Licensing Restrictions
Due to licensing restrictions, Harvard Business School Case Studies are limited to classroom use by individual students. The BU Libraries (including Pardee Library) cannot purchase cases for the library’s collections, or obtain cases through Interlibrary Loan. Individuals may purchase copies of cases for their own personal use directly from Harvard Business Publishing.
Instructors that assign Harvard Business School cases to their students can set up course packs directly with Harvard Business Publishing. Students will need to pay a fee to access the course pack and cost will vary depending on number of cases involved.
If you would rather not pay a fee for cases, please review this guide further for cases available through existing library resources or Open Access Cases (free).
Harvard Business Review
A small number of case studies can be found in Harvard Business Review via our Business Source Complete subscription (1922-present) or in print at Pardee Library (1990-present). To limit your search results in Business Source Complete to case studies, select "Case Study" for the Document Type. Another source for business cases is Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (2007-present). You should also select "Case Study" for the Document Type to limit search results to case studies.
In August 2013, HBR designated 500 of their most popular articles as "read-only" and restricted the ability to print or download those articles in Business Source Complete. While it may change over time, the original list of articles is available here: HBR 500. If you need an article that is part of the HBR 500, you may be able to access it through our Harvard Business Review print subscription at Pardee Library.
*Faculty: Please note that HBR articles from our Business Source Complete subscription may not be linked to course management systems due to licensing restrictions, however, articles can be purchased directly from Harvard Business School Publishing for inclusion in course packs.
