Preface

The International Commercial Diplomacy Project (ICDP) promotes training in commercial diplomacy by developing and disseminating world class training materials and by assisting the establishment of a global network of training programs in the field. The ICDP seeks to strengthen commercial diplomacy as a new academic field of study by developing model curricula, course outlines, teaching modules, case studies, negotiating simulations, and model operational documents, and by widely disseminating these through its website, www.commercialdiplomacy.org.As part of this endeavor, ICDP and its president, Geza Feketekuty, have funded and supported the production of this manual for case writers in commercial diplomacy. The great need for cases in this new field requires that many more people become trained as case writers. Case studies are important pedagogical tools in professional training, and cases written by professional practitioners are often among the best. A library of excellent cases in commercial diplomacy written by readers of this guide will be the best indicator that this manual has achieved its purpose.This manual is also directed to the commercial diplomacy practitioners whose professional training may have been based in economics, political science, business, or other fields. They may now be expanding their involvement with commercial diplomacy curricula and have the desire to create commercial diplomacy cases. This is a manual for aspiring writers. Although others may find it useful, its main objective is to assist commercial diplomats to write cases, based on their own professional experience. It is not a textbook with extensive explanations of the case method to a broad audience. The titles of several case writing texts are found in the appended bibliography, if commercial diplomacy case writers would like to expand their knowledge in this area by further reading.This manual has benefited not only from the financial support of ICDP, but also from the contributions of its president Geza Feketekuty. He is, by far, the leading advocate, supporter, and innovator in commercial diplomacy training. Some of his written work has been used in this text, especially the material available on the ICDP website. I am grateful to Anne T. Lawrence, of San Jose State University, who provided editorial assistance and shared her case writing expertise. My thanks to Mae Kaven for the final editing of the text. All drafts and the final version of the printed text are the word processing work of Emily Nadeau. I greatly appreciated her willingness to respond quickly and accurately to the many text changes I requested.Finally, I wish to thank Dorothy Cornelius, my wife, for her patience and support, not only during the period of writing this work, but also throughout our time together.I take full responsibility for the contents of this manual, although the fact is that it could not have been written without the work of others before me, or the contributions of those who have worked with me and guided me.Andrew A. Procassini