/Film and The /Filmcast Improve People’s Lives

In the past two weeks, I’ve received news from two colleagues on how their association with my work at /Film has helped to provide them some valuable professional connections:

  • My friend Dan Trachtenberg is now represented by the super-prestigious Great Guns talent agency in the UK. The Great Guns rep first heard of Dan on our “Top Soundtracks of 2010” podcast, in which Dan casually mentioned that he’s a commercial director. This off-handed remark led to a contract being signed between the two of them. Congratulations, Dan! 
  • A while ago, I interviewed Gen Ip, the creator of the amazing Filmography 2010 video. Last week, I received an e-mail from a major trailer-editing company in LA, which actually cut several of the trailers in the video! The representative was looking to hire and asked me if I could connect him with Gen Ip. After checking with Gen, I e-introduced the two of them this morning. I assume great things will come of it.

I’m grateful that the platforms I’ve worked in can provide people with new and exciting opportunities. It’s a testament to the caliber of our listenership and readership that these opportunities exist. It’s also a sign of the sheer talent and greatness of the people willing to associate themselves with /Film and the /Filmcast.

So there you have it folks! Agreeing to talk with me will clearly improve your professional life in ways you can only dream of. Just know that my door is always open. Because seriously, it’s so lonely over here…

In Which I Receive An Award For Something I Wrote

The ecch, “a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the case method of learning,” has just handed out its yearly awards for excellence in case-writing (for those of you who have no idea what “cases” are, go here for more info). This year’s award recipients include a case I helped to write about Facebook and its “Connect” Platform, which is currently taught at Harvard Business School’s MBA program. Here’s the full press release:


21st ecch case awards go global: winners represent three continents

The winners of the first global ecch Case Awards (succeeding the annual European Case Awards) have been announced.

Harvard Business School, where the case method was first developed, was victorious in four categories and also scooped the overall award with Apple Inc. in 2010 by David B Yoffie and Renee Kim.

One new award and two new case writing competitions were added to the traditional ten categories*. 

Outstanding contribution to the case method was awarded to Kamran Kashani, Professor of Marketing and Global Strategy at IMD (for full biography see notes for editors below). 

Case writing competition new case writer was won by Franco Quillico and Gregory Moscato,International University of Monaco, (a first time win for their school) with their case Tango vs Victor, a case about the proposed acquisition of a French soft drinks company by a pan-European private equity fund. 

Case writing competition ‘hot topic’ case: This year’s subject, Renewable and sustainable energy, technology and development, was won by George Kohlrieser, Francisco Szekely and Sophie Coughlan from IMD with their new case Playing to Win: Leadership and Sustainability at ESB Electric Utility a case about a 95% publically owned Irish utility’s plan to become carbon neutral by 2035 while remaining competitive. 

IMD also won awards in two further categories: Production and Operations Management, and Marketing, with the latter being won with a case authored by Kamran Kashani himself, together with Inna Francis. 

London Business School was the third European School to be represented among the winners taking the Human Resource Management / Organisational Behaviour category with the case Richard Murphy and the Biscuit Company (A) by Michael Jarrett and Kyle Ingram. 

Thunderbird School of Global Management was the second US school to make a first-time winning appearance, scooping the Finance, Accounting and Control category with the case Southwest Airlines 2008 by Andrew C Inkpen. 

The Indian based IBS Center for Management Research, scored a first for Asia by winning the Knowledge, Information and Communication Systems Management category with the case Knowledge Management Initiatives at IBM by Vivek Gupta, Indu Perepu and Sachin Govind. 

Commenting on his award, Kamran Kashani was “honoured and humbled” to be selected by ecch’s executive committee to be the first-ever winner of the Outstanding contribution to the case method award. “This takes a special place in my 37 years as a management educator, because, for me, the case method isn’t just a pedagogical ‘tool’ but represents the fundamental position I take towards my students: it is a respect for their points of view and a profound belief in their capacity to learn from each other.”

Richard McCracken, Director of ecch said “The new 2011 Case Awards are a resounding endorsement of what we hoped to achieve by making them global, delivering winners from three continents in the first year. The results in the new case writing competition categories have demonstrated that case writing is flourishing worldwide. We were delighted with the response, receiving a remarkable 120 entries from 103 places of learning in 29 countries.” 

