Evidence-based case studies form the intellectual backbone of the Guide. The case method, a teaching tool developed at Harvard Business School in the 1920s, allows you to engage with real-world examples, ensuring a more complete understanding of the factors that influence the design and function of successful PPPs. Importantly, the case studies also reference a multitude of countries with drastically different cultures, norms, and forms of government, underscoring the importance of country context in PPPs.
Cases are selected purposefully. Each focuses either on healthcare, a PPP, or PPP skills and frameworks. Many cases, of course, focus on all three. Cases have also been selected for their relevance to a variety of publicly-controlled assets and public-policy issues, including healthcare and political or cultural issues.
Cases are subject to interpretation, and are meant not as simple object lessons, but as a basis for complex discussions within workshops. Some cases describe successes, others describe failures, but each will each inform your understanding of the management structures, decision-making frameworks, and problem-solving techniques that underpin successful PPPs.
Sometimes, we refer to "examples" as opposed to case studies. These examples, while they do not adhere to the research standards of a published case study, can be also drawn from the real world. In a handful of instances in the Guide, they are hypothetical, and are clearly noted as such. Both case studies and examples provide tangibility, helping to elucidate the complex concepts you will encounter.
Throughout the guide, you may see multiple references to a particular case study. This is because each case study intersects with multiple frameworks and skills, and must be considered through multiple lenses to be fully understood. A case may come up three or four times as we consider how each framework applies to it. Similarly, each framework and skill will be mentioned repeatedly, as the frameworks and skills are not isolated concepts, but intersecting building blocks of "PPP thinking," a larger methodology designed to help you understand, break down, and ultimately solve complex public-policy problems.