., with a specialisation in leadership and management from Flinders University, Australia, has been managing the centre since 2016. He tells us the story behind this important initiative.

Why has BINUS opened a case study center?

At BINUS UNIVERSITY, we develop curricula and teaching methods that support student-centred learning, especially for our international programs. We keep our classes small, encourage design thinking, and project-based learning. As the world’s leading business schools rely on industry case studies to analyze business problems, we have decided to develop our own case studies to support the BINUS BUSINESS SCHOOL in better understanding Indonesia’s business environment.

How are case studies created?

Initially, a prominent company or a startup will approach us with a request to document how they overcame certain challenges or harnessed opportunities.  Our centre compiles the information into a “case study” to our faculty. The case study may have up to three writers and one reviewer who will inspect the quality by combining best practices taken from different leading business schools. The case study is normally completed within three months provided we are given access to the relevant persons to conduct 3-5 interviews.

We place emphasis on engaging writing in telling the story of every case study, consisting of an opening, a general background, a specific area of interest, business problems and solutions, and a conclusion. The case studies can be created strictly for the internal needs of the company or for public use.

How does the BINUS Case Center contribute to sustainable business practices?

Glimpses of best business practices may be captured in news articles, but strategy examples are rarely fully documented. Through the BINUS Case Center, we create a library of the best business practices for all sectors in Indonesia, ranging from finance to banking to economics to people management, among many others. So far, we have developed 232 case studies that have touched upon many issues surrounding sustainability.

For instance, our case study on Conwood Indonesia tells the story of Mr Derek Williamson, a BINUS alumnus, who applied design thinking to shift the company from manufacturing uncompetitive products to really harness the company’s strength of working with “con-wood” materials. Now, Conwood offers houses that can be quickly assembled and are flood, earthquake and fire-resistant.

What is the best way to contact the BINUS Case Center?

Given the background of our diverse faculty, BINUS is ready to support case study analysis in the field of economics, people management, innovation, entrepreneurship, marketing and strategy management.

The best way to inquire about case studies is through our email binuscasecenter@binus.edu.