The hot topic identified by the ecch Executive Committee for the 2011/12 case writing competition will beSocial Media and Change, looking for cases that focus on how companies are using social media in their business development and strategy formulation. (Entry details at: www.ecch.com/casecompetition

For further press information please contact:
Emma Simmons: e.simmons@ecch.com

* Overall winner; Economics, Politics and Business Environment; Entrepreneurship; Ethics and Social Responsibility; Finance, Accounting and Control; Human Resource Management / Organisational Behaviour; Knowledge, Information and Communication Systems Management; Marketing; Production and Operations Management; Strategy and General Management 

The results in full

Outstanding contribution to the case method
Professor Kamran Kashani, IMD 

Overall winner
Apple Inc. in 2010
David B Yoffie and Renee Kim
Harvard Business School
Ref no 9-710-467 

Economics, Politics and Business Environment
Philips versus Matsushita: The Competitive Battle Continues
Christopher A Bartlett
Harvard Business School
Ref no 9-910-410 

Entrepreneurship
Facebook’s Platforms
Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Thomas R Eisenmann, David Chen and Brian Feinstein
Harvard Business School
Ref no 9-808-128 

Ethics and Social Responsibility
IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A)
Christopher A Bartlett, Vincent Dessain and Anders Sjöman 
Harvard Business School
Ref no 9-906-414 

Finance, Accounting and Control
Southwest Airlines 2008
Andrew C Inkpen
Thunderbird School of Global Management
Ref no A07-08-0008 

Human Resource Management / Organisational Behaviour
Richard Murphy and the Biscuit Company (A)
Michael Jarrett and Kyle Ingram 
London Business School
Ref no 408-083-1 

Knowledge, Information and Communication Systems Management
Knowledge Management Initiatives at IBM
Vivek Gupta, Indu Perepu and Sachin Govind 
IBS Center for Management Research
Ref no 909-018-1 

Marketing
Xiameter: The Past and Future of a ‘Disruptive Innovation’
Kamran Kashani and Inna Francis 
IMD
Ref no IMD-5-0702 

Production and Operations Management
Lego: Consolidating Distribution (A)
Carlos Cordon, Ralf W Seifert and Edwin Wellian 
IMD
Ref no IMD-6-0315 

Strategy and General Management
Google Inc.
Benjamin Edelman and Thomas R Eisenmann 
Harvard Business School
Ref no 9-910-036 

Case writing competion ‘Hot topic’: Renewable and sustainable energy, technology and development
Playing to Win: Leadership and Sustainability at ESB Electric Utility
George Kohlrieser, Francisco Szekely and Sophie Coughlan
IMD
Ref no IMD-4-0302

Case writing competition: New case writer
Tango vs Victor (A & B)
Franco Quillico and Gregory Moscato
International University of Monaco
Ref no 110-062-1 and 110-063-1

Notes for editors

ecch is the largest single source of management case studies in the world, with more than 68,000 items in its catalogue, available through www.ecch.com. An independent, membership-based, non-profit organisation, ecch has offices at Cranfield University, UK and Babson College, USA. ecch is dedicated to supporting authors and users of case studies and promoting the case method of learning. It provides the interface between the authors of cases and the educational institutions and businesses that use them for teaching and learning. ecch has an international programme of case writing and teaching workshops and events. 

ecch Case Awards are presented annually to recognise worldwide excellence in case writing and to raise the profile of the case method of learning. The Awards (formerly the European Case Awards) have been presented since 1991. Awards are made in up to nine management categories; for one overall winning case; two case writing competition categories for a case by a new author and for a newly authored case on a ‘hot topic’; and to recognise the outstanding contribution of an individual associated with the case method. www.ecch.com/caseawards 

Outstanding contribution to the case method: Nominations are collected by ecch and the executive committee, and the committee votes for a winner from the shortlist. 

