A Video Short that may be revealed in class or included in a digital coursepack accompanies this case. Educators should think about the time of making the video accessible to students, as it may reveal crucial case details. "Cracking Oyster (A)" is the first part of a two component case set, "Cracking Oyster (A) and (B)," intended for a two-course sequence, but the (A) case may also be instructed on its own. It is accompanied by a short, two-component video companion piece with a total span of six-and-a-half minutes. The (A) case scenario launches Shashi Verma in the year 2006, subsequent to his receiving a plum appointment: Manager of Fares and Ticketing for London's superb agency, Transport for London. The centerpiece of the bureau's ticketing operation was the "Oyster Card," developed and managed under the terms of a 1998-2015 PFI (Private Finance Initiative) contract called "Prestige.
" So, in pursuing his goals for TfL ticketing-a decrease of costs, expanded service, and adoption of suitable, lower cost technologies-he knows he will need to negotiate together with the contractor, an association called TranSys, governed by its own two top associates, Cubic Transportation Systems, a San Diego based firm specializing in automated fare collection equipment and service, and EDS, among the world's largest information technology providers.
The case scenario illustrates the perceived shortcomings of contract: a tedious procedure for negotiating variations, excessive prices, inadequate operation demands, and poor incentives for the contractor to collaborate with TfL on new inventions. Technically, let the opportunity to opt out TfL appears to get little practical ability to do so, as intellectual property for the complex system resides with the contractors to TfL, while the contract does. “Cracking Oyster (A)” concludes with Verma confronting a broadly-framed predicament: what to do about Prestige? Instance Number 1984.0.
PUBLICATION DATE: April 04, 2013 PRODUCT #: HKS743-HCB-ENG
This is just an excerpt. This case is about GLOBAL BUSINESS
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