By Mathilde Cocherel, Case Collection Manager at ESSEC Business School, in the K-lab Content Production Team. She accompanies Professors in the valorization of the cases they write and teach.

ESSEC Business Cases collection is distributed worldwide by the Case Centre based in Cranfield UK. This institution publishes each quarter a newsletter called “Connect”. In the 2018 Spring issue, seven award-winning cases authors at the Case Centre discussed what makes certain companies a popular subject.

The key messages were the following:

• Well-known companies are more engaging, especially to young students, together with a strong teaching note, as the choice is made by teaching faculty, in relation with their teaching objectives
• Certain industries may be popular too, like airlines, because we all have used them, and themes like innovation or high profile leadership are more attractive
• Time savings are great for Professors explaining who the company and protagonists are, when companies are already familiar to students
• Cases based on field and desk research work equally well
• Many authors are writing follow-up cases, since students don’t like to be taught with what they think are old cases

“The type of companies that crop up in popular cases, very often multinational and well known, seem to provide repeated opportunities to stimulate discussion, test theory and provoke understanding in class.”¹

There are ever new aspects to explore on famous companies, even if tens or hundreds of cases have already been written on them.

Read the full article on the Case Centre website.

¹Emma Simmons, World’s favourite case companies, http://www.thecasecentre.org