Using case studies as an approach for conducting agribusiness research

Case study research is increasingly important in agricultural economics as a means of collecting data, and building and testing theory. Case study research has a prescribed set of objectives, espitemology, methodology, and methods that have been developed and tested in a wide range of scholarly and problem-solving situations. This article reviews these fundamentals and then demonstrates the case study approach within the context of an agribusiness research project. This application exemplifies how case study research is capable of generating a robust, comprehensive array of “knowledge” about complex, highly interdependent and dynamic economic and social phenomena.