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What the Case Study Method Really Teaches

  • Nitin Nohria

harvard business school case study methodology

Seven meta-skills that stick even if the cases fade from memory.

It’s been 100 years since Harvard Business School began using the case study method. Beyond teaching specific subject matter, the case study method excels in instilling meta-skills in students. This article explains the importance of seven such skills: preparation, discernment, bias recognition, judgement, collaboration, curiosity, and self-confidence.

During my decade as dean of Harvard Business School, I spent hundreds of hours talking with our alumni. To enliven these conversations, I relied on a favorite question: “What was the most important thing you learned from your time in our MBA program?”

  • Nitin Nohria is the George F. Baker Professor of Business Administration, Distinguished University Service Professor, and former dean of Harvard Business School.

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From inquiry to action, harvard business school & the case method, homepage section.

case method 100 years

Since the 1920s, the case method has been the foundational teaching practice at Harvard Business School (HBS). Based on participant-centered learning, the instructional approach facilitates discussions about real-life problems encountered in business, to prepare students for roles as leaders, managers, and decision makers. The case method encourages students to plan a course of inquiry—analyze, listen, compare other perspectives—and choose a course of action. For over 100 years, HBS has been an innovative leader in the development and refinement of teaching with the case method, helping to shape business education programs and business leaders around the world. “While cases may look different in the future,” HBS Dean Srikant Datar observes,  “the fundamental approach of discussion, debate, and deliberation will undoubtedly last into the next century.” 1 Drawing on materials from the HBS Archives, From Inquiry to Action explores the introduction of the case method in the teaching of business administration and highlights the School’s early contributions that have led to the enduring influence of this participant-centered teaching practice.

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"The General Shoe Company," 1921

Case Writing

Expansion of The Case Method

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1 Dean Srikant Datar in “Dean Datar Introduces the Case Method Centennial,” 2021.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI1-K2nECTo. Accessed 2/2/22.

Case Method Project

  • Harvard Business School →
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Bringing case method teaching to high schools & colleges: U.S. History, Government, Civics & Democracy

About the project  .

The Case Method Project is an initiative formed to achieve two goals:

  • Bring case method teaching to high schools and colleges
  • Use this methodology to deepen students’ understanding of American democracy

Based on the highly successful experience of Harvard Business School and other graduate and professional programs that use case-based teaching, we believe the case method can be employed to strengthen high school and college education as well, ensuring a more exciting, relevant, and effective experience for students and teachers across a range of subjects. We also believe the case method can be especially effective at engaging students with topics in history and democracy and that it presents a unique opportunity to help reverse the broad decline in civic education – and civic engagement – in the United States.

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Connect to other educators in our network and download case materials via ShareVault .

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Find out how to bring the case method to your school.

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“ I have had few weeks in teaching that I enjoyed as much as doing this case....My biggest dilemma now is how many cases I want to fit into the year. ”

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The History of the Case Study at Harvard Business School

faculty and student engaged in a classroom case discussion

  • 28 Feb 2017

Many first-time HBS Online participants are surprised to learn that, often, the professor is not at the center of their learning experience. Instead of long faculty lectures, the HBS Online learning model centers on smaller, more digestible pieces of content that require participants to interact with each other, test concepts, and learn from real-world examples.

Often, the professor fades into the background and lets the focus shift to interviews with executives, industry leaders, and small business owners. Some students might be left thinking, "Wait, where did that professor go? Why am I learning about a grocery store in Harvard Square?"

In the words of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , “Don’t panic.” These interviews, or cases, feature leaders at companies of all sizes and provide valuable examples of business concepts in action. This case study method forms the backbone of the Harvard Business School curriculum.

Back in the 1920s, HBS professors decided to develop and experiment with innovative and unique business instruction methods. As the first school in the world to design a signature, distinctive program in business, later to be called the MBA, there was a need for a teaching method that would benefit this novel approach.

HBS professors selected and took a few pages to summarize recent events, momentous challenges, strategic planning, and important decisions undertaken by major companies and organizations. The idea was, and remains to this day, that through direct contact with a real-world case, students will think independently about those facts, discuss and compare their perspectives and findings with their peers, and eventually discover a new concept on their own.

Central to the case method is the idea that students are not provided the "answer" or resolution to the problem at hand. Instead, just like a board member, CEO, or manager, the student is forced to analyze a situation and find solutions without full knowledge of all methods and facts. Without excluding more traditional aspects, such as interaction with professors and textbooks, the case method provides the student with the opportunity to think and act like managers.

