Two international awards for RSM business cases

Business cases developed and written by academics and case writers at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) have won two international awards from The Case Centre, an annual celebration of excellence in case writing and teaching at schools of business, management and government worldwide. RSM was also represented on the panel of judges for the awards by the managing editor of the RSM Case Development Centre.

The big switch to teaching online for many business schools in 2020 also brought the challenge of teaching in new ways, and the use of business cases – true ‘stories’ about business that are used as teaching tools to show the application of a theory or concept – is more relevant than ever. Business cases help educators to teach online as well as in the classroom. RSM’s Case Development Centre (CDC) develops business cases by working closely with academia and businesses.

Marketing category winner

The RSM case TomTom: Mapping the Course from B2C to B2B won the Marketing category award at The Case Centre Awards and Competitions 2021. It was prepared and written by RSM professors Steven Sweldens and Stefano Puntoni; case writer Niela Kleinsmith and managing editor Tao Yue at RSM’s Case Development Centre; and Matthieu Campion, formerly Head of Marketing for the Automotive Division at TomTom, the Dutch software technology company that is best known for its portable navigation device. TomTom is now generating more than half its revenues from location and navigation technology development, licensing and sales to automotive and hi-tech companies. The case explores the company’s transition from a B2C oriented business (selling personal navigation devices) to a B2B oriented one selling data, maps and services to customers such as Uber, Microsoft, Apple and major car manufacturers. This is the second award from The Case Centre for this TomTom case. Last year, it won The Case Centre’s Outstanding Case Writer competition award.

Production and Operations Management category winner

Winner of the Production and Operations Management category award at The Case Centre Awards and Competitions 2021 was the business case Ant Financial (A), prepared and written by Feng Zhu, Krishna G. Palepu, Anthony K. Woo and Nancy Hua Dai of Harvard Business School; and Ying Zhang, RSM’s Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Chinese Economy and Business. The case explores cultural and geographical challenges faced by this Chinese financial technology company in processing vast numbers of financial e-commerce transactions.

Judging the awards and competitions

Case Centre Awards in the Management categories are presented to those cases that have seen the largest growth in adoption across the globe in the past year. Cases that have been added to The Case Centre’s collection in the past five years are eligible. Hence, the Case Awards in the management categories are assessed anonymously, based on objective data.

Apart from the Category awards, there are also Case Competition awards which are decided by a panel of judges. As one of the winners of last year’s Outstanding Case Writer Competition, RSM’s Managing editor at the Case Centre Tao Yue was also one of the judges for the 2021 Outstanding Case Writer competition, alongside Caren Scheepers (Gordon Institute of Business Science); Naman Desai (Indian Institute of Management); and Richard McCracken (president of The Case Centre).

More information

RSM’s Case Development Centre

Business students, and even seasoned business experts, can learn from the experiences of other real-life organisations and decision-makers. The Case Development Centre (CDC) at RSM supports case-based management education by turning exceptional business and management experiences into powerful learning tools. CDC connects world-class research, education and business by developing high-quality case studies.

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe’s top-ranked business schools. RSM provides ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam – a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM’s primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who can become a force for positive change by carrying their innovative mindset into a sustainable future. Our first-class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes encourage them to become critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinkers and doers. www.rsm.nl

For more information about RSM or this release, please contact Erika Harriford-McLaren, communications manager for RSM, on +31 10 408 2877 or by email at harriford@rsm.nl.