AstraZeneca and IBM IT Outsourcing Contract: Case Study Analysis

This document presents a comprehensive case study analysis of the IT outsourcing contract between AstraZeneca and IBM. The study dissects the mistakes made by both corporations, particularly in the context of a $1.4 billion, seven-year contract initiated in 2007. The analysis covers the initial contract's failures, the reasons behind them, and the subsequent implementation of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in 2012. The case study explores the provisions within the SLAs designed to protect both AstraZeneca and the vendors, including the 'fix first, pay later' principle and the use of arbitration. The document also examines the preference for arbitration over lawsuits, emphasizing cost-effectiveness and efficiency. Furthermore, the study includes an abstract focusing on social media's impact on society, its trends, platforms, advantages, and disadvantages, providing a broader context of digital business environments.

Running head: CASE STUDY AND IT RESEARCH
Case study and IT Research
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors note

1CASES STUDY AND IT RESEARCH
Task A
Question1: What mistakes did AstraZeneca make?
Solution: AstraZeneca is a leading company is pharmaceuticals and it signed a contract of worth
$1.4 billion with the Information Technology organization, IBM in July, 2007. The contract was
made for 7 years long Information technology outsourcing on global level. The inclusions in the
contract were 60 countries, 32 time schedules and 90 principles. AstraZeneca majorly depends
on its information technology capabilities but covering of all details related to ultimate and
critical path of the respective contract were failed. AstraZeneca’s mistake was that they did not
acknowledge that their evolving business structure might transform immediately than the IBM
contract could hold.
Question2: What mistakes did IBM make?
Solution: IBM was interested to make contract with the leading pharmaceuticals organization,
AstraZeneca due to high profit through this contract. The mistakes done by IBM was that they
knew about the project being large and outsourcing contracts related to long-term Information
Technology will pose some challenges. They also knew that the years devoted to the contract of
AstraZeneca by making large investment should gain satisfactory profit and hence they should
have covered all the details in the contract termination. The beginning of initial two years when
the service is implemented, and then profit margin is made in the end of two years should be
there is the contract termination (Langer, Mani & Srikanth 2014). Thus, IBM should have
provided complete details and information related to the services provided for continuation and
their fees for the contact termination.
Question3: Why are outