Sage Business Cases

By Linda Hauck

Case studies are a tried and true pedagogical method. In 1788 the Medical Society of New Haven used them, by 1871 Harvard Law School famously adopted them and by 1930 Teachers College included them in the curriculum, whereas some might trace it back to the Socratic method (Tomey, 2003). The case method is used across many disciplines because it promotes higher order critical thinking, research skills and problem solving while presenting opportunities for reinforcing concepts and theory. By its very nature, the case method encourages active learning and class participation adding to its growth in popularity (Brown, 2004).

Much has been written about the art of teaching with cases, writing cases and learning with them (see the list of resources following and the over 2000 articles on topic in ERIC). There is even a North American Case Research Association devoted to promoting writing cases and studying their use. However there is one notable drawback to teaching with cases: It can be expensive for students. Every semester the library fields questions from students hoping to source the text of assigned cases for free from the library collection. While some popular business case series are not licensed to libraries, Falvey has added Sage Business Cases to our collection.

Sage Business Cases is a fine collection authored by leading scholars from internationally distinguished universities such as Yale, Cambridge, Northwestern, U.C. Berkeley and Villanova. Cases are offered across a wide range of topics including accounting, corporate social responsibility, entrepreneurship, finance, human resource development, international business, leadership marketing, and strategic management. The cases are calibrated for basic, intermediate and complex analysis. Some cases are written from the author’s experience or direct inside knowledge or data, whereas others are sourced from indirect or publicly available data. Many cases are accompanied by teaching notes, articulated learning outcomes, and supplementary materials.

By adding Sage Business Cases to the collection, Falvey supports active learning and contributes to the Affordable Materials Project!