Women in case studies
The aim of this competition is to encourage and promote the development of high-quality teaching case material that positively represents real women in leadership positions in the workplace.
Having 10 years of research on award-winning case papers, Lesley Symons of The Case for Women showed that women protagonists are present in only 11% of award-winning case papers. She developed the Symons Test which is used to assess the presence of women in case papers:
- Does it have a woman in it?
- Is she the protagonist?
- Does she speak to another woman about the business?
Only 4% of the case papers researched met all three of the rules.
The award
The total prize fund for the collection is $10,000. Prizes are awarded to the overall winner and two runners-up.
The Case For women winning cases
First place: Navigating Etonhouse Through Crises: the Paradoxical Leadership of Ng Gim Choo
Jean Lee, Huirong Ju and Leah Tan
All authors at :China Europe International Business School
Second place: Riteband: Combatting the Challenges of Cross-Industry Innovation
Arpita Agnihotri, at Penn State Harrisburg, Middletown, Pennsylvania, United States
And Saurabh Bhattacharya at Newcastle University Business School
Third place: CTIP: Diversity in MedTech
Yin, Pai-Ling and Rostoker, Benjamin
University of Southern California
Shortlisted cases (in no order)
Wecyclers Roll Out: Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola
Ijeoma Dhalia Nwagwu, Oreva Atanya and Ngozi Onuzo,
All authors at: Lagos Business School
Happy Self Publishing
Ramachandran, Sathyanarayanan at IFMR Graduate School of Business, Krea University, India
Venturing into Retail: SoGal and Cherry Blossom Intimates
Munshaw, Supriya and Black, Christina
Johns Hopkins University- Carey Business School

Develop your skills and knowledge
Register on our Cases Hub, where you can complete a course on writing a case study and teaching note, and download our handy how-to guides.
Supporting resources
- Rewatch our webinar: Where are the women? Visibility of women in teaching cases
- Catch up on the latest webinar: The lack of female leaders in teaching cases and the impact on business school students
Related topics
Cases competitions
We partner with various organisations around the world to offer a range of case writing competitions. Explore our case competitions to find out more.
Emerging Markets Case Studies
Our emerging markets teaching cases are published as a collection. Learn about publishing your case study, or view the table of contents and a sample article.