Perspectives
Martin Kupp
Associate Professor – Entrepreneurship and Strategy at ESCP Business School, Paris
Martin Kupp is associate professor for entrepreneurship and strategy at ESCP Europe, Paris and a visiting professor at the European School of Management and Technology, Berlin. Before that Martin worked as a program director at ESMT, Berlin and a lecturer and research assistant at the University of Cologne, where he also received his doctoral degree.
Martin’s area of expertise lies in entrepreneurship, strategic innovation, competitive strategy and organizational creativity. He has worked for clients such as Adeo, Bosch, Bertelsmann, Elior, Canal+, Axel Springer, ThyssenKrupp, Siemens, MAN, Coca-Cola, Deutsche Bank, and Deutsche Telekom. Martin’s current research interests focus on entrepreneurship in established companies, incubation and acceleration, business strategy in technology markets, and the relationship between the arts and business.
Martin’s recent publications have appeared in California Management Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Journal of Business Strategy, Business Strategy Review, Info Journal, Financial Times, The Economist, The Economic Times of India and the Wall Street Journal. He has appeared as a business commentator on CNBC, and frequently speaks at industry conferences and events. In 2008 he won at the EFMD case writing competition with his case on Celtel Nigeria. He serves on the executive board for The Case Centre and teaches case writing and case teaching at academic institutions around the world. In 2019 Martin co-founded with Francesco Volpe the first continental European fusion start-up, Renaissance Fusion.
Martin Kupp shares his perspectives on teaching entrepreneurship with cases, adapting case teaching online during the pandemic, and his favourite motto "Eddie would go".
Martin: Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of teaching and can be traced back worldwide over thousands of years. Fables, folklore, literature, myths and fairy tales have been used for centuries to instruct, encourage critical thinking, and impart wisdom and knowledge. And a great case is simply a great story well told. Stories are compelling and engaging at many levels. They are vivid and real to the reader or listener, triggering multiple associations, memories and emotions. We are drawn into previously unexplored territory, encouraged to embrace new ideas, understand from different perspectives, develop empathy, and think in fresh ways. We can be jolted out of old ways of doing things, encouraged to discard stale and tired attitudes, and inspired to do more and be more.
Martin: You are not born a case writer or teacher but you can acquire the necessary skills. As with any craft, it is a combination of hard work and also luck in the sense of meeting the right people and being at the right place at the right time. It always makes me incredibly proud to see cases being submitted by former participants of our case writing workshops or getting feedback on specific teaching experiences from participants of our case teaching workshops. Because after all, case writing and teaching keeps on developing and with each workshop I learn a lot myself by exchanging with colleagues who share my passion for teaching.
I continue to be energized by case research and writing. Participating in a case conference triggers ideas for new cases and I welcome the opportunity to think about how I might present information to students more effectively or how I might teach a case to maximize student learning. Case writing has been an important part of my career and I value the many friends I have made in my case writing journey.
Martin: Well, first of all, I would like to acknowledge the fact that there are brilliant teachers, highly valued by participants, who have never written a case and who do not use cases in their teaching. Cases are for sure not the only method for achieving engagement, commitment and an overall great learning experience. I started to teach executive education at the rather early age of 31 and for me cases were a natural choice as it helped me to connect with the more experienced managers, it gave me credibility in the classroom and it enabled me to make my teaching relevant. In Entrepreneurship especially, many participants ask for entrepreneurial experience from the teacher. Although I think that this is the wrong question, teaching my own cases on entrepreneurial ventures that I know very well because I researched the startups and did the hard work of interviewing the relevant people, helps me create the right atmosphere in the classroom.
Martin: Well, many things will most likely change. And the way we are interacting and working with students and participants will evolve over time. But the fundamental logic of learning by dissecting a specific situation, will in my opinion stay. But the medium, whether it is paper, a video, a game, or an app, might very well evolve. And these are only the kind of solutions we know right now. There might be others out there still to be discovered.
Martin: Fundamentally cases are very well suited for online teaching. They achieve what is most needed in online teaching: engagement, curiosity, energy. Together with my dear colleague Urs Müller, we offered a webinar on teaching cases online. Our key message was that for taking cases online, you just have to follow the same principles of teaching cases in class but turn everything up a notch. What we mean by this is, that the same rules apply, but you have to be even more prepared and focused. We think for example that it is even more important to change formats in online teaching, e.g. moving from discussion to group work, to buzz groups, to role play and back. Keep the tempo high. This requires a lot of preparation, but it will ultimately pay off.
Martin: One of my favourite cases is “Successes and failures of amazon’s growth strategies” by Oh Young Koo. The case describes eight different growth initiatives, four successes and four failures. It is not too long but gives enough detail to have heated debates about the underlying reasons both for the successes and the failures. My favorite case study that I have written myself is my latest case study “Wild herbs grow tall: Mastering structural change in Lusatia”. The case study is about a very modest entrepreneurial venture by a female entrepreneur who thinks about building a business by selling regional wild herbs. Participants like this case as it is very accessible and the venture is something that seems reasonable and doable. You do not always have to have a degree from the best school or a unique technology at hand, but can create with your own means a business that is never the less important for yourself but also for people around you and the region where you are situated.
"Eddie would go"
One of my favourite mottos is “Eddie would go” from the world of surfing. No matter how high the waves might seem from the shore, you will only find out by paddling out. The same is true for teaching with and writing cases. I can only encourage everyone to start today, test the waters and get inspired by the many great cases that already exist. There are so many great resources in places like the IBS Case Research Center, The Case Centre or any other case distributor or clearing house.
