Business & Management Faculty Library Guide – Vector Technology Institute Library

This guide supports faculty teaching Business, Management, Technology Management, and related programmes at VTI by curating high‑quality Open Access (OA) and Open Educational Resource (OER) materials for course design, cases, assignments, and programme development.

How to Use This Guide

Scan the sections to find open textbooks, cases, data, and policy sources aligned with your business and management courses.
Use core OA/OER platforms as first‑choice sources for set texts and readings before considering commercial materials.
Blend global and Caribbean sources so students see both international frameworks and regional evidence.
Reinforce research and citation skills by linking students to the Research Skills and APA guides for any assignment using these materials.
Ask the library for help when you need custom lists, replacement texts, or advice on evaluating OA/OER.[web:119]

1. Open Textbooks for Business & Management

These open textbooks cover principles of management, marketing, accounting, finance, HR, entrepreneurship, and operations, and many include instructor supports.[web:108][web:109]

Open Textbook Library – Business – Peer‑reviewed textbooks across management, marketing, accounting, finance, and more, with faculty reviews.[web:108]
BCcampus OpenEd – Business – Business and management texts reviewed by faculty, often with ancillary resources.[web:108]
OpenStax – Business – Core undergraduate titles such as Introduction to Business, Principles of Accounting, and Principles of Marketing.[web:109]
Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) – Scholarly books on management, economics, leadership, and organizational studies.[web:108]
Open Research Library – Aggregated OA business and economics books from multiple publishers.[web:109]
OER by Discipline: Business & Management – Curated list of business OER including small business, project management, and HR texts.[web:109]

Teaching Tip: When evaluating an open textbook, check alignment with your learning outcomes, currency of examples, and availability of exercises or cases.[web:110][web:119]

2. OA Journals, Reports & Case Materials

Use these sources for current research articles, practitioner insights, and teaching cases in business and management.[web:106][web:113]

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) – Filter by “Business and Management” or related subjects to find peer‑reviewed OA journals.[web:106]
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository – Open access books and reports on development, infrastructure, ICT, and private sector topics useful for management and policy courses.[web:111][web:114]
Inter‑American Development Bank (IDB) Publications – OA reports and working papers focused on Latin America and the Caribbean, including education, labour markets, and technology adoption.[web:112][web:118]
Knowledge@Wharton and HBS Working Knowledge – Practitioner‑oriented articles and commentary on management, leadership, and strategy (not peer‑reviewed but useful for discussion).[web:107]
Saylor Academy – Business Courses – Course packages that link out to OA/OER readings and cases in key business subjects.[web:109]
OER in Business & Management (example guide) – External guide with additional OA/OER suggestions faculty can explore.[web:107]

Quality Note: For research‑based assignments, prioritise peer‑reviewed OA journals and institutional reports; use practitioner sites mainly for case discussions and examples.[web:106][web:113]

3. Courses, Cases & Interactive Learning Materials

These platforms provide open courses, simulations, and teaching materials you can embed or adapt in your business and management modules.[web:108][web:110]

MIT OpenCourseWare – Courses in economics, finance, entrepreneurship, operations, and analytics, with syllabi, lecture notes, and assignments.[web:109]
Saylor Academy – Business Pathways – Structured business course sequences (Intro to Business, Marketing, HR, Project Management, etc.) built around OER.[web:109][web:116]
MERLOT – Business – Business‑related simulations, tutorials, cases, and modules, with peer reviews from educators.[web:110]
OER Commons – Use subject filters to find business, entrepreneurship, and management teaching materials.[web:100][web:119]
OpenLearn – Free Business Courses – Short courses covering management, leadership, project management, and marketing.[web:108]
US Small Business Administration – Business Guide – Open federal resources on planning, finance, and managing small businesses; useful for entrepreneurship courses.[web:109]

Teaching Tip: Use open course materials as “plug‑in” modules—for example, a single OpenLearn or Saylor unit on project management to reinforce a specific week of your course.[web:109][web:110]

4. Data, Statistics & Policy Sources

Assign real‑world data and policy reports to help students apply business and management concepts to Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.[web:111][web:118]

World Bank Open Knowledge Repository – Global and regional reports on private sector development, entrepreneurship, education, and digital transformation.[web:111][web:114]
Inter‑American Development Bank (IDB) Publications – Data‑rich reports on Latin America and the Caribbean, including productivity, labour markets, and education.[web:112][web:118]
Results‑Focused Planning Guide (World Bank) – Example of OA content linking strategy, outcomes, and evidence for development projects.[web:111]
Caribbean and Jamaica‑specific sources – Use the Business & Management and Caribbean Studies guides for STATIN, PIOJ, Bank of Jamaica, and regional open data portals.
O*NET Online – Open occupational data for mapping skills, tasks, and competencies in business and technology roles.

Teaching Tip: Build short data‑driven assignments where students interpret indicators (e.g., employment, GDP, ICT access) and connect them to management decisions or strategy.[web:112][web:118]

5. Designing Business Assignments with OA/OER

Use these strategies to integrate open materials into business and management teaching in a sustainable way.[web:110][web:119]

Replace a commercial text with an open textbook plus a small number of OA journal articles and policy reports.
Use OA reports as case studies – Assign specific chapters from World Bank or IDB reports and ask students to analyse decisions or outcomes.[web:111][web:118]
Integrate open data – Have students build dashboards or brief analytical reports using open datasets (e.g., World Bank, regional statistics).
Embed open courses or videos – Use individual OpenLearn or Saylor units as pre‑class prep, then extend with in‑class discussion or applications.[web:109]
Teach evaluation and citation – Require students to justify why chosen OA/OER sources are credible and cite them in APA style.
Co‑create OER – Where appropriate, involve advanced students in developing small OER (e.g., glossaries, local case summaries) that can be reused.