IMD professors top Oscars of the business school world

While all eyes in the film world are turned towards the Academy Award prize winners, the business school world has also just announced it very own “Oscars” - those professors that have written the most effective case studies.

Academics from Swiss business school IMD - Kamran Kashani and former researcher Aimée DuBrule - scooped the top prize for their case on SKF at the event organised by the Case Centre, (formerly the European Case Clearing House). But the business school that won the most prizes in the individual categories was case-writing specialist Harvard Business School, where professors V. Kasturi Rangan and Sunru Yong, and Thomas Steenburgh, Jill Avery and Naseem Dahod, won in the economics and marketing categories.

Though US business schools - particularly Harvard - dominate the market for case writing, it was European schools that scooped most of the category awards. Essec in France (entrepreneurship), ESMT in Germany (human resources), WU Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien in Austria (ethics) and Insead (strategy) all scooped one prize.

Additionally professors Urs Müller and Shirish Pandit from ESMT won the “hot topic” award for their work on Vodafone in Egypt and Hernan Bruno and Hilke Plassmann from Insead won the new case writer award for their work entitled: Michel et Augustin Cookies: Culinary Adventures Competing Against Food Industry Giants.

Nicole Haggerty of Ivey Business School in Canada, one of the most prolific case-writing business schools, won the innovation in case writing award for her work in using business cases as a way of bridging the gap between undergraduates at business school in Canada and at several African business schools.

London Business School marketing professor Nirmalya Kumar, who is also responsible for strategy for Indian group Tata, scooped the award for outstanding contribution to the case method. His cases include the Case Centre’s best-selling case on easyJet (written with Brian Rogers) as well as several other best sellers. “In writing a case, I take both the instructor and student perspectives and ask how this case will lead to a transformation of beliefs on the part of the students,” said Prof Kumar.