Business Case Studies

For articles about companies or industries discussed in the case, company financials, business news, and other online subscription information, see our Business & Finance and Management & HR database pages. We also have a brief tutorial on Doing Research in Business & Management.

Cases in Articles

Notes about case studies published in periodicals

Unlike cases written for educational purposes, case studies presented in business periodicals often contain both the case facts and solution(s) as written by practitioners in the field. These may still be useful if you wish to have students read the case facts and discuss the solutions in class. (That is, students will not have an opportunity to search for the published case with the solutions.)

The definition of a case study varies widely between periodicals. Sometimes the article will be the more traditional case facts followed by solution model. Other times the article will study an organizational issue in greater depth.

Searching for case studies in business periodicals

The library subscribes to the following three(3) major business databases which are particularly good for finding case studies in periodicals. Access to these databases is available to Webster U. students, faculty, and staff with a current Webster ID number. A tip sheet on searching for case studies in these and other Passports' databases is available (Adobe PDF).

Business Source Premier

Offers indexing and abstracts for over 2,600 business periodicals which includes over 800 peer-reviewed titles and full-text for over 2,100 titles. This database also includes the full-text of cases published in The Harvard Business Review. Hints on seaching for articles in this journal are available on the tip sheet mentioned above.

ABI/Inform Complete

This well-known databases covers 1600 leading business publications.

Business & Company Resource Center

To search for articles using keywords, select the "Advanced Search" tab. Also provides company and industry profiles, financial information,and investment reports.

Cases from Books

Textbooks are probably the largest book source of case studies. Emerson Library does NOT collect textbooks currently used in Webster University courses as students are expected to buy their own copy. The library may add earlier editions (often donated by on-campus faculty) to provide students with remedial or refresher study and to provide faculty with opportunities for finding case studies external to the text they have selected for their course. Some Webster extended campus offices may have desk copies of current textbooks.

In additional to texts, the library owns many topical collections of case studies and readings. All books can be searched using the Emerson Library catalog which is available online via Passports.

A keyword search in the catalog for case studies on business ethics might look like this:
case studies and business ethics

Commercial Business Cases

There are many publishers of business cases. You should be aware that cases published by these commercial vendors are considered consumables (like workbooks). It is expected that copies of the case (or the rights to make copies) will be purchased for every student in a course each semester in which a case is used. The major vendors are:

Darden Business Publishing(University of Virginia)

https://store.darden.virginia.edu/

European Case Clearing House

http://www.ecch.cranfield.ac.uk

Harvard Business School Cases

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/cases/cases_home.jhtml

Ivey School of Business(University of Western Ontario)

http://www1.ivey.ca/cases/cps.asp?pvar=main

Free Case Studies

BusinessEthics.ca

http://www.businessethics.ca/cases/

From the Canadian Resource for Business Ethics, this site links to background information on the Enron case and also serves as a portal to other business ethics case study websites.

CasePlace.org

http://www.caseplace.org/

A free online service of the Aspen Institute's Business and Society Program (BSP). The intent is to help users identify "some of the best cases, references, and commentary on social impact management, corporate social responsibility, and business ethics". Registration and searching are free, most of the cases are from commercial publishers.

Ethics Updates Case Studies

http://ethics.sandiego.edu/resources/cases/HomeOverview.asp

"Founded in 1994 and edited by Lawrence M. Hinman, University of San Diego, this site is designed primarily to be used by ethics instructors and their students. It is intended to provide updates on current literature, both popular and professional, that relates to ethics."

Stanford Graduate School of Business. Center for Electronic Business and Commerce

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/cebc/cases.html

Cases describe e-business situations faced by entrepreneurs and corporations. Several cases provide broad descriptions of related firms in specific sectors. Cases on this site may be used free of charge after obtaining permission from the CEBC.

UCLA Statistics Case Studies

http://www.stat.ucla.edu/cases/

"This is a long and continually growing list of HTML based case-studies. Many of them are based on a previous LaTeX based version prepared by David Draper and George Michailides. Others are based on consulting jobs, and quite a few are taken from the literature."

University of Pennsylvania Wharton School [of Business]

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/

Summaries of case studies are in center column; titles may be clicked on for details or cross-reference headings in the right column may be clicked on to reached subject-specific cases. The school promises free use, but wants you to register.

World Council for Sustainable Development Case Studies

http://www.wbcsd.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD1/layout.asp?type=p&MenuId=ODY&doOpen=1&ClickMenu=RightMenu

Numerous case studies on sustainable development issues including accountability, capacity building, energy, climate, etc. addressing such themes as corporate responsibility, ecosystems, innovation and technology.

Writing & Teaching with Cases

Business Resources for Students - Case Studies

http://college.hmco.com/business/resources/casestudies/students/overview.htm

This website from Houghton Mifflin is written to help students become successful learners using the case method. Includes essays on what is case study analysis, how to analyze and write a case study report and the role of financial analysis.

The Case Method of Teaching Science

http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/teaching/teaching.html

Hosted under the auspices of Nathional Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, the author provides provides detailed instructions on writing good case studies across the curriculum. Essays include What Makes a Good Case? and The Way of Flesch: The Art of Writing Readable Cases.

North American Case Research Association

http://nacra.net/

NACRA is a collaborative organization of some 450 case writers and teachers, mostly in the business disciplines, who support each other's research and writing efforts. Its annual conference helps to develop the cases which will appear in the Case Research Journal, other journals, and textbooks. Cases, case-related papers, and proposals are invited from all fields that use cases as part of their teaching methodologies. Decision-oriented, field-researched cases are especially welcome.

University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries Business Cases

http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/cm/business/cases/cases.htm

The website provides examples of nicely arranged raw materials for writing cases on a number of timely topics in business, complete with well-documented quotes and sidebars containing links to related websites and documents.