Our resources thrust participants into the heart of real-world scenarios, from crisis management in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic to cross-party education reform in Brazil.
Many of our resources are available on The Case Centre distribution platform. Educators who are registered with the site can access free review copies of our case studies, teaching notes, and other materials.
To inquire about our other cases or background materials, please contact us at casecentre@bsg.ox.ac.uk.
Making it last: Striking black gold in Guyana
A recent large oil discovery had the potential to make Guyana one of the world's richest countries on a GDP per-capital basis. However, the low-lying nation was particularly vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels. This mini case study puts participants in the shoes of President Mohamed Irfaan Ali in 2024 as he navigates the political, economic, and environmental issues raised by the oil discovery.
Guyana in 2024 was a country on the cusp of a major transformation. The world’s largest non-state oil company, ExxonMobil, had discovered sizeable oil fields off the coast of Guyana in 2015. The discovery had the potential to make Guyana one of the world’s richest nations on a GDP per-capita basis. The country’s president, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, in office since 2020, believed the oil could be ‘an important tool … in the building of a prosperous Guyana and a sustainable Guyana.’
But the discovery of oil also raised a host of political, economic, and environmental questions. This mini case study is set as Ali’s first term in office was drawing to a close. Ali needed to determine how to navigate the oil opportunity with a view towards the long-term interests of the Guyanese people and the planet, whilst also managing voters’ shorter-term expectations.
- Consider how environmental, political, and economic concerns interact when considering the short- and long-term interests of a nation;
- Explore challenges and opportunities related to new natural resource discoveries
Challenges of leadership, ownership and partnership: digital vaccine registration in Estonia
On 11 May 2021, Estonia’s Ministry of Social Affairs unexpectedly announced that Covid-19 vaccinations would be opened to all Estonians over 16 years old – 500,000 people – in just one week’s time. Estonia’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) Siim Sikkut worried that this large influx of users would crash the repurposed digital health portal. However, he did not have direct authority over the digital decisions of the social affairs ministry. What, if anything, could he do to prevent a crash?
In May 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Estonia's Ministry of Social Affairs unexpectedly announced that vaccinations would be opened to all Estonians over 16 years old – 500,000 people – in just one week's time. Up until then, the ministry had gradually made vaccines available to smaller age brackets, with citizens signing up for appointments via the existing national digital patient portal, Digilugu. Even with this staggered approach, the platform had crashed.
Estonia's Chief Information Officer (CIO) Siim Sikkut worried that this larger influx of users would again stall the system. Another crash not only threatened to delay vaccinations, but also to disrupt regular healthcare services and damage citizens' trust in digital services. Sikkut had raised his concerns with the social affairs ministry and proposed an alternative solution: to work with a group of start-ups that offered to build a new platform. But the ministry, generally considered a digital laggard, believed Digilugu was the best option for delivery in a complex health system on a tight deadline. As CIO, Sikkut did not have direct authority over the digital decisions in the social affairs ministry, but he had to determine what, if anything, he could do as the government's digital services seemed headed towards another failure.
- Understand the dynamics between central-coordinating agencies and policy-implementing agencies;
- Explore the operational details, challenges and risks of digital transformation in government.
Blackout of the pens: anti-corruption oversight and operational efficiency in Brazil
This case study focuses on the phenomenon of pens’ blackout in Brazil where efforts to reduce corruption and increase the authority of control bodies have caused civil servants to avoid taking decisions for fear of being penalised. The case can be used to teach concepts such as how laws and control institutions can backfire by deterring honest civil servants; the role of legal uncertainty and audit; the relationship between executive and control authorities; and how to protect and promote discretion and innovation in the public service.
- Identify the tensions between accountability and anti-corruption on the one hand, and operational efficiency on the other;
- Consider how to create systems (or organisations) that balance rules and discretion.