Core Values

Richard McCracken (left), Maral Muratbekova-Touron (right)

With the announcement of our annual awards winners last month comes the first of this year’s awards presentations.

So, it was on a blustery Monday this week that I visited the République campus of ESCP Paris to present the 2019 Free Case category award to Maral Muratbekova-Touron for the case she co-authored with Dana Minbaeva, The Acquisition Experiences of KazOil.

Every awards presentation is special, and every first presentation of the season is especially anticipated. However, I was particularly struck by how The Acquisition Experiences of KazOil epitomises the spirit of the awards and three core values of The Case Centre: diversity, localisation by giving voice to regional authors and business cultures, and giving back to help improve business education around the world.

Diversity. The Case Centre supports case writing in all its diverse forms. The case is a disguised case written primarily from published sources. Maral and Dana speak very fluently about triangulating their research by using as many different data sources as possible (face-to-face interviews, group interviews, intra-company surveys, participant observations, archived material) to avoid the dryness sometimes associated with this approach.

Providing a platform for regional voices. The Case Centre actively encourages cases from authors in developing schools and with a focus on less-visited industries, scenarios and dilemmas.  I particularly enjoyed reading a case written by two authors with a real and deep understanding of the social and business cultures and language of the participants.

Giving back to our community. The Acquisition Experiences of KazOil is part of the PRME collection, one of 13 Free Case Collections within The Case Centre collection covering the spectrum of management academic disciplines.

As a not-for-profit, The Case Centre recycles surplus income to support the growth and quality of business and management education around the world. One way in which we do this is to actively support the profile and distribution of free cases. We are proud to meet the cost of administrating and distributing these collections as part of our mission as the independent home of the case method.  Unlike some journal publishers of free content, we neither charge authors nor their schools for the privilege of distributing their work.

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#WorldCaseTeachingDay

I’m delighted that The Case Centre is hosting and curating the inaugural #WorldCaseTeachingDay.

Because the case classroom is where the case method comes alive.

A high-quality case being taught by a great case teacher, with well-prepared students, is the most exciting and moving learning experiences imaginable.

The best may make it look effortless but it requires dedication, imagination, and a willingness by the teacher to share their space – the classroom – with students.

The impact on learning cannot be overstated. I meet many senior business people who speak enthusiastically about a favourite professor and a special case that has been their touchstone throughout their career. Case teaching is for life, not just for class.

So, case teachers wherever you may be on this special day, your day, I hope you celebrate your achievements. You have the respect and gratitude of millions of students, and practitioners in businesses around the world.

However you choose to celebrate, please share it with us, with your colleagues, with the world.

Visit www.worldcaseteachingday.org to find out how you can join in with the day across social media.