LibGuides: Business: Case Studies

Business Case Studies

Business Case Studies are often used in business and management disciplines to explore different scenarios that may be fictitious, or based on real-life situations. Some case studies are aimed at academic staff for use in teaching sessions to stimulate group discussion. They are used to look at an example of business practice in depth and analyse the problems / potential solutions. If you have been asked to carry out your own case study analysis as part of an assignment, you may find it helpful to look at the Guide to Writing a Case Study Assignment.

You can find case study articles on our databases (effective search examples listed below) in textbooks and on case study websites that often provide some free content.

Finding Case Studies

Harvard Business Case Studies can be accessed via the Business Source Database (see below for access details).

Searching for Harvard Business Case Studies

Select the SO Publication Name from the Select a Field drop-down menu
Enter Harvard Business Review
Select Case Study in the Search Filters section in the Document Type menu

Searching for specific Harvard Business Case Study

Follow the instructions above
Add keywords that describe your search in the next search box
Select Keywords from the Select a Field drop-down menu

If you want to find case studies from other publications as well, just use the Document Type filter for Case Study and relevant keywords.

Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
EBSCO's Business Source Complete is an indispensable resource for business students. The database supports research in key business areas such as accounting, finance, management, marketing and economics. The database also includes country economic reports from a range of authoritative sources.

You can find case studies published in journals on ABI / Inform.

Use the Advanced Search screen.
Enter keywords for the subject of your case study search

advanced search

Scroll down to the Document Type box and select Case Study.

ABI/INFORM Collection This link opens in a new window
A key online database for global business and economics topics, including thousands of full-text journals, company news, country/industry reports and trend reporting.

A limited number of case studies are available on the Emerald database. Follow these steps to access them:

Go to the Advanced Search screen

Advanced Search

Select Case Studies and Only Content I have Access to

Emerald Fulltext This link opens in a new window
The Emerald publishing platform provides access to articles from over 120 important academic journal titles in the fields of business, management and economics. Full-text archives date from 1994 and abstracts from 1989.

WARC provides access to many advertising case studies. To search for case studies on a topic:

Go to the Advanced Search screen.

advanced search

Enter your search term in the search bar at the top.
Select Case Studies from the Select Sources box at the bottom

Select Sources box

WARC This link opens in a new window
World Advertising Research Centre's Advertising and Knowledge Database is a collection of case studies and articles on advertising, marketing and media activity. It includes trend analysis, research reports and strategic marketing guidance.

WGSN contains many marketing / brand case studies.

Use the search box in the top bar to enter a keyword then filter the results to Case Studies from the Content Type menu.

advanced search

WGSN This link opens in a new window
Forecasting and trend analysis for style, fashion and design; includes fashion image library and online space for personal creative development.
Insight provides market intelligence and analysis of trends in consumer attitudes, marketing, retail experience and innovation.
Lifestyle & Interiors provides insight, updates and forecasts into interior design, inspiration, and retail intelligence in the lifestyle, hospitality and interiors industries.
You have been given access to the content of WGSN for your own personal, non-commercial and information purpose only. You must not share or distribute such content across social media and any other external platforms.
It is important that you understand that your access and logins are limited to you as an authorised user of De Montfort University and any breach in the use of their content may result in prosecution, damage claims and loss of access to everyone else in the institution.

There are many case study articles and chapters relating to the United Nations Global Goals on SDGO.

To search for them combine topic keywords with "case study" in the Advanced Search screen:

Search screen

Sustainable Development Goals Online (SDGO) This link opens in a new window
SDGO is an interdisciplinary collection of digital content themed around the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The resource includes more than 10,000 carefully selected journal articles and over 1,000 eBook chapters in an online library covering the 17 SDGs. The platform also provides teaching and learning materials including presentations, videos, case studies, teaching guides, and lesson plans.

The Financial Times often includes case studies about specific companies / business scenarios in its articles.

The easiest way to browse these is to enter "case studies" as a search phrase in the search box (once logged in):

FT Search screen

Financial Times This link opens in a new window
The Financial Times website provides global corporate, financial and political developments. It includes in depth special reports, company information and market data. If you are a new user, you will need to register for a myFT account which will allow you to personalise the news feeds you follow. There are instructions on how to access FT.com on the library website.

Textbooks often contain case studies to illustrate how theory can relate to practice.

You can search for case studies in textbooks by finding a relevant e-book title then doing a text search for 'case study'. You can also browse the contents in print or online books to see if there is a list of case studies included in the textbook.

Case Study Websites

The Case Centre - Free Cases

Registration is required for you to search the Case Centre's collection of freely available case studies.

MIT Case Studies

Free case studies provided by MIT Sloan School of Management.

Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Case Bank

An online library of business cases focused on principle-based ethics.

MarketingSherpa

Reports of customer-first marketing stories, including case studies and other material. Choose case studies as the content type to filter your search

Nanyang Technopreneurship Case Centre (NTCC)

Case studies created by Nanyang Technical University that feature Singapore-based and global companies confronting issues and challenges in their businesses.

Journal of Business Cases and Applications

Aimed at business academics, this journal has case studies and exercises for use in teaching.

World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
Find case studies relating to sustainability in business.

Robins Case Network

Case studies from the Robins School of Business, University of Virginia. Please note that permission should be requested to use the cases in teaching sessions.