Teaching Note: The Reputation of the "World's Most Prestigious Award": The Nobel Prize

At its heart, this is a case about the reputation of an international symbol of achievement and about managing an iconic brand. The case provides insights into the nature of a prestigious “heritage brand” and its challenges and opportunities to remain relevant and differentiated in the 21st century. In “protecting and safeguarding the standing of the Nobel Prize” the executive board faced the paradox of continuity and change with the reputation of “the world’s most prestigious award” at issue. A respected magazine article on the Nobel Prize concluded: “No other prize has anything like the stature of a Nobel. . . . But some do whisper, ‘for how much longer?’” (The Economist, January 2, 2016)