Columbia Case Book: 38 Cases by Skill and Industry

The packaged Columbia Business School resource is the 2020-2021 Management Consulting Association Casebook. Its six-page index lists 38 cases, not 19. Cases 1 through 29 make up the current-edition set, while cases 30 through 38 are explicitly labeled Columbia greatest hits from earlier years. The index is the book's most useful feature because each row names the industry, case type, concepts tested, difficulty, and printed page. A candidate can therefore move from a vague diagnosis such as "I need more cases" to an exact one such as "I need breakeven, graphical analysis, or customer segmentation." The page below preserves all 38 titles and converts the printed tags into a practical selection guide. The context spans government, financial services, consumer products, education, energy, media, manufacturing, nonprofit, retail, and transportation. Source: packaged Columbia PDF; inspected 2026-07-19.

How many cases are in the Columbia case book and what do the tags do?

The 2020-2021 Columbia case book contains 38 indexed cases. Its tags identify industry, case type, tested concepts, and difficulty, letting candidates choose a case for a specific weakness instead of accumulating random practice volume. (Source: packaged Columbia PDF; inspected 2026-07-19.)

What cases are in the Columbia case book?

Each description combines only the printed title, industry, type, and concept labels. (Source for every row: packaged Columbia PDF, index on printed pages 3 to 8; inspected 2026-07-19.)

Worked Columbia mini-case: Explorer Bank

Explorer Bank is considering a co-branded credit card with Alpha Airlines. The case's concept labels are product launch and breakeven. For each $100 of card spend, Explorer earns $1.75 in merchant fees, $0.50 in customer fees, and $0.25 in interest, for $2.50 revenue. Processing, partner revenue share, benefits, and credit loss total $1.00 per $100. That leaves $1.50 contribution per $100 of spend before a fixed $15 monthly servicing cost per customer. (Source: Explorer Bank, printed pages 100 to 107; inspected 2026-07-19.)

Decision rule: monthly fixed servicing cost divided by contribution per $100. $15 / $1.50 = 10, so the customer must spend $1,000 per month for Explorer Bank to break even.

The tag is not the conclusion. A $1,000 threshold becomes useful only when compared with the expected behavior of Alpha Airlines customers, likely card adoption, credit losses, and cannibalization of Explorer's other cards. The book recommends the partnership if customers can consistently clear the threshold, then asks for demographic and segmentation work before launch.

This mini-case differs from the other four pages because the concept tag drives selection, the arithmetic defines a customer-level threshold, and the transfer test asks whether the candidate can recognize the same fixed-cost logic in a differently labeled case.

Who should use Columbia, and where is it limited?

Columbia suits candidates who can name a weak skill and want a searchable path to the next full case. It also gives useful breadth beyond finance, despite the school's New York context. The limitation is cognitive: a visible concept tag can reveal the intended route before the candidate structures the problem. Hide the index from the candidate during the mock, or choose the second transfer case by title only.

How should Columbia pair with Road to Offer?

Use Columbia to select the first rep, then use Road to Offer to test transfer in another business context. The current free window includes 1 full case plus 3 drills per day for 3 days. Voice requires Pro, club access, or credits. Pro is $49 per month and Annual is $249 per year. (Product terms supplied for this build, 2026-07-18.)

Sources

• Packaged Columbia/Columbia_2021.pdf inside road-to-offer-columbia-case-book.zip, inspected 2026-07-19.
• Columbia Case Book article brief, dated 2026-07-17.
• Road to Offer casebook collection registry and signup-first CTA wrapper, inspected 2026-07-19.