Since 1924, the case method has been the most widely applied and successful teaching instrument to come out of HBS, and it is used today in almost all MBA and Executive Education courses there, as well as in hundreds of other top business schools around the world. The application of the case method is so extensive that HBS students will often choose to rely on cases, instead of textbooks or other material, for their research. Large corporations use the case method as well to approach their own challenges, while competing universities create their own versions for their students.

This is what the case method does—it puts students straight into the game, and ensures they acquire not just skills and abstract knowledge, but also a solid understanding of the outside world.

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Teaching cases & active learning resources for public health education, the case study handbook, revised edition: a student's guide.

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Using our case library

Access to cases.

Many of our cases are available for sale through Harvard Business Publishing in the  Harvard T.H. Chan case collection . Others are free to download through this website .

Cases in this collection may be used free of charge by Harvard Chan course instructors in their teaching. Contact  Allison Bodznick , Harvard Chan Case Library administrator, for access.

Access to teaching notes

Teaching notes are available as supporting material to many of the cases in the Harvard Chan Case Library. Teaching notes provide an overview of the case and suggested discussion questions, as well as a roadmap for using the case in the classroom.

Access to teaching notes is limited to course instructors only.

  • Teaching notes for cases available through  Harvard Business Publishing may be downloaded after registering for an Educator account .
  • To request teaching notes for cases that are available for free through this website, look for the "Teaching note  available for faculty/instructors " link accompanying the abstract for the case you are interested in; you'll be asked to complete a brief survey verifying your affiliation as an instructor.

Using the Harvard Business Publishing site

Faculty and instructors with university affiliations can register for Educator access on the Harvard Business Publishing website,  where many of our cases are available . An Educator account provides access to teaching notes, full-text review copies of cases, articles, simulations, course planning tools, and discounted pricing for your students.

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Harvard Law School  The Case Studies

The Case Study Teaching Method

It is easy to get confused between the case study method and the case method , particularly as it applies to legal education. The case method in legal education was invented by Christopher Columbus Langdell, Dean of Harvard Law School from 1870 to 1895. Langdell conceived of a way to systematize and simplify legal education by focusing on previous case law that furthered principles or doctrines. To that end, Langdell wrote the first casebook, entitled A Selection of Cases on the Law of Contracts , a collection of settled cases that would illuminate the current state of contract law. Students read the cases and came prepared to analyze them during Socratic question-and-answer sessions in class.

The Harvard Business School case study approach grew out of the Langdellian method. But instead of using established case law, business professors chose real-life examples from the business world to highlight and analyze business principles. HBS-style case studies typically consist of a short narrative (less than 25 pages), told from the point of view of a manager or business leader embroiled in a dilemma. Case studies provide readers with an overview of the main issue; background on the institution, industry, and individuals involved; and the events that led to the problem or decision at hand. Cases are based on interviews or public sources; sometimes, case studies are disguised versions of actual events or composites based on the faculty authors’ experience and knowledge of the subject. Cases are used to illustrate a particular set of learning objectives; as in real life, rarely are there precise answers to the dilemma at hand.

Our suite of free materials offers a great introduction to the case study method. We also offer review copies of our products free of charge to educators and staff at degree-granting institutions.

For more information on the case study teaching method, see:

  • Martha Minow and Todd Rakoff: A Case for Another Case Method
  • HLS Case Studies Blog: Legal Education’s 9 Big Ideas
  • Teaching Units: Problem Solving , Advanced Problem Solving , Skills , Decision Making and Leadership , Professional Development for Law Firms , Professional Development for In-House Counsel
  • Educator Community: Tips for Teachers

Watch this informative video about the Problem-Solving Workshop:

<< Previous: About Harvard Law School Case Studies | Next: Downloading Case Studies >>

Teaching History Through the Case Method

Explore more.

  • Case Teaching
  • Course Materials

T he case method is typically synonymous with business school curriculum. Through active case discussion, students put themselves in the proverbial shoes of a case protagonist, often a manager or leader of a company or organization facing a difficult business challenge. Students apply critical thinking skills to work through complicated problems and process contending points of view, then engage with their classmates in developing a solution together. This intellectual energy is the pedagogical “magic” instructors strive for.

Perhaps a lesser-known power of the case method, however, is in its applicability across a variety of topics and student levels. Take, for instance, history, government, civics, and democracy—topics that feel particularly pertinent given the roller-coaster US election and other polarizing political events around the world.

