April 8, 2018. Shanghai – On April 18, the winners of the Nominated Case Award and the Best Case Award will be announced on ChinaCases.Org. The academic community is eagerly anticipating the results, part of the “2017 Global Contest for the Best China-Focused Cases” officially launched on November 1, 2017.

As of the January 8, 2018 submission deadline, 232 cases had been submitted online — up 17% from 2016. Submissions were made by authors from 76 colleges and institutions in the Chinese mainland, the regions of Hong Kong and Macao as well as other countries. Among the submissions, 60% of the cases dealt with three major disciplines: finance, accounting and control; strategy and general management; marketing. Meanwhile, there was a noticeable increase in the number of cases focused on entrepreneurship, innovation, and e-commerce. Notably, we received micro-cases, video cases and written cases supplemented with videos for the first time. These new attempts will set new requirements for a diversified design of the case contest.

The selection process was carried out in five phases: initial review, blind review, group review, the Nominated Case Award selection and the Best Case Award selection.

The first three phases aim to evaluate whether the submitted cases meet the acceptance criteria of Shanghai MBA Case Library. In the initial review phase, submitted cases were evaluated within the context of content and compliance requirements. Around 76% of the cases passed muster. Afterwards, 25 senior experts in several disciplines from 10 domestic business schools (East China University of Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai University, Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, Zhejiang University, Nankai University, and CEIBS) carried out a blind review. When assigning cases to these experts, we took into consideration their research interests. For each case, two experts evaluated the body of the material, teaching notes and supplementary materials based on the acceptance criteria of Shanghai MBA Case Library, and offered suggestions for improvement. A panel of three professors was formed to conduct a group review of the cases that provoked a considerable divergence of opinion in the blind review process. The final results include “acceptance”, “revision required before acceptance”, “major revision required before evaluation again”, and “rejection”. A new group review will be organized for the cases that were subject to “major revision required before evaluation again”. The initial review, blind review, and group review are well under way to ensure the quality of cases accepted into Shanghai MBA Case Library.

The selection process for the Nominated Case Award was carried out in two steps. The cases, which conformed to the acceptance criteria of Shanghai MBA Case Library and were recommended by experts, were ranked after weighted-scoring with reference to the blind review and group review comments. Then, 31 top-ranking cases were shortlisted. On March 11, 2018, six experts (from East China Normal University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tongji University and CEIBS) conducted a review of the 31 shortlisted cases. The six experts were divided into two panels. After reading and discussing each case, each panel drew up its recommended list of winners. Then, the two panels announced their lists, discussed each recommended case in detail individually, and cast a secret ballot for the cases that caused disagreement between them. After an evaluation from the perspectives of case theme, writing, teaching, and industrial background, the six experts selected eight cases for the Nominated Case Award.

These eight cases have been submitted to a panel of international experts, who will choose the final winner for the Best Case Award.