Kamran Kashani is Professor of Marketing and Global Strategy at IMD. He teaches topics in marketing, strategy and innovation. He is currently researching marketing innovation in large global companies. An Iranian and Swiss national, he graduated from the University of California, UCLA, and gained his Doctorate in Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Professor Kashani’s articles and books in marketing and management have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He is the winner of several awards for best paper and case writing. He has researched and written more than 50 case studies and has won four ecch Case Awards (marketing category 2011, 2001, 1995 (runner up) and 1993) and two EFMD awards (marketing category 2005 and 2003). As a coach to teachers in the art of case method, Professor Kashani has been presenting ecch case writing and teaching workshops workshops since 2000, reaching over 220 educators worldwide. He has been a faculty member of ITP (International Teachers Program) at London Business School, UK, New York University, USA, SDA Bocconi, Italy and IMD, Switzerland where he co-directed the programme. kashani@imd.ch

Case awards and competition judging criteria 
ecch identifies winning cases through an objective process – cases are judged anonymously. 

Overall winner and nine category winners: All cases registered with ecch during the last five years are put forward for consideration. The winning case in each category is the one that has achieved the highest growth in popularity among peers worldwide, based on the number of individual organisations ordering and teaching the case during the last calendar year. A case that has won a category award in a previous year cannot win again, but is eligible, once, for the overall award (eg the 2010 overall award winning case won the marketing category in 2009). 

Case writing competition categories: All submissions must have been tested in the classroom, completed in the specified time frame and be in English. They may be compiled from field research, published sources or generalised experience. Authors may submit a single case or a case series. The case, or case series, must be a maximum of 5,000 words, excluding exhibits and annexes. Each submission must be accompanied by a teaching note for which there is no word limit. 

Hot topic: For 2011 cases were invited that feature a business situation within the area of ‘Renewable and sustainable energy, technology and development’. Judging panel members:

  • Stephen Evans, Professor of Life Cycle Engineering, Cranfield University, UK
  • Michiel Leenders, Professor Emeritus, Richard Ivey School of Business, Canada
  • Richard McCracken (Chairman), Director, ecch, UK
  • Stuart Read, Professor of Marketing, IMD, Switzerland
  • Giselle Weybrecht, Author of The Sustainable MBA: The Manager’s Guide to Green Businesswww.thesustainablemba.com
New case writer: Submissions must be the first teaching case in any business subject area, prepared by the author(s) in a format that can be used by other case teachers. Judging panel members:
  • Jamie Anderson, Professor of Strategic Management, TiasNimbus Business School, The Netherlands
  • Geoff Easton, Professor of Marketing, Lancaster University Management School, UK
  • Jim Erskine, Professor Emeritus, Richard Ivey School of Business, Canada
  • Kamran Kashani, Professor of Marketing and Global Strategy, IMD, Switzerland
  • Richard McCracken (Chairman), Director, ecch, UK

The case method of learning was pioneered in the early 20th Century at Harvard University. It has become the favoured teaching method of most of the world’s leading business schools. 

Announcing the Chencast

Yesterday, as a mental exercise, I decided to see how long it would take me to buy a domain and set up a brand new podcast available for download in the iTunes music store. The answer? About 90 minutes (and 24 hours from the time I submitted it until the listing appeared in iTunes).

I record a ton of audio blogs with people who I find to be fascinating and articulate. I decided to try to make the best of them them available for download (by hosting them externally), and put them into a format that will be easier for people to consume (by making it available on iTunes). So, The Chencast is born!

This will not be a repository for ALL my audio blogs (which you can still find at my audioboo page). Rather, it will contain conversations at least 15 minutes in length, hopefully with an interesting person who has something interesting to say about something interesting that’s going on in the news, society, and/or culture. Being interesting is the critical factor here, if you can’t tell.

I have no idea what this will end up becoming, how frequent updates will be, or anything about the future of this enterprise. But I do know that the three episodes I’ve already uploaded are worth your time, if nothing else.

Whatever happens, hey, you should subscribe while the getting is good! I have a crappy website up right now, but where it’s really at is in iTunes. You can subscribe to the new podcast in iTunes by clicking here. Enjoy, and feel free to e-mail me to let you know what you think.

P.S. If you really hate iTunes, you can also subscribe to the show via RSS.