In an effort to bring these important topics, particularly American history, to life, historian David Moss, the Paul Whiton Cherington Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School (HBS), has taken the case method’s magic from the business school to the high school. In 2015, Moss launched a pilot program in 11 public, charter, and private high schools across the United States. He provided 23 history and civics teachers with historical cases that showcase the foundations of US democracy—as well as worksheets, assignment questions, and teaching plans. He then made the cases available for free to high school students to encourage case teaching among this group.

The goal of this program, called the Case Method Project , is to demonstrate that teaching with cases can strengthen high school and college education as well as ensure “a more exciting, relevant, and effective experience for students and teachers across a range of subjects,” according to its site.

“The results [of the Case Method Project] have been incredibly positive, especially in terms of strengthening students’ critical thinking, their retention and understanding of course material, and their civic interest and engagement.” David Moss

Since its initial launch, the program has grown considerably. Today Moss is working with over 350 teachers in more than 250 high schools across 45 states and the District of Columbia. “We’ve now reached well over 30,000 students as part of the initial pilot,” he says. “The project has grown considerably over the last several years, and the results have been incredibly positive, especially in terms of strengthening students’ critical thinking, their retention and understanding of course material, and their civic interest and engagement. Because of this success, we’re aiming to reach much larger numbers of teachers and students going forward through the new Case Method Institute for Education and Democracy, which started up this summer.”

The case method has proven remarkably effective in teaching high schoolers the critical thinking skills that the world’s future leaders so greatly need. Here, to help educators see the different ways and venues in which case teaching can be used, we showcase the collection of cases Moss authored and provided in support of this effort.

Democracy Cases to Use in Class

Here is a list of Moss’s cases , which you can use to engage students in conversations about US history and democracy. We hope you find these cases helpful.

James Madison, the ‘Federal Negative,’ and the Making of the U.S. Constitution (1787) and as a supplement: In Detail: Debt and Paper Money in Rhode Island (1786)

Battle Over a Bank: Defining the Limits of Federal Power Under a New Constitution (1791)

Democracy, Sovereignty, and the Struggle over Cherokee Removal (1836)

Banking and Politics in Antebellum New York (1838)

Property, Suffrage, and the "Right of Revolution" in Rhode Island, 1842

Debt and Democracy: The New York Constitutional Convention of 1846

The Struggle Over Public Education in Early America (1851)

A Nation Divided: The United States and the Challenge of Secession (1861)

Reconstruction A: The Crisis of 1877

Reconstruction B: Jury Rights in Virginia, 1877-1880

An Australian Ballot for California? (1891)

Labor, Capital, and Government: The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902

The Jungle and the Debate over Federal Meat Inspection in 1906

The Battle Over the Initiative and Referendum in Massachusetts (1918)

Regulating Radio in the Age of Broadcasting (1927)

The Pecora Hearings (1932-34)

Martin Luther King and the Struggle for Black Voting Rights (1965)

Democracy and Women’s Rights in America: The Fight over the ERA (1982)

Manufacturing Constituencies: Race and Redistricting in North Carolina, 1993

Leadership and Independence at the Federal Reserve (2009)

Citizens United and Corporate Speech (2010)

Do you use the case method to spark discussion and debate on topics outside of business disciplines? Let us know .

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harvard business school case study methodology

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  3. (PDF) Harvard Business School and a short history of the Case Study Method

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  5. Case Study Handbook M70292

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VIDEO

  1. From Prison to Nike’s C-Suite: Larry Miller’s Journey

  2. Case Study Methodology by Dr. Shashikant Awasthi, Govt Girls PG College, Chhatarpur

  3. A Glimpse Into A Harvard Business School Case Study Class

  4. IB Business and Management Novembre 2023 Study Case Unpacking ( Brondy PLC)

  5. All About Harvard Business School- #mba #education #educational #harvard #gmat #profilebuilding

  6. Making an Impact

COMMENTS

  1. The HBS Case Method

    The case method prepares you to be in leadership positions where you will face time-sensitive decisions with limited information. Reflecting on each class discussion will prepare you to face these situations in your future roles. ... Harvard Business School Spangler Welcome Center (Spangler 107) Boston, MA 02163 Phone: 1.617.495.6128 Email ...

  2. What the Case Study Method Really Teaches

    It's been 100 years since Harvard Business School began using the case study method. Beyond teaching specific subject matter, the case study method excels in instilling meta-skills in students.

