New faculty join ecch Executive Committee

28 Sep 2011

ecch is pleased to announce that Professor Jean-Pierre Jeannet of Babson College, Professor Anand Narasimhan of IMD and Professor Kulwant Singh of the National University of Singapore have joined its Executive Committee.

Professor Lynette Ryals of Cranfield School of Management also joins the committee as Chair, taking over from Professor Mark Jenkins. Professor Ryals comments "I think this a very interesting time for ecch and for the case method. My belief is that we need to revitalise the way that cases are presented, encouraging authors to use more multimedia in their cases. There are also a number of new markets that ecch can explore, and I hope my sales and marketing background will be useful in helping with that. I'm also interested in working with ecch to develop new services and workshops – it's not just about being a case library, it's about supporting and promoting the case method more widely."

The Executive Committee, comprising up to twelve academic representatives of member organisations, meets three times a year to establish ecch policy and oversee operations.

An interview with Lynette Ryals

Where did your interest in cases come from?

Before I joined Cranfield I worked for a management consultancy, so I was always very interested in how theory is applied to practice. Every consultancy project is about change of some kind and cases provide an opportunity to read examples of how other companies implemented a particular change. Management consultants also bring experience of multiple industries to their clients, something that case studies provide in the classroom.

Why is the use of cases important in management education?

I'm a case enthusiast because I think they bring so much to the classroom, including exposure to other industries and other contexts, particularly internationally, and different perspectives on a problem or opportunity. I like the way that you can use case studies to learn from failure as well as from success! But, for me, one of the most important things that cases bring to management education is the practice of active learning. In a lecture or webinar style format, some students can 'switch off' and be passive learners. Case discussions, especially where we break into small groups and argue for different points of view on the topic, are very lively and stimulating. I've seen case discussions get quite heated; sometimes the students are still debating through the coffee break! Those sort of active learning sessions are often the things that the students remember most, even years later.

Faculty profiles

	Lynette Ryals (Chair) is Professor of Strategic Sales and Account Management, Director of the Demand Chain Management Community at Cranfield School of Management, UK. She specialises in key account management, strategic sales, planning and customer portfolio management. Lynette is a Registered Representative of the London Stock Exchange and is the only woman in the UK to have passed the Fellowship examinations of the Society of Investment Professionals.
	Jean-Pierre Jeannet is Professor at Babson College, US where he teaches Global Marketing Strategy and Global Strategic Management. Professor Jeannet's research has been in the area of international and global marketing, global strategies, global thinking, strategic thinking, market orientation, and competitive marketing strategies.
	Anand Narasimhan is Professor of Organisational Behavior at IMD. His research interests include a number of areas of leadership including organisational change, organisation design, social networks, and emotion help in organisations.
	Kulwant Singh is Professor and Deputy Dean of the National University of Singapore Business School. His research and teaching focus on business strategy and competition in rapidly changing environments.