On February 24, 2025, The Case Centre, the world's leading repository of business case studies, announced the winners of its annual Awards and Competitions. "POOK Technology: How AI Drives Business Value and Productivity Enhancement" by CEIBS Professor of Decision Sciences and Management Information Systems Tan Yinliang and Case Researcher Liu Geng won the Outstanding Case Writer: Hot Topic 'Generative AI, business and society' category. CEIBS was the only Chinese business school recognized in this year's competition, highlighting its contributions to advancing AI integration in business.

The award-winning case examines how generative AI drives productivity and creates new business opportunities. It serves as a valuable resource for business students studying real-world AI applications while providing global business leaders with strategic insights for navigating an AI-driven future. The judging panel, which included David Dubois (INSEAD), John Mullins (London Business School), and Vicky Lester (The Case Centre), praised the case: "The case provides an outstanding opportunity to analyze AI-driven strategic decision-making and organizational transformation. It combines operational depth with strategic breadth, making it highly engaging for students. The teaching note is highly comprehensive, and the case provides a very logical breakdown of how AI can be implemented, offering valuable insights for classroom discussions."

AI Takes the Spotlight: First-Ever AI Category Award

The Hot Topic 'Generative AI, Business and Society' category marks The Case Centre's first AI-focused award, highlighting the transformations and challenges businesses face in the AI era. This new category reflects growing attention from the global business education community to AI's rising importance. Vicky Lester, CEO of The Case Centre, noted: "As AI continues to evolve, the case method remains an invaluable tool for developing students' critical thinking, decision-making, and ethical judgment—skills that AI cannot replicate."

CEIBS’ Ongoing Focus on AI in Business

CEIBS has maintained a steadfast focus on AI applications in business, bringing real-world AI case studies into the classroom. The award-winning case, "POOK Technology: How AI Drives Business Value and Productivity Enhancement," stands as one of the school's key contributions to this field. Developed in collaboration with POOK Technology, the case examines AI applications across key business functions such as content creation, ad placement, and customer service. It demonstrates how AI achieved efficient knowledge reuse and automated operations by using precise task decomposition and quantitative management.

"We are honored to have been selected for this first-ever AI Hot Topic Award! This accolade is both a recognition of our case study efforts and a reflection of CEIBS' enduring focus on AI," said the case authors. "We hope that this case will help students from all industries understand how AI generates value in the real business world and inspires them to craft effective AI strategies."

Prof. Wang Hong, President of CEIBS, stated: "This honor affirms CEIBS's global leadership in the research field of integrating artificial intelligence with business. As a business school rooted in China and connected to the world, we have always been committed to transforming cutting-edge technological insights into actionable management wisdom. The success of the POOK Technology case lies not only in its academic rigor but also in its authentic reflection of the innovative practices of Chinese companies reconstructing business logic through AI. We are systematically building an AI education system that integrates 'teaching, research, curriculum, and industrial ecosystem' to cultivate future business leaders who can navigate technological changes while embodying humanistic care, allowing the global management education community to hear more voices of Chinese innovative paradigms."

Prof. Chen Shimin, Associate Dean and Case Center Director at CEIBS, commented, “The POOK case is one of many we’ve developed to explore how businesses can leverage AI to enhance productivity. As AI technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, we’ve been closely observing its profound impact on business practices and have already developed a series of related cases for classroom use. We are delighted that our work has been recognized on the international stage. This award not only celebrates the success of this particular case but also highlights the strong connection between CEIBS’ teaching, research, and real-world business practices. It is a testament to our ongoing commitment to sharing the insights and accomplishments of Chinese management education with the global community.”

CEIBS has developed a comprehensive strategic framework for integrating AI into business education and practice. In April 2024, the school established the Research Centre for AI and Management Innovation and, in partnership with Tezign, launched a dedicated research fund to address AI commercialization challenges. In curriculum design, CEIBS has introduced new AI-related courses and leveraged AI technology to enhance its teaching methods. The school also hosted the inaugural Forum on AI Leadership for the Future, bringing together distinguished scholars and industry leaders to explore AI’s transformative impact on business. As part of its strategic blueprint, CEIBS has defined a “2+4+X” interdisciplinary research framework, placing AI and business management at its core while assembling a world-class international faculty. These initiatives underscore CEIBS’ commitment to developing business leaders with AI-driven mindsets and advancing AI’s role in the business world.

As the independent home of the case method and distributor of the world’s largest and most diverse collection of cases, The Case Centre celebrates excellence in case studies, authors, and teaching every year through its recognition portfolio. This includes awards and competitions, annual bestselling and classic cases, and bestselling case authors. These efforts significantly contribute to the development, promotion, and innovation of case studies worldwide.