INSEAD, the business school for the world, announced today that two of its professors and one of its alumni have been recognised in the Case Centre’s Awards and Competitions 2023. This marks a significant achievement as the school has now won the Marketing category for a record tenth time since the launch of the Awards.
The Case Centre’s Awards and Competitions celebrate worldwide excellence in case writing and teaching at business schools around the world；and are considered the case method community's annual 'Oscars'.
The winning case, “Lemonade: Delighting Insurance Customers with AI and Behavioural Economics: A Disruptive InsurTech Business Model for Outstanding Customer Experience and Cost-effective Service Excellence”, is written by Wolfgang Ulaga, Professor of Management Practice, Ziv Carmon, INSEAD’s Alfred H. Heineken Chaired Professor of Marketing, and Laura Heely, an INSEAD MBA alumna.
The case explores insurtech start-up Lemonade, a major disrupter of the insurance industry. The firm’s mission is to offer a “shockingly great” customer experience, by “creating the world's most loved insurance through technology and social impact”. The company introduced affordable, customer friendlyinsurance policies through ground-breaking use of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep Behavioral Economics insights. By making Lemonade a “loveable brand”, the company covered half of the United States in five years and expanded into Europe. Revenues reached US$100 million by year-end 2019 and, in June 2020, the company filed for an initial public offering (IPO) at a valuation of US$2 billion.
Commenting on the win, Professor Ulaga, who also serves as the Co-Director of INSEAD’s Marketing & Sales Excellence Initiative, said: “My co-authors and I are delighted to see that our case resonates so well with instructors, students, and executives around the globe. Everyone has an opinion about insurance - good or bad. Case discussions quickly become heated, participants are deeply engaged, which sets the stage for a deep dive into the case and discussing how Lemonade takes a customer experience ‘from good to great’, while keeping ‘costs-to-serve’ in check.”
Professor Carmon agreed, saying: “Lemonade’s innovative approach is very inspiring and instructive. The case is a joy to teach as it provides students and executives a very compelling example of a disruptive digital business model and fast-changing customer experiences. Instructors seem to appreciate the depth and breadth of the teaching note and the accompanying materials, finding those useful in sparking engaging, lively discussions.
