The Case Centre’s 2026 ‘Impact Index’: Harvard Is Still No. 1

Case studies are real-world business dilemmas that force students to think like a CEO, weigh competing priorities, and make a decision without an obvious right answer.

Their impact can be far-reaching. A case written at one institution can spark a classroom debate thousands of miles away, bringing many perspectives to the same business challenge. That helps make the case method both effective and widely respected.

The Case Centre’s Impact Index 2026 showcases the institutions whose cases are reaching classrooms around the globe.

THE RESULTS ARE IN

Harvard Business School has retained the top position in The Case Centre Impact Index for the fourth consecutive year, with INSEAD and ICFAI Business School (IBS) completing an unchanged top three. (See Poets&Quants‘ story on the 2025 Impact Index.)

Beyond the top three, this year’s index shows notable movement. Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) entered the top 50 at No. 48, the Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics at the University of Delaware climbed nine places to No. 41, and HEC Montréal rose eight places to No. 30.

“The Impact Index provides a unique insight into the reach of cases across business schools worldwide,” says Vicky Lester, chief executive officer of The Case Centre. “It is wonderful to see both established leaders and new names represented in this year’s top 50, reflecting the breadth and continuing importance of the case method in business management education.”

HOW THE IMPACT INDEX IS CALCULATED

The Case Centre, a registered charity, is dedicated to advancing the case method worldwide. It distributes the world’s largest and most diverse collection of management case studies, along with articles and books. It also offers case method training, scholarships for unpublished case writers and new case teachers, international case competitions, and awards.

Launched in 2023, the Impact Index is based on The Case Centre’s usage data from the previous academic year, which ran from September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2026. It measures how many of an institution’s cases are adopted, by how many organizations and in how many countries, and how many students are taught with them.

For 2026, the top 50 were selected from 487 eligible schools that published at least one case with The Case Centre during the previous academic year.

THE CASE CENTRE IMPACT INDEX 2026 

1. Harvard Business School

2. INSEAD

3. ICFAI Business School (IBS)

4. Ivey Business School

5. International Institute for Management Development (IMD)

6. University of Virginia Darden School of Business

7. Amity Global Business School

8. Stanford Graduate School of Business

9. MIT Sloan School of Management

10. Copenhagen Business School

11. IESE Business School

12. London Business School

13. Columbia Business School

14. Rotterdam School of Management

15. Kellogg School of Management

16. Singapore Management University

17. China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)

18. HKU Business School

19. IÉSEG School of Management

20. HEC Paris

21. Thunderbird School of Global Management

22. Harvard Kennedy School

23. ESCP Business School

24. Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG)

25. Institute of Management Technology

26. ESMT Berlin

27. IE Business School

28. ESADE Business School

29. SDA Bocconi School of Management

30. HEC Montréal

31. Fox School of Business at Temple University

32. Michigan Ross School of Business

33. School of Business Administration, Penn State Harrisburg

34. Vlerick Business School

35. University of St. Gallen

36. Nanyang Business School

37. Newcastle University Business School

38. Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon

39. ESSEC Business School

40. The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

41. Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics, University of Delaware

42. S P Jain Institute of Management & Research

43. National University of Singapore Business School

44. Asian Institute of Management

45. Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University

46. Hult International Business School

47. Stanford University School of Engineering

48. Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB)

49. Cambridge Judge Business School

50. School of Business, Conestoga College

DON’T MISS FAVORITE BUSINESS CASE STUDIES OF MBA GRADUATES and ICFAI’S INDU PEREPU TAKES NO. 1 SPOT ON THE CASE CENTRE’S 2026 TOP BESTSELLING CASE AUTHORS LIST

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