The Case Centre, UK, gives out 11 awards and conducts five competitions annually to recognise excellence in case writing and teaching at schools of business, management and government worldwide. This is the 30th year of the awards, which have been global since 2011 (European Case Awards until 2010).
This year, the ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Case Method’ was won by Caren Scheepers of the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria (GIBS Business School). This is the first time that the school has won the award and Caren is the fourth woman to win since its inception. This is the second time an African institute has won.
The ‘Overall Winning Case’ on Microsoft’s change in its mindset culture since 2014, was authored at London Business School, which wins this particular award for the fourth time. It is a first-time success for Herminia Ibarra, Aneeta Rattan and Anna Johnston, and notably, the first time a case with exclusively three women authors has won any award.
For the first time, there are equal numbers of men and women award/competition winners: 17. The preceding four years averaged just 29 per cent of women winners .
More women winners
The ‘Outstanding Case Writer’ award went to Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (Steven Sweldens, Stefano Puntoni, Niela Kleinsmith, Tao Yue) and TomTom Automotive (Matthieu Campion), and showcases advancing female diversity in case protagonists across the awards — now at a record 31 per cent — and, notably, in the tech sector in this case.
Richard McCracken, Director, The Case Centre, said: “The 2020 Awards and Competitions mark their 30th anniversary and the 10th year of being global. We see a record number of successful female authors — now equal in number to their male counterparts — as well as more new winning institutions and authors than ever before. Though schools long associated with cases continue to win awards, the results show that the method is no longer their sole domain.”
“Because the awards are made based on data of actual uptake in education, they provide an annual snapshot of the topics being used to teach business and management. Issues such as ethics are now central to more cases than ever before. Meanwhile the competitions allow an evaluation of authors and teachers around the world who might otherwise remain undiscovered,” McCracken said.
Other highlights
The ‘Outstanding Case Writer: Hot Topic’ was won by INSEAD. This year’s topic was ‘Diversity and Discrimination’. The authors, Zoe Kinias and Felicia A Henderson, won with a case about the Australian property group Mirvac.
The ‘Outstanding New Case Writer’ was awarded to Alexander Korchagin, Moscow State University, and Vera Cherepanova, Studio Etica, for their case on ethical dilemma in a restaurant setting.
The ‘Outstanding Case Teacher’ was won by Urs Mueller, SDA Bocconi School of Management.
There were a record nine first-time, winning institutions: Aalto University School of Business, GIBS Business School, IE Business School, London College of Fashion, Moscow State University, SDA Bocconi School of Management, Studio Etica, TomTom Automotive, University of Vaasa; and a record 22 first-time individual faculty/research winners.
The schools that won multiple awards or competitions in 2020 were: Harvard Business School (two), ICFAI Business School (two) and INSEAD (three), each of which has enjoyed success in previous years. Single-category winning schools who have also won previously were: University of Virginia Darden School of Business; Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University; and University of St Gallen.