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GSB team brings home top international award
26 September 2019 | Story Supplied. Photo Bethany Khan, Flickr. Read time 5 min.
A team from the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Graduate School of Business (GSB) has won the prestigious international 25th CEEMAN & Emerald Case Writing Competition, beating 27 teams from 11 countries with their work on the marketing challenges faced by small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) when taking their product global.
The case study, by Fran Heathcote and Professor Geoff Bick, examined the remarkable success story of South African entrepreneurs Johannes le Roux and Inus Smuts who, within two years of launching their non-alcoholic gin and tonic drink The Duchess, branched out internationally and won two awards.
Heathcote, an MBA student at the time of working on the teaching case, said she was extremely happy about the win.
“It is just such a great story, about two South African homeboytjies and their incredible success. It is local and lekker and it promotes South Africa in an extremely positive way.”
Case study co-author Bick agreed.
“We feel very honoured as we know the quality of these teaching cases is very high, and to be recognised in this way is really wonderful.”
Their global competition included teams from South Africa, Australia, France, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Blood, sweat and tears
Behind the teaching case is the story of The Duchess G&T brand and the two founders who saw a gap in the market for a non-alcoholic, sugar-free and trendy drink for adults that also spoke to the growing worldwide interest in gin.
“It was very hard and there was blood, sweat and tears involved in launching The Duchess,” Heathcote said.
“But they were incredibly hands-on and put a lot of work into taking the product to customers, marketing their product properly and being shrewd with budget.”
It also helped that Le Roux had previous experience with launching another beverage while Smuts had a strong design and advertising background, which was instrumental in shaping their online and digital marketing campaigns.
“We feel very honoured as we know the quality of these teaching cases is very high, and to be recognised in this way is really wonderful.”
Both also had insight into the local hipster culture and how to promote a craft, non-alcoholic G&T for this niche segment.
Claire Barnardo, GSB Case Writing Centre manager, said they are thrilled to be recognised for the type of research they are doing.
She said the teaching case is not only well written and informative, but also contains clear learning objectives for the classroom with videos and interactive content that make it a fun exercise.
She added that the example of The Duchess brand is also an affirmation of what local South African businesses can do, and showcases this to the rest of the world.
Barnardo will collect the award tomorrow, 27 September, on behalf of the GSB, in Wroclaw, Poland, at the annual CEEMAN (Central and East European Management Development Association) conference.
Excellent, robust case
CEEMAN director Olga Veligurska said the organisation supports the development of high-quality case materials relevant to the local and regional needs of its members in dynamic societies.
“The judges noted that Drink The Duchess is an excellent and robust case that offers many opportunities for active learning and discussion, with an equally excellent teaching note in terms of clarity around specific discussion themes and approaches, while recognising there is a ‘messiness’ to solving real-world problems.”
The GSB Case Writing Centre was established in 2016 with a joint investment from the Harvard Business School Alumni Africa Club of SA and the GSB, and set out to produce and publish teaching case studies that reflect Africa and the emerging market landscape.
Interim GSB director Professor Kosheek Sewchurran said they aim “to bring the relevance and strength of local business lessons to life by profiling businesses and exploring actual, complex situations”.
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