The Singapore Management University (SMU) has set a new record with three awards clinched in the EFMD Case Writing Competition organised by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). This is the second consecutive year for a multi-award victory – last year, SMU broke new grounds for the first and most prizes ever won by a Singaporean educational institution in the established worldwide competition.

This year, SMU ups the ante with one more award win than last year. The University is also one of the two biggest global winners, on par with IMD from Switzerland, for bagging three prizes. Added to that, the University won the most number of awards among Asian institutions, and remains the only Singaporean institution to have earned acclaim.

The globally recognised competition 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.

The winning SMU cases 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, staff and industry partners. SMU is proud to have collaborated with the Human Capital Leadership Institute on the case on Manila Water, the winner in the category of ‘Inclusive Business Models’.

SMU bagged the following three awards out of the 17 in total in the most recent competition, results of which were announced on 13 June 2016:

The judging criteria include case quality (50%), teaching notes (30%) and innovation (20%). The other categories focused on specific issues and regions. One of the awards won is in a newly-added category.

SMU’s President, Professor Arnoud De Meyer, said, “SMU’s strategic move in producing world-class Asian case studies is in line with our vision of delivering transformative education and being an exemplary global city university in Asia. The award win categories reflect SMU’s core competencies and emphasis – the ‘Entrepreneurship’ and ‘Urban Transition Challenges’ categories mirror our Areas of Excellence ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ and ‘Ageing and Healthcare Management’; and the ‘Inclusive Business Models’ category coincides with SMU’s focus on Diversity and Inclusion. We are proud that this last case was written in collaboration with the Human Capital Leadership Institute.”

SMU’s Executive Director of the Centre for Management Practice and the Case Writing Initiative, Professor Philip Charles Zerrillo said, “Five years into building the cutting-edge knowledge capital, we are proud to have achieved an accelerating momentum and steadily gained international recognition and traction – winning a stream of global awards and being used by over 100 universities including prestigious ones around the world.”

“Winning multiple awards in the EFMD Case Writing Competition two years in a row, attests to our outstanding consistency and progression in producing high-quality and comprehensive work. It also affirms our distinctive pedagogical strengths and capabilities, and epitomises CMP’s and CWI’s established thought leadership in the development of case studies and management practices. We will not rest on our laurels but will continue to build on our distinction and add to the collection even more aggressively.”

CMP works with SMU’s various Schools – including Business, Accountancy, Information Systems, and Social Sciences – as well as its Offices, Institutes and Centres for the CWI. It has developed more than 150 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 its 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 2015, please visit the EFMD website: http://www.efmd.org/research/awards/case-writing-competition-winners-2015

Appendix:

Executive Summaries of SMU Winning Cases, EFMD Case Writing Competition 2015

1) Manila Water: From Privatisation to Sustainable Growth

In order to resolve severe water management problems in Metro Manila, the Government of Philippines began rolling out a privatisation scheme in 1995 with the objective to provide piped water to everyone in the city with regular 24-hour access. The scheme aimed to auction off service provision of Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewage System (MWSS), a government agency that handled all water and sewage services, through two 25-year concession agreements that divided Metro Manila into East and West. On August 1, 1997, Manila Water won the East Concession.

By 2013, after 16 years of management and operations, Manila Water had more than doubled their customer base and achieved 24-hour access to safe and affordable piped water to 99 per cent of its distribution network in the East Concession, whereas before just two-thirds had any access at all and only 26 per cent had regular 24-hour access. Moreover, system leakage and pilferage were improved from 63 per cent to 12 per cent water loss.

To come so far, Manila Water had to overcome both internal and external challenges. Internally, the company had to transform its highly centralised organisational structure and bureaucratic culture into a de-centralised one where actions could be undertaken through bottom-to-top directives. Human capital and leadership development, as well as putting in place the right incentives, were key to accomplishing this objective. Externally, Manila Water had to address environmental, socio-economic and political challenges. In this regard, tri-sector engagement between government, business and civil society was essential. Moreover, the company had to seek out new business and a means to sustainable growth if it were to stay relevant in the future.

Through this case, students will understand and analyse Manila Water’s business strategy and leadership development after it won the East Concession. Students will learn to explain human resource strategies and company privatisation, and visualise the importance of tri-sector engagement in its privatisation process. They will examine the company’s internal and external challenges and opportunities, especially during the period of corporate transformation. The case provides a rich illustration of change management.

This case can be used for teaching human resource/strategy courses for undergraduate, postgraduate and executive development classes.

http://casewriting.smu.edu.sg/case/manila-water-privatisation-sustainable-growth

2) SimpliFlying: Making A Great Idea Take Flight (Parts A and B)

This is a two-part case series.

Part (A) of the case is about how Shashank Nigam, CEO of SimpliFlying Pte Ltd, a company based in Singapore, searches for the corporate strategy and vision for his company. SimpliFlying was founded in March 2008, and was originally a blog which commented on issues in marketing aviation.

After thinking about how he could find a niche for his business, Nigam decided to sell his company’s services by combining the three pillars of aviation, marketing and technology through social media. However, he recognised that he still needed to decide on the long-term positioning of the company – should SimpliFlying focus on strategy consulting, strategy execution (agency) work, or both? At the same time, Nigam’s company was also receiving calls from hotels to help them with branding projects. Nigam needed to make a decision.

This case study can be used for undergraduate, graduate, and executive level teaching.

In Part (A), students will follow the story of a professional services firm starting-up from scratch, learn to compare emergent versus planned strategy and develop an understanding of some project execution processes in a start-up.

Part (B) of the case covers a specific project that SimpliFlying is handling. By November 2011, SimpliFlying had developed into a reputed aviation marketing strategy consulting and training firm. Estonian Airline’s social media loyalty programme was not only SimpliFlying’s second major airline project, but also the first airline loyalty programme in the world to be driven purely by social media. Despite the challenging timeline – only eight weeks from conceptualisation to launch – SimpliFlying had managed to deliver beyond expectations.

However, Nigam had to consider if the approach he had used was the best way to implement bigger projects going forward. In case B, students will further explore strategy execution and the challenges likely to be faced by a start-up scaling up in size into a larger organisation.

http://casewriting.smu.edu.sg/case/simpliflying-making-great-idea-take-flight

3) The Senior Citizen Home Safety Association: Enabling Active, Ageing-in-Place in Hong Kong

The Senior Citizen Home Safety Association (SCHSA) is a self-financing social enterprise and charitable organisation in Hong Kong that provides quality self-funding services at a low cost to empower the elderly to live independent, healthier and rewarding lives and with dignity, in their communities. It accomplishes this through the smart use of partnerships and information technology. But is this a tenable model to meet Hong Kong’s ageing needs, and if so, could it be replicated elsewhere?

Through this case, students will gain a better understanding of the demographic challenges posed by an ageing population. They will learn how to apply active, ageing-in-place frameworks to uphold the United Nations Principles for Older Persons. They will be able to identify and evaluate the effectiveness of SCHSA in applying active, ageing-in-place frameworks and to determine what key features of its business model are essential if it is replicated elsewhere. The case can be used to demonstrate alternative service delivery options that can exist outside of, and support, the public welfare.

It is suitable for undergraduate and graduate level classes pertaining to systems thinking, gerontology and public administration.

http://casewriting.smu.edu.sg/case/senior-citizen-home-safety-association-enabling-active-ageing-place-hong-kong