SMU Bags Two Global Award Wins in EFMD Case Writing Competition

Singapore, 18 June 2015 – Singapore Management University (SMU) has won first place in two categories of the 2014 EFMD Case Writing Competition, organised by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). It is one of the first and biggest wins ever by a Singaporean educational institution in this worldwide case writing competition. 

This is one of the most established and globally recognised competitions in case writing, and has been held annually for the last 30 years to encourage and support the writing and creation of new and innovative case material. EFMD is the international body that awards the EQUIS accreditation in high-quality management education, and SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) is one of the youngest institutions to be EQUIS-accredited for all its programmes, from the undergraduate to PhD levels.

In the most recent competition, SMU topped the following two of the 14 categories:

The winning cases from SMU were co-authored by a combination of case writers from the Case Writing Initiative (CWI) driven by the SMU Centre for Management Practice (CMP), as well as faculty. The judging criteria includes case quality (50%), teaching notes (30%) and innovation (20%). The other categories focused on specific issues and regions.

It is also notable that another current SMU faculty, Kannan Srikanth, Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the LKCSB, also clinched an award in this latest edition under the Bringing Technology to Market category, for his co-authored case on “Moser Beer And OM&T – Choosing a Strategic Partnership Mode” that was written while he was at the Indian School of Business.

SMU’s President, Professor Arnoud De Meyer, said, “SMU started on a comprehensive effort to produce case studies on Asian companies and issues in 2011. We felt the need to write cases about Asia from an Asian perspective, as such cases had been few and far between. SMU has always been convinced that we need an external benchmark to appraise the quality of our cases. Winning these EFMD prizes is a significant recognition by our peers that SMU has made a meaningful contribution to the portfolio of cases used in the international network of business schools. Today, SMU cases have been used in over 100 universities, including prestigious ones like Harvard Business School, the London Business School and INSEAD. The drive for this content development is key to SMU becoming the best management university and knowledge hub in Asia.”

SMU’s Executive Director of the Centre for Management Practice and the Case Writing Initiative, Professor Philip Charles Zerrillo said, “Landing two award wins in a major global competition such as the EFMD Case Writing Competition, where the majority of winners are traditionally Western cases and businesses, is an important accolade to us. It attests to SMU’s established capabilities in world-class case writing, and demonstrates the success of SMU’s distinct case writing pedagogy – focusing on cutting-edge business topics in the Asian context. We have delivered results, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in multi-disciplinary work.”

He added that the CMP works with SMU’s various Schools, not just from Business, but also Accountancy, Information Systems, and Social Sciences, and has developed 125 cases so far on Asian businesses and organisations across numerous topics. These cases help inform management thinking, and connect the University’s expertise with practice that improves efficiency for businesses, organisations, countries and the region. CMP also conducts case writing workshops across the region, develops original work to support case competitions and students participating in such challenges, and produces publications and thought leadership articles.

SMU enjoys a unique pedagogical advantage in having its faculty teach using their own case studies in undergraduate, graduate and executive education. The process of case writing also allows SMU faculty to develop richer experiences with the business community as they apply academic ideas to real-world situations.

For more information on the winning cases at the EFMD Case Writing Competition, please see the Appendix for Executive Summaries of SMU Winning Cases.

For more information on SMU’s Case Writing Initiative, please visit the SMU website: http://casewriting.smu.edu.sg/

For more information on EFMD’s Case Writing Competition 2014, please visit the EFMD website: https://www.efmd.org/blog/view/327-efmd-is-delighted-to-announce-the-winners-of-the-2014-efmd-case-writing-competition

Appendix:

Executive Summaries of SMU Winning Cases, EFMD Case Writing Competition 2014

Jungle Beer: An Entrepreneur’s Journey

This case follows Aditya Challa, a craft beer aficionado, whose passion for good beer led him on an international quest to study the art of brewing in Scotland and eventually to Singapore, where he started a microbrewery business with his friends in 2011. By October 2012, sales of his craft beer had been increasing 20% per month, bringing up his production to about one-third operating capacity. However, future growth remained uncertain – with specific challenges pertaining to distribution and branding. Craft beer was still a relatively unknown concept in the city-state, and consumers remained sceptical of premium priced local beer. Moreover, big breweries in the Singapore market had already locked down most retailers with exclusive draft contracts. Challa reviewed his business model and growth strategy in terms of how and where he could sell his beer while continuing to build the Jungle Beer brand.

The Jungle Beer case provides students the opportunity to apply strategic concepts to the alcoholic beverage market in Singapore from the perspective of a new start-up. They will also be tasked with evaluating risk-return trade-offs regarding business decisions and will be asked to recommend a growth strategy that recognises an appropriate marketing mix that addresses the marketing nuances between goods and services business models.

This case is of moderate difficulty and appropriate for undergraduate and graduate level business studies that examine channels and distribution for retail and the food & beverage sector in the context of goods versus service marketing.

Gillette’s “Shave India Movement”: Razor Sharp against the Stubble

This case is the first part of a two-part series. Case A begins in April 2010, where Sharat Verma, the brand manager for Gillette India, together with Harish Narayanan, the assistant brand manager in the Singapore regional business unit, influence an R&D effort to redesign the Gillette Mach3 razor for the Indian market. By focusing on frugal innovation, they succeed in removing non-essential features of the razor design in order to reduce costs, thereby aligning the value proposition and price-point to the target segment. In addition, they also help develop an unconventional marketing campaign, called the “Shave India Movement”, which catalyses the previously unresponsive yet more affluent urban market, and results in record breaking sales for the Mach3 razor in 2010. Verma and Narayanan are left to analyse the mechanics underlying the success of this campaign, and determine if the movement can be further expanded. They must also determine if lessons from the campaign can be applied elsewhere, and if so, how?

This case can be used to explain how students can apply consumer adoption frameworks to developing marketing strategies. Students can also learn to identify potential challenges and bottlenecks within the consumer adoption process relevant to the target segment. Through the case discussion, they will have an opportunity to understand the strategic importance of frugal innovation in terms of successful consumer adoption of technological innovations, and recognise the importance of frugal innovation in gaining market share in developing countries.

Case B begins in May 2010 with Sharat Verma wondering how he could extend the “Shave India Movement” from the urban elite down to consumers at the bottom of the affluence pyramid through a new product, the Gillette Guard — set to launch five months later in October. This new product is designed specifically for low-income consumers in India. With the price-point and distribution dilemma already solved vis-à-vis the successes of the Mach3 campaign discussed in Case A, he now needs to craft an activation strategy that will extend the Shave India Movement to all rungs of society.

Part B of the case series provides students the opportunity to further demonstrate the learning outcomes in Part A by providing an opportunity to apply their analysis of the A section to a different a demographic segment. Again, the key learning objectives is to encourage consumer adoption products created through frugal technological innovation.

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Media Contact:

Charlene Liew

Assistant Director, Corporate Communications

Singapore Management University

DID:     +65 6828 0020

Email:  charleneliew [at] smu.edu.sg