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Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

Two cases about Hertz claimed top spots in 2021's Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies

Two cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz claimed top spots in the CRDT’s (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases.

Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through the end of 2019. Hertz (B), which ranked third in CRDT’s list, describes the company’s struggles during the early part of the COVID pandemic and its eventual need to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

The success of the Hertz cases was unprecedented for the top 40 list. Usually, cases take a number of years to gain popularity, but the Hertz cases claimed top spots in their first year of release. Hertz (A) also became the first ‘cooked’ case to top the annual review, as all of the other winners had been web-based ‘raw’ cases.

Besides introducing students to the complicated financing required to maintain an enormous fleet of cars, the Hertz cases also expanded the diversity of case protagonists. Kathyrn Marinello was the CEO of Hertz during this period and the CFO, Jamere Jackson is black.

Sandwiched between the two Hertz cases, Coffee 2016, a perennial best seller, finished second. “Glory, Glory, Man United!” a case about an English football team’s IPO made a surprise move to number four.  Cases on search fund boards, the future of malls,  Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund, Prodigy Finance, the Mayo Clinic, and Cadbury rounded out the top ten.

Other year-end data for 2021 showed:

• Online “raw” case usage remained steady as compared to 2020 with over 35K users from 170 countries and all 50 U.S. states interacting with 196 cases.
• Fifty four percent of raw case users came from outside the U.S..
• The Yale School of Management (SOM) case study directory pages received over 160K page views from 177 countries with approximately a third originating in India followed by the U.S. and the Philippines.
• Twenty-six of the cases in the list are raw cases.
• A third of the cases feature a woman protagonist.
• Orders for Yale SOM case studies increased by almost 50% compared to 2020.
• The top 40 cases were supervised by 19 different Yale SOM faculty members, several supervising multiple cases.

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

All of this year’s Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases studies of 2021 are:

1.   Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

2.   Coffee 2016

3.   Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4.   Glory, Glory Man United!

5.   Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

6.   The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

7.   Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

8.   Prodigy Finance

9.   Design at Mayo

10. Cadbury

11. City Hospital Emergency Room

13. Volkswagen

14. Marina Bay Sands

15. Shake Shack IPO

16. Mastercard

17. Netflix

18. Ant Financial

19. AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

20. IBM Corporate Service Corps

21. Business Leadership in South Africa's 1994 Reforms

22. Alternative Meat Industry

23. Children's Premier

24. Khalil Tawil and Umi (A)

25. Palm Oil 2016

26. Teach For All: Designing a Global Network

27. What's Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

28. Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

30. Project Sammaan

31. Commonfund ESG

32. Polaroid

33. Connecticut Green Bank 2018: After the Raid

34. FieldFresh Foods

35. The Alibaba Group

36. 360 State Street: Real Options

37. Herman Miller

38. AgBiome

39. Nathan Cummings Foundation

40. Toyota 2010

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Microeconomic Case Studies

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Welcome to our in-depth analysis of microeconomic case studies. This blog post aims to shed light on the fascinating world of microeconomics through real-world case studies. We will explore different scenarios, dissect the economic principles at play, and understand how these principles affect individuals, firms, and markets.

The Power of Supply and Demand: The Case of the Housing Market

Let's kick things off with a classic example of supply and demand in action - the housing market. The housing market is a perfect illustration of how changes in supply and demand can dramatically impact prices.

When demand for houses increases (due to factors like population growth or increased income), and supply remains constant, house prices tend to rise. Conversely, if the supply of houses increases (perhaps due to new construction) and demand remains constant, house prices usually fall.

An interesting case study is the San Francisco housing market. The city has seen a significant increase in demand due to the tech boom, but strict zoning laws have limited the supply of new housing. The result? Skyrocketing house prices.

This case study underscores the importance of understanding supply and demand dynamics. Policymakers, for instance, can use this understanding to address housing affordability issues.

The Impact of Government Policies: Minimum Wage Laws

Next, let's turn our attention to government policies, specifically minimum wage laws, and their impact on the labor market.

Minimum wage laws set a floor for wages. Employers must pay their workers at least the minimum wage. While the intention behind these laws is to protect low-income workers, they can have unintended consequences.

