Stanford Business

MAY 2006


Cases by the Case

Here’s a best-selling oldie that doesn’t need a boost from Oprah to stay at the top of the list. Charles O’Reilly and Jeff Pfeffer’s case study of Southwest Airlines is still number one among Stanford Business School–authored cases more than a decade after it was published.Here’s a best-selling oldie that doesn’t need a boost from Oprah to stay at the top of the list. Charles O’Reilly and Jeff Pfeffer’s case study of Southwest Airlines is still number one among Stanford Business School–authored cases more than a decade after it was published.

Thanks to the popularity of the Southwest case, which sold more than 12,000 copies last year, human resources titles lead the field, although cases addressing global supply chain, entrepreneurship, strategic management, and international business are close behind. The most recent of last year’s best-selling titles were published in 2001.

Which is not to say the Case Writing office is resting on its inventory. Since 2000, it has allowed purchasers to translate titles into Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Greek, and Vietnamese (Southwest Airlines was translated into the first three), and last year it added subject categories in biomedical ethics, entertainment management, and sports management.

“Sports management is posed to be the biggest seller of those since it has the most cases, but all are too new to be top sellers yet,” says Kimberley Simmons, manager of special projects for Jackson Library. “There’s a trickle-down period before a case becomes popular.” And meanwhile, there’s always Southwest.