Consistency at a superior level. That’s what Zoltan Buzady, associate professor at CEU Business School, demonstrated by winning first prize in the annual CEEMAN Case Writing Competition for a second time. Buzady also won this prestigious award in 2010. CEEMAN is an international management development association established in 1993 with the aim of accelerating the growth in quality of management development in Central and Eastern Europe. It has held annual case writing competitions since 1996.
Buzady was recognized for his 2014 case, “Painted into a Corner: Managing the Virtual Sales Team at ColorPlus Industries,” co-authored by Monika Nadj, who graduated from CEU Business School with an MBA in July 2014. The case focuses on the multiple levels and kinds of leadership challenges faced by a young, talented regional sales manager at a major multinational firm in Central and Eastern Europe. Most challenging for the firm’s managers is how to nurture leadership and to act effectively at the highest level in the midst of both extreme diversity in key ways (cultural, market and organizational) and under the strong leveling force of a ubiquitous IT support system. Students studying this case are urged to find successful ways to lead cross-cultural virtual teams and to reap the benefits and synergies of dispersed teamwork in such a wide and varied geographic context.
“I start with a great story and develop a careful plan,” Buzady said about his case-writing success. “I always work with terrific collaborators—usually one of my students, and then we execute well. And it has to be fun!”
In developing this case, Buzady was intrigued by ways managers can build trust with subordinates. This issue sparked intense debate in his MBA course.
“Building trust in an organization is clearly a challenge for all leaders, and particularly for those leaders running enterprises in the emerging world,” Buzady said.
The winning case study reflects the commitment of CEU Business School to conduct research and curriculum development. It is also emblematic of CEU Business School’s effort to offer programs of study that blend knowledge of world-class managerial practices with their application to fast-growing emerging markets of the world, where sophisticated know-how must be combined with deep local familiarity. With this, the school serves huge multinationals, large domestic firms, SMEs and local entrepreneurs, as well as NGOs and governments—all possessing a great stake in the volatile, emerging and hybrid professional-local markets.
“As this award shows, CEU Business School has a special blend of the highest academic standards and a deep tacit knowledge on the frontiers of management opportunity in the 21st century,” Buzady said. “This award reflects directly, without ambiguity, peer-level recognition of our academic quality.”
Buzady will receive the award September 26 at the CEEMAN Annual Conference, Gala Dinner and Award Ceremony in Budapest..
CEEMAN is an international management development association established in 1993 with the aim of accelerating the growth in quality of management development in Central and Eastern Europe. Now it is a global network of management development institutions interested in quality of education and innovations in this field, as well as in the broad area of subjects related to change, with more than 210 institutional and individual members from over 50 countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
CEEMAN has been organizing its annual case writing competition since 1996, and since 2007 in partnership with Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. The aim of this competition is to encourage and promote the development of high-quality case material relevant for the realities of transitional and emerging economies and at the same time to promote the development of case-writing capabilities in those countries.
Paint image credit: Joydeep