Consider the case of Seattle. In 2014, the city decided to gradually increase its minimum wage to $15 per hour. Some businesses, unable to afford the higher wages, reduced their workforce or closed down altogether. This led to a decrease in employment opportunities for low-skilled workers - the very group the policy aimed to help.

This case study highlights the importance of considering the potential unintended consequences of government policies. It also underscores the role of elasticity in labor demand.

The Role of Elasticity: The Case of Luxury Goods

Elasticity is a key concept in microeconomics. It measures how much the quantity demanded or supplied of a good changes in response to a change in price.

Luxury goods typically have high price elasticity of demand. This means that a small change in price can lead to a large change in quantity demanded.

Take the case of luxury cars. If the price of a luxury car increases by a small percentage, the quantity demanded can decrease significantly. This is because luxury cars are not a necessity, and consumers can easily switch to cheaper alternatives.

This case study demonstrates the importance of understanding elasticity for businesses. It can help them make informed pricing decisions and predict how changes in price will affect their sales.

Market Structures and Competition: The Case of the Tech Industry

Now, let's explore different market structures through the lens of the tech industry.

The tech industry is often characterized as an oligopoly, a market structure in which a few large firms dominate the market. These firms have significant market power and can influence prices.

A notable case study is the rivalry between Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market. Both companies have a significant share of the market and continuously innovate to outdo each other. This competition drives technological advancements and benefits consumers.

This case study illustrates the dynamics of competition in an oligopoly. It also highlights the role of innovation in competitive markets.

Externalities and Public Goods: The Case of Vaccination

Finally, let's delve into the concepts of externalities and public goods.

Vaccination is a classic example of a positive externality - a benefit that affects people who did not choose to incur that benefit. When a person gets vaccinated, they not only protect themselves from disease but also reduce the likelihood of disease transmission, benefiting society.

This case study emphasizes the role of government in addressing externalities. In the case of vaccination, governments often provide vaccines for free or at a subsidized cost to maximize societal benefits.

The Role of Information: The Case of Used Cars

Our last case study focuses on the role of information in markets, using the used car market as an example.

The used car market often suffers from a problem known as "information asymmetry" - a situation where one party has more or better information than the other. Sellers often have more information about the car's condition than buyers. This can lead to a "lemons problem," where only low-quality cars ("lemons") are offered for sale.

This case study highlights the importance of information in markets. It also underscores the role of institutions (like warranties or certification programs) in addressing information asymmetry.

Wrapping Up Our Journey Through Microeconomic Case Studies

We've journeyed through various microeconomic case studies, each highlighting a different economic principle. From the power of supply and demand in the housing market to the role of information in the used car market, these case studies offer a glimpse into the fascinating world of microeconomics. They underscore the relevance of microeconomic principles in our daily lives and the importance of understanding these principles for decision-making, whether as consumers, business owners, or policymakers.

The case method can be a powerful tool to teach economic concepts and frameworks. Topics in this section cover a wide range of real-life examples from around the world on a host of issues including infrastructure, trade, taxation, regulation and development.

Giant of the Region, Microcosm of Latin America: The History and Political Economy of Brazil

Publication Date: October 3, 2024

Topics covered in the issue brief include: Brazil’s history of extractive colonialism and slavery, unequal land distribution and oligarchy, and key twentieth century periods of democracy, military dictatorship, and re-democratization...

Milestone or Misstep? Corruption, Development, and Democracy After Brazil’s Lava Jato Probe

This case explores Brazil’s Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato in Portuguese), the largest public corruption investigation in history, which led to indictments and convictions of some 359 business executives, government officials, and...

Integrating Systems at Scale: Coordinating Health Care in Houston

Publication Date: November 8, 2023

 This case concerns the Patient Care Intervention Center (PCIC) a values-based health technology social enterprise in Houston, Texas. This organization was founded to tackle fundamental problems in social and health services in the United...

A User-Centered Design Process for Data-Driven Policymaking

Publication Date: August 22, 2023

Well-conceived, user-friendly data visualizations have the potential to bring fresh perspectives derived from analyzing, visualizing, and presenting data to inform evidence-based policymaking. This case uses the Metroverse project from the...

