LBS faculty among bestselling case study authors

Two London Business School faculty have been named among the Case Centre’s Top 50 Bestselling Case Authors for 2021/22.

Herminia Ibarra, Charles Handy Professor of Organisational Behaviour, appears in the Top 50 list for the fourth consecutive year, this year at Number 24.

Nader Tavassoli, Professor of Marketing, at Number 46 this year, has appeared in the Top 50 Bestselling Case Authors list since the ranking’s inception seven years ago.

Professor Ibarra’s top three bestselling case studies over the 2021/22 academic year were:

• Satya Nadella at Microsoft: Instilling a Growth Mindset, the Overall Winner Award in the Case Centre’s 2020 Awards and Competitions, which was co-authored with LBS Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour Aneeta Rattan and writer Anna Johnston;
• Margaret Thatcher, which portrays the former British Prime Minister’s rise to the leadership of Great Britain’s Conservative party; and
• Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A), which examines Beer’s actions on assuming leadership of the world’s sixth largest advertising agency during a period of rapid industry change and organisational crisis.

Professor Ibarra believes case studies are an invaluable resource for business practitioners.

“Cases let students see the relevance of concepts and frameworks to real-world situations they have experienced, and to understand, in a very visceral way, that the same situation can be perceived very differently by their peers. Furthermore, case studies naturally lead students to identify (or disidentify) with case protagonists, raising both their emotional engagement with the material and its personal relevance,” she said.

Professor Tavassoli’s case studies include examinations of the disruptive success of the Dollar Shave Club, the Overall Winner Award in 2021, Nespresso: What Next? on Nescafé’s Dolce Gusto brand extension, the 2017 Award Winner of the Strategy and General Management category, and how innovative pay-as-you-go solar energy provider M-Kopa addressed growing competition while staying true to its social values.

Nader also feels that case studies help to bring business theory to life for students and professionals.

“Case studies provide valuable context and insight that puts theory into practice. Some of the best cases target the knowing-doing gap. They do so by engaging participants to interactively apply theory and experience to a specific business context. They require strategic choices among concrete actions.”