Classic Cases

Keeping an Open Mind in an Emergency: CDC experiments with 'Team B' (Epilogue)

Publication Date: January 01, 2008

This case describes the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) efforts, in the early 2000s, to develop protocols addressing the growing complexity of public health emergencies. The CDC's chief response to public health emergencies...

Lyle Point, Washington: The Columbia River Gorge, Challenges Nonprofit Conservation Organizations Face, in Protecting America's Scenic Lands

Publication Date: January 01, 2007

This case focuses on the Trust for Public Land's effort to protect land within the Columbia River Gorge in Klickitat County, Washington State. Lyle Point was an ancestral fishing site for local Native Americans, who actively opposed residential...

Lyle Point, Washington: The Columbia River Gorge (Epilogue)

Publication Date: January 01, 2007

The Trust for Public Land's decision about purchasing Lyle Point is revealed, and some astounding aftermath events are described. Students will now have additional information to discuss whether the Trust made the right decision, and how an...

The Mexican Government's Retail Chain: Politics, Social Welfare, and the Bottom Line (Sequel)

Publication Date: January 01, 2006

As of 2000, Mexico's Social Security System for Public Sector Workers provided a pension system for government employees, while running the fifth largest retail chain in the nation, comprised of nearly 400 supermarkets, convenience stores, and...

Reclaiming Land from Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor: The Public Demands a Voice

Publication Date: January 01, 2006

For more than 150 years, Hong Kong has periodically reclaimed--or filled in--land from Victoria Harbor, to expand and develop the otherwise limited space. During the colonial era, such decisions fell under the purview of the British-appointed...

Pension Reform in California

Publication Date: January 01, 2006

As February 2005 drew to a close, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger faced increasingly vociferous attacks from labor unions, and other interest groups, over his proposed public employee pension reform. California had been facing a...

Gambling on the Gorge

Publication Date: January 01, 2006

In April 2005, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski announced that the state had agreed to allow the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to build a large casino and resort in the town of Cascade Locks. Unlike previous sites, the proposed casino would...

Extreme Hiring Makeover, Part B: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Publication Date: January 01, 2006

In July 2004, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) volunteered to be one of three federal agencies taking part in a one-year pilot project to reform federal hiring practices. The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service...

Extreme Hiring Makeover, Part A: Tackling the Federal Employment Crisis

Publication Date: January 01, 2006

In the early 21st century, the US federal government faced a hiring crisis, as nearly half its workforce approached retirement age. Hiring procedures were time consuming, confusing to the applicant, and frustrating to managers who felt their new...

Brazil Electricity Crisis

Publication Date: January 01, 2006

In May of 2001, the Brazilian government ordered all consumers to reduce their power use by 20 percent. This case traces the events and decisions that led to one of the most severe electricity crises in Latin American history. How does a country...

Building Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal: "Restoring Community through Christian Love" (Epilogue)

Publication Date: July 15, 2005

When the Rev. Mack McCarter returned to his home town of Shreveport, Louisiana in the early 1990s, he was struck by the extent to which it remained the racially divided city he remembered from his youth, despite superficial changes wrought by...

Building Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal: "Restoring Community through Christian Love"

Publication Date: July 15, 2005

When the Rev. Mack McCarter returned to his home town of Shreveport, Louisiana in the early 1990s, he was struck by the extent to which it remained the racially divided city he remembered from his youth, despite superficial changes wrought by...