Research Guides: Business and Finance: Case Studies

Case Studies

Sage Business Cases This link opens in a new window
This new resource includes the full-text of over 1,800 cases on topics including accouting, finance, operations management, entrepreneurship, marketing, and more. Sources for cases include Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University), UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, Yale School of Management, University of Cambridge, China Business Case Center (CBCC) of Tsinghua University, and more. These cases can be shared in course readers.
Emerald This link opens in a new window
We have access to the Emerging Market Case Studies published in 2017 and 2018. More will be added as budget allows. To access, simply search for a known title or your topic, and then filter your results to limit to "Content Type: Case Study" and "Access: Only content I have access to."

Note to SMC faculty: If you'd like access to the teaching notes in either SAGE Business Cases or Emerald's Emerging Markets Case Studies, please contact the librarian for instructions.

Finding other published case studies

Sometimes case studies they are published as articles in trade and scholarly journals. To find these, simply do a keyword search for your topic, and add “case studies” as a second term.

The best databases to use for finding business case studies are

Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
ABI/INFORM Collection This link opens in a new window

IMPORTANT NOTE: While very similar in content and style to articles, case studies are not always found in journals. Many times, case studies are separate publications available from institutes or scholarly presses via special subscriptions. A specific case study you are looking for may not available at the library. Always check with your instructor or a librarian.

Due to license restrictions in place by Harvard Business Publishing, libraries are not allowed to purchase or lend the popular Harvard Business Review case studies. Access is limited to individual purchase ($7 each), or via institutional copyright clearance.

Students: If you have been assigned a case study, check with your professor for information about accessing the content. The Library, unfortunately, will not be able to provide you with the content.

Faculty: If you are interested in including a HBR case study in your course, contact SEBA staff for information on the possibility of purchasing the rights to do so. The Library will not be able to purchase the study for the collection.

Note: One case study- typically featuring a fictitious company- is published each month in the Harvard Business Review magazine. These cases are accessible like all other HBR articles via the print edition or the online content in the Business Source Complete database. However, due to Harvard Business Publishing's license agreement, they may not be able to be downloaded or printed, and may not be included in course reserves.

Some of the better known individual institutes and schools that publish case studies online, free or for a charge, are

Case Centre
(Some original content and more links to case collections. Includes many open access cases.)
Richard Ivey School of Business Cases
From the University of Western Ontario. Faculty can register to preview cases; all are available for purchase for around $5.
Stanford Business School Cases
Some cases are free, others are available for a charge or only to Stanford students, faculty, and alumni
Sloan Learning Edge
Free case studies from MIT Sloan School of Management

Like the Harvard Business Review case studies, cases available for a fee can only be purchased by individuals and can not be acquired by libraries.

For even more links and tips, see the fabulous guide created by Simon Fraser Univerity's Library.