November 19, 2019. Shanghai – Earlier this month, the Harvard Case Library officially announced a new partnership with CEIBS. To date, the China-focused cases developed by CEIBS have made it into the three most renowned business case libraries in the world – the Harvard Case Library, Ivey Publishing and the Case Centre – but this latest partnership means that even more China-themed cases will contribute Chinese knowledge to the global body of management expertise.

“This good news can be viewed as a recognition of our teaching and research excellence over the years and a milestone in enhancing the international stature of CEIBS and the CEIBS Case Center,” noted CEIBS President Li Mingjun. “Founded in 2001, the CEIBS Case Center has been dedicated to producing high-quality China-focused teaching cases and building a world-class platform for China cases. So far, CEIBS has independently developed more than 900 China-focused cases, which not only provide the outside world with a window through which to understand China, but also play an instrumental role in advancing China’s economic development, increasing the international visibility of Chinese brands, and boosting global management education. Furthermore, CEIBS has undertaken the construction and operations of the ‘Shanghai MBA Case Development and Sharing Platform’ and ChinaCases.Org, through which more than 2,000 teachers from 21 universities in Mainland China have presented cases to over 130,000 students.”

With the widespread use of case studies in management education, the case method has become an important measure of teaching quality for business schools and has also been assigned weight in business school accreditation. Harvard Business School is credited with pioneering and promoting the case method and the Harvard Case Library has established itself as the most well-known case library in the world. It houses more than 24,000 cases, each of which conform to the highest standards for international teaching cases and are widely used by business schools around the world.

The Harvard Case Library is also very strict in selecting partners. As of 2019, it has only 29 partners worldwide. Early in 2012, the CEIBS Case Center and the Harvard Case Library discussed the possibility of forming a partnership. After seven years of preparations and three rounds of assessment, the CEIBS Case Center has finally become its partner. The Harvard Case Library grants its partners the right to control case quality independently and regularly evaluates case uses – steps that indicate the cases developed by its partners are both highly regarded and trusted.

“The inclusion of CEIBS cases in Harvard Case Library again reflects well on CEIBS’ teaching and research excellence and our efforts to expand the school’s global reach have paid off,” CEIBS Vice President and Dean Ding Yuan said. “While providing CEIBS students with a better learning experience, CEIBS cases will make their way into the classrooms of other well-known business schools around the world, serving as a testament to CEIBS’ commitment to ‘China Essence, Global Significance’.”

China-focused cases developed by CEIBS have in the past won numerous awards at competitions including the EFMD Case Writing Competition, the Global Contest for the Best China-Focused Cases and CEEMAN Case Writing Competition. They have also helped drive innovation in management teaching and research, propel China’s economic development and boosted global management education.

“The CEIBS Case Center develops about 100 cases every year,” Professor Chen Shimin, Director of the CEIBS Case Center, said. “The use of CEIBS cases in our classes has grown annually, and they now make up 59% of the cases used in CEIBS EMBA classes. The co-operation between CEIBS and the Harvard Case Library will bring more visibility and attention to CEIBS cases, raising the bar for CEIBS case development and teaching.”

Today, in order to further promote the co-operation between the two sides, Amy Bernstein, Editor-in-chief of Harvard Business Review (English version); Lucy Swedberg, Editorial Director of Educational & Learning Product Development at HBP; Nathan Midler, China Director of HBP; and Bess Ying, Higher Education Director of North Asia of HBP, paid a visit to CEIBS, where they held a symposium with CEIBS faculty and the Case Center team.

During the symposium, Ms. Swedberg and Ms. Bernstein expressed their congratulations to CEIBS on becoming a partner of the Harvard Case Library. They then introduced the eligibility criteria of the Harvard Case Library, as well as the publishing requirements of HBR. Speaking highly of CEIBS’ academic excellence, HBR has announced that they arrived at an initial agreement with the school, wherein CEIBS will submit a list of case topics every three months. Following approval by HBR editors, CEIBS professors will then be commissioned to prepare cases. This agreement means that more CEIBS professors will have an opportunity to make their voices heard in one of the world’s top academic journals.

With a mission to cultivate business leaders with both international vision and Chinese expertise, CEIBS is committed to advancing China’s transformation into an innovation-fuelled economy as part of its globalisation process. The partnership with Harvard Case Library marks another generous gift for CEIBS on the occasion of its 25^th anniversary. As the school embarks on a new beginning, an increasing number of CEIBS cases will find their place in the classrooms of global business schools and help nurture future management talent and business leaders.