Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programs

How to find business case studies

Case studies are valuable and can be challenging to find. The methods in this section will help you find case studies available to Macalester students. In Business Source Premier, a great way to find case studies is by using the document type filter with a keyword search or other filters. 

1. Open the Business Source Premier Database

2. Scroll down to the Document Type dropdown menu and select Case Study

3. Scroll up and add some of these keywords to focus your search on case studies about start-ups

   • "start-up"

   • "new business"

4. If you see a title that looks like it might be relevant, click that title to see the item's record, which has more information and a link to access the full text

5. Review the information in the record to determine if the item is relevant, focusing on the subject terms and the abstract 

6. If after reviewing this information you would like to read the full text, scroll to the top of the page, and click the Access options/Check for full text dropdown, just below the title in large font near the very top of the page.

   • If the menu title says Access options, that means the full text is available in the Business Source Premier database

     • Your access options will be PDF, online full text, and/or view complete issue

     • Select the full text option you prefer

   • If the menu says Check for full text, that means the full text is not available in the Business Source Premier database, but you might still be able to get the full text! 

     • When you click Check for full text, software is checking to see if the full text is available in a different database we subscribe to.

       • If the full text is available in a different database Macalester subscribes to, you will see a link to access

       • If the full text is not available, you will be directed to another page that has a button to request via inter-library loan (ILL)

Selected Case Studies