Case Studies

The case study is a teaching method used in which a real or fictitious situation is presented with the intended purpose of stimulating discussion and suggestions for possible outcomes to identified problems. Perhaps the most widely known and heavily used case studies in business education are those produced by Harvard Business School Publishing. Finding case studies can, however, be difficult.

Harvard Business School Publishing

Harvard Business School (HBS) distributes case studies and notes through Harvard Business School Publishing (HBSP). You can find case studies in several ways:

• Use the HBSP website ( http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators) and search the online catalog. Here users can search the entire catalog of over 7,500 items from HBS, as well as case studies from several other universities. Users can search by keyword, company name, or by browsing topics. There is a small fee for each case study.
• Review Penn State University Libraries Resources:

  Catalog of Teaching Materials (2000/2001)
  Comprehensive Teaching Materials Catalog (1998/99)
  Catalog of Teaching Materials (1996/97)
  Harvard Business School.Catalog of Teaching Materials (1988-1995)
  All four are located at:
  Business Library, Reference: Z7164.C81I6502

  Directory of Harvard Business School Cases and Related Course Materials (1985-1987)
  Using the CAT record, click on "Submit Request for Annexed Materials" and fill out the form for the material to be retrieved for you.

  Directory of Course Material (1984)
  Using the CAT record, click on "Submit Request for Annexed Materials" and fill out the form for the material to be retrieved for you.

• Use the printable catalogs on the HBSP website. These catalogs are organized by discipline and are updated monthly. (http://printablecatalog.hbsp.harvard.edu )
• Textbook Case Maps match cases to the leading business textbooks on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Each map suggests several cases for each chapter. Case maps are found on the HBSP website.
• The Teaching Materials Newsletter is published 3 times a year and lists new cases in each discipline. You can sign-up for or download an electronic copy of the newsletter on the HBSP website.

Harvard Business Review Case Discussions

Each issue of the Harvard Business Review includes a Case Discussion. These are short, fictitious situations that present a decision point and then follow with 4-6 commentaries from leading industry experts.

In addition to the methods above, there are 3 ways of finding case discussions:

• Go to the HBSP website ( http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators ) and enter "HBR Case Discussion" into the keyword search.
• Browse issues of the Harvard Business Review to find an appropriate case. The Schreyer Business Library has the complete holdings of the Harvard Business Review, from 1922 to the present:

  Harvard Business Review
  3rd floor Paterno: HF5001.H3
  Current issues are located in the Business Periodicals Area

• Use indexing and abstracting services, such as ProQuest Direct. Using ProQuest Direct, users can enter search terms to better identify specific case studies.

Other Institutions

Users can order case studies from several other academic institutions and organizations (prices vary). Some examples:

CaseNet  / Southwestern College Publishing
Distributes cases for a small fee from a number of universities

Stanford Business School, Cases

European Case Clearing House

INSEAD / European Institute of Business Administration

Melbourne Case Study Services

University of Western Ontario, Richard Ivey School of Business

World Bank Institute Case Study Collection

Additional Resources

North American Case Research Association

Case Research Journal
3rd floor Paterno: HD30.4.C37