Leadership and Negotiation: Ending the Western Hemisphere’s Longest Running Border Conflict

Publication Date: October 4, 2022

For centuries, Ecuador and Peru each claimed sovereignty over a historically significant, but sparsely inhabited tract of borderland in the Amazonian highlands. The heavily disputed area had led the two nations to war—or the brink of...

Pratham: The Challenge of Converting Schooling to Learning in India

Publication Date: November 18, 2020

This multimedia case brings video, text, and graphics together to offer a rare, immersive experience inside one of the developing world's most pressing challenges, low levels of learning. Pratham, counted among India's largest non-profits, has...

Video Series: Public Policy Applications of Microeconomic Concepts

Publication Date: September 24, 2019

MATERIALS FOR VIDEO CASEThe materials for this case are included in the teaching plan and are for registered instructors to use in class. If you do not have Educator Access, please register here (notification received within 2 business days). Abstract:...

Evaluating the Impact of Solar Lamps in Uganda

Publication Date: August 26, 2019

IDinsight, an evaluation company founded by graduates of the Harvard Kennedy School, designs and conducts evaluations that best suit the needs of clients across the developing world, offering timely and rigorous evidence to help decision making...

Untapped Potential: Renewable Energy in Argentina (Sequel)

Publication Date: October 6, 2020

In 2015, Mauricio Macri became President of Argentina and declared solving the energy crisis one of his top priorities. When Macri attempted to raise utility tariffs, however, he faced loud protests from citizens. In search of solutions to...

Untapped Potential: Renewable Energy in Argentina

Publication Date: August 23, 2019

Christine Lagarde (C): Managing the IMF

Publication Date: August 20, 2018

This case covers the career of Christine Lagarde from 2011 to 2018 as she takes the helm of troubled multilateral organization during a time of deepening economic turmoil. As the first female leader of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and...

Christine Lagarde (B): Being a Public Servant

This case covers the career of Christine Lagarde from 2005 to 2011 after she joins the French Government. After serving several grueling years as Finance Minister during the financial crises that started in 2007/2008, she is being considered as...

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Empowering strategic pricing decisions with robust cost forecasting

Case Study Empowering strategic pricing decisions with robust cost forecasting Supporting a global windfarm developer to determine the best contract pricing terms Details: Contact us to explore how we can help you Related services

Achieving strategic success through technology spending insights

Case Study Achieving strategic success through technology spending insights Empowering a global fintech leader to navigate and capitalise on technology investment trends Details: Contact us to explore how we can help you Technology related services

Case Study | European Digital Payment Industry Alliance

Investigating the environmental footprint of payment systems

Using Oxford Economics’ new Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) tool to evaluate the carbon emissions of the payment system, and whether digitalisation would reduce environmental impacts.

Case Study | US-China Business Council

Modelling the costs of US-China tariffs

Businesses are increasingly concerned about a possible escalation of US-China trade policy, given their supply-chain dependencies on China. We quantify this risk by simulating higher tariffs leveraging state-of-the-art trade and macro models.

Case Study | Tata Steel

Transitioning towards a clean, green and circular future

Examining the socioeconomic effects of decarbonisation investments in the steel industry and the impact these can have on the national economy.

Case Study | AVSIS

Understanding the importance of a rapid action plan to fight climate change in Italy

Leveraging the Global Climate Service scenarios to evaluate the macroeconomic implication of mitigation policies and global warming

Case Study | Multinational Drinks Company

Bespoke dashboards and agile on-demand economics support

Background Today’s turbulent macroeconomic and consumer environment makes strategy and planning particularly difficult for firms in the business-to-consumer sector. The pandemic, major global conflicts and geopolitical tensions have caused major supply-side disruptions. At the same time, the ever-changing consumer environment, recent unprecedented levels of inflation and the ensuing cost of living crisis have been a...

Case Study | Royal London

Exploring the implications of higher pension contributions

Many households fail to save adequately for retirement. Using in-house models, the study assesses the impact of higher pension contributions on both pension savings and UK economic growth.

Case Study | A global aggregate and building materials provider

Constructing Success by Capitalising on Long-Term Opportunities

Helping a strategy department identify its 10-year growth opportunities

Case Study | Semiconductor Industry Association

A unique policy-driven impact scenario for CHIPS Act

How Oxford Economics engaged the world’s largest chip manufacturers to develop an industry-wide impact assessment of the CHIPS and Sciences Act.