  3. Cases

    Harvard Business Publishing offers case collections from renowned institutions worldwide. Case method teaching immerses students in realistic business situations--which include incomplete information, time constraints, and conflicting goals. ... Register now for our Teaching with Cases Seminar at Harvard Business School, held June 21 ...

  4. Case Method

    Since the 1920s, the case method has been the foundational teaching practice at Harvard Business School (HBS). Based on participant-centered learning, the instructional approach facilitates discussions about real-life problems encountered in business, to prepare students for roles as leaders, managers, and decision makers. The case method ...

  5. What the Case Study Method Really Teaches

    It is something students in the case method get lots of practice honing. 5. Collaboration. It is better to make business decisions after extended give-and-take, debate, and deliberation. As in any team sport, people get better at working collaboratively with practice. Discussing cases in small study groups, and then in the classroom, helps ...

  6. PDF Learning by the Case Method

    photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of Harvard Business School. JOHN S. HAMMOND Learning by the Case Method The case method is not only the most relevant and practical way to learn managerial skills, it's exciting and fun. But, it can also be very confusing if you don't know much about it. This brief note

  7. 5 Benefits of the Case Study Method

    Through the case method, you can "try on" roles you may not have considered and feel more prepared to change or advance your career. 5. Build Your Self-Confidence. Finally, learning through the case study method can build your confidence. Each time you assume a business leader's perspective, aim to solve a new challenge, and express and ...

  8. How to Write a Great Business Case

    6 QUALITIES OF GREAT CASE WRITERS. Curiosity. Comfort with ambiguity, since cases may have more than one "right" answer. Command of the topic or subject at hand. Ability to relate to the case protagonists. Enthusiasm for the case teaching method. Capacity for finding the drama in a business situation and making it feel personal to students.

  9. Case Method Project

    The Case Method Project is an initiative formed to achieve two goals: Bring case method teaching to high schools and colleges. Use this methodology to deepen students' understanding of American democracy. Based on the highly successful experience of Harvard Business School and other graduate and professional programs that use case-based ...

  10. The History of the Case Study at Harvard Business School

    This case study method forms the backbone of the Harvard Business School curriculum. Back in the 1920s, HBS professors decided to develop and experiment with innovative and unique business instruction methods. As the first school in the world to design a signature, distinctive program in business, later to be called the MBA, there was a need ...

  11. The HBS Case Method Defined

    Learn what the Harvard Business School Case Method style of teaching is all about and the four-step process that it entails.Learn more: https://www.hbs.edu/m...

  12. The Future of Case Teaching

    THE CENTENNIAL OF THE BUSINESS CASE: A 5-PART SERIES. Part 1: Exploring the Relevance and Efficacy of the Case Method 100 Years Later. Part 2: The Heart of the Case Method. Part 3: The Art of the Case Method. Part 4: Tales from the Trenches. Part 5: The Future of the Case Method.

  13. The Case Study Handbook, Revised Edition: A Student's Guide

    Notes: "If you're like many people, you may find interpreting and writing about cases mystifying and time-consuming. In The Case Study Handbook, Revised Edition, William Ellet presents a potent new approach for efficiently analyzing, discussing, and writing about cases.". Publisher's Version

  14. What the Case Study Method Really Teaches

    It's been 100 years since Harvard Business School began using the case study method. Beyond teaching specific subject matter, the case study method excels in instilling meta-skills in students. This article explains the importance of seven such skills: preparation, discernment, bias recognition, judgement, collaboration, curiosity, and self ...

  15. The Case Study Teaching Method

    The Case Study Teaching Method. It is easy to get confused between the case study method and the case method, particularly as it applies to legal education. The case method in legal education was invented by Christopher Columbus Langdell, Dean of Harvard Law School from 1870 to 1895. Langdell conceived of a way to systematize and simplify legal ...

  16. Analyzing the determinants factors for the implementation of eco

    For instance, Li et al. (Citation 2020) argued that continuous investment in research and development is among the key determinants of eco-innovation in renewable energy.Additionally, recent studies by Achmad et al. (Citation 2023) underscore the pivotal role of government support, policies and regulatory frameworks, while Chen and Liu (Citation 2020) emphasize the significance of customer ...

  17. Teaching History Through the Case Method

    Teaching History Through the Case Method. 21 Cases to Boost Civic Engagement and Deepen Students' Understanding of US Democracy. featuring David Moss. November 7, 2020. T he case method is typically synonymous with business school curriculum. Through active case discussion, students put themselves in the proverbial shoes of a case protagonist ...