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Benchmarking Success: Building a Global Market Demand Indicator

Creating a new demand measure to enable a building material manufacturer to gauge its performance.

Case Study | Multinational services company

Quantifying the impact of climate on customers

Leveraging industry-specific climate forecasts to future-proof revenue.

Case Study | Energy UK

Achieving net zero advocacy goals

Highlighting the economic opportunities the energy transition presents and the consequences of not grasping them.

Charting a course for global growth in the shipping industry

Empowering a leading shipping company to enhance its strategic planning and identify new routes for growth

Global macroeconomic and risk scenario tool

Enabling a major automotive manufacturer to anticipate and respond effectively to evolving market dynamics across its global operations.

Risk signal identification, prioritisation and monitoring evaluation model

Despite existing internal risk management processes, a major automotive manufacturer was unprepared for and failed to anticipate and mitigate significant risks and shocks that have significantly affected its operations in recent years, including its sales, supply chain and financing.

Bespoke automotive sector sales forecasting

Automotive companies face many challenges: regulations, emission controls, litigation, political uncertainty, complex and problematic supply chains and disruptive technology are perhaps among the most pressing.

Case Study | Australian Finance Industry Association

The economic impact of Buy Now Pay Later in Australia

Governments globally are realising the importance of payments and financial services efficiency to economic growth, financial wellbeing and social participation.  The Australian Finance Industry Association (AFIA) recognises innovation, competition, market efficiency, economic growth and consumer protection are interrelated and, therefore, must be addressed collectively. An informed understanding of the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) sector...

Case Study | City of Sydney

City of Sydney’s 2022 Business Needs Survey Report

The City of Sydney required an advisor with the capability to develop a high-impact, user-focused report to: The report had to be engaging and highly visual, containing a range of different devices to communicate economic insights to a range of readers. The solution Oxford Economics Australia developed a rich and compelling report to engage and...

Case Study | Leading Australian Law Firm

Expert Witness Report on property market influences and outlook

The repudiation of an existing development agreement resulted in Supreme Court proceedings whereby residential property market forecasts were required to demonstrate the outlook for the Darwin residential market at that time. Separate sale price and rent projections were needed (on an annual basis) for detached house and attached dwellings for the period of 2017-2030. Importantly,...

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• Seizing the moment for place-based economic policy

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Implications for practitioners and policymakers from the build back better regional challenge, joseph parilla , joseph parilla senior fellow & director of applied research - brookings metro glencora haskins , and glencora haskins research associate and applied research manager - brookings metro mark muro mark muro senior fellow - brookings metro.

May 21, 2024

As federal policymakers seek to strengthen national competitiveness in key strategic sectors and technologies, they are increasingly recognizing that locally led solutions are a critical path for spurring technology-led growth, mitigating climate change, strengthening national security, and addressing economic, racial, and geographic inequities.

This is the central premise of place-based economic policies like the $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC)—a challenge grant administered by the Economic Development Administration (EDA) in the U.S. Department of Commerce. As the EDA’s signature American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) recovery program, the BBBRC awarded between $25 million and $65 million each to 21 competitively selected regions. Over a period of up to five years, these investments will support the local development of nationally critical industries and technologies in ways that deliver economic opportunity to traditionally underserved people and communities.

Drawing on prior evidence and experience on what works in regional economic development, the BBBRC posited that catalytic public money, a focused cluster growth strategy, and a coordinated set of interventions are necessary to offer local economies—especially in lagging regions—the best chance for inclusive growth. 1 In these ways, the BBBRC represents a new development in federal place-based economic policy—a theory of policymaking that seeks to benefit people and economies by targeting explicit geographies. It is an important policy experiment with a variety of important stakes and stakeholders, and thus represents a critical test and learning moment for a wide range of regional, state, and federal leaders.

In that context, Brookings Metro and the EDA formed a learning engagement to document early insights from the BBBRC’s implementation. To do so, Brookings Metro conducted in-depth case studies documenting the early implementation of the BBBRC in seven regions. These seven case studies, which accompany this report, document how coalitions came together around a shared cluster opportunity, identified and implemented projects, and organized themselves for sustained success.

This type of assessment aims to reveal critical early factors in operating a complex and ambitious effort, describe implementation barriers and success conditions, and assess whether and how the program has stimulated the kinds of decisions federal policymakers intended. As such, the current assessment is not an evaluation of the effectiveness of awardees’ efforts at driving long-term outcomes, but rather offers unique insights that come from the implementing organizations themselves.

This report distills those insights for regional practitioners, investors, and policymakers into seven lessons for launching and implementing inclusive, cluster-based economic development strategies (aimed primarily at local and regional leaders), as well as five implications for the future of place-based economic policy (aimed primarily at policymakers and investors).

Seven lessons to guide place-based economic development strategies

• Build a diverse cross-sector coalition: Cross-sector coalitions are critical to the success of place-based economic development strategies, offering and motivating a coordinating structure that enhances collaboration.
• Align the coalition around a shared call to action: Those cross-sector coalitions need a shared call to action that is inspired by a window of opportunity, grounded in diverse and inclusive participation, enabled by effective facilitation, and anchored in a credible assessment of “where we are as a region” and “where we can go together.”
• Source signature project ideas through technical analysis and civic outreach: Identifying signature projects to operationalize a regional strategy is a process with both technical and civic elements, each requiring specific capabilities.
• Select signature projects that together enhance productivity and equity: Well-crafted projects can enhance both productivity and equity—addressing barriers in a holistic way that differs from conventional economic development practice.
• Surge core operating capacity to successfully implement: Developing and deploying core operating capacity is foundational to early implementation.
• Develop evaluation tools to track and communicate impact: Determining the equitable impact of place-based policies requires new methods of performance measurement and strategic communication.
• Operationalize collaborative governance structures to manage and sustain the strategy: Effective regional coalitions need functional structures for collaborative governance to track progress, course correct, and secure and allocate additional investment over time.

Five implications for the future of place-based economic policy

• Appropriate at scale: The BBBRC catalyzed a tremendous bottom-up response, which Congress can replicate with full appropriations for key place-based policies.
• Invest in local capacity: Greater leadership development and capacity-building are necessary for successful implementation of place-based policies.
• Coordinate across federal agencies: Cross-agency coordination and alignment can ensure multiple programs come to ground successfully in places.
• Make equity core: Place-based policies should center equity in their processes, designs, and objectives.
• A whole-of-country approach is needed: Sustaining place-based investments is a whole-of-country undertaking involving state governments, philanthropy, universities, and corporations.

Going forward, the implementation framework presented here, the BBBRC case study insights, and the more general policy implications comprising this report provide both peer-to-peer and “bottom up” signals to local and federal stakeholders for making sure place-based economic policy takes hold and succeeds in the coming years.

EDA case study series

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The authors thank Alex Jones, Bernadette Grafton, Ilana Valinsky, Ryan Zamarripa, Suyog Padgaonkar, Scott Andes, and Justin Tooley from the Economic Development Administration for their insights into the Build Back Better Regional Challenge and for their guidance throughout the development of this case study series. For their comments and advice on drafts of this paper, the authors also thank our colleagues Rachel Barker, Alan Berube, Lavea Brachman, Xavier de Souza Briggs, Hanna Love, Robert Maxim, Tony Pipa, and Mayu Takeuchi, as well as Sara Lawrence (RTI International), and Sarah Crane (University of Michigan). The authors also thank all local leaders, community-based organizations, economic development practitioners, regional intermediaries, industry representatives, and other coalition members who participated in informational interviews and site visits throughout this project, and who provided feedback on the research insights and policy recommendations detailed in this report.

This report was prepared by Brookings Metro using federal funds under award ED22HDQ3070081 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.

About Brookings Metro

Brookings Metro collaborates with local leaders to transform original research insights into policy and practical solutions that scale nationally, serving more communities. Our affirmative vision is one in which every community in our nation can be prosperous, just, and resilient, no matter its starting point. To learn more, visit www.brookings.edu/metro .

• Liu, A. (2016). Remaking economic development: The markets and civics of continuous growth and prosperity. Brookings Metro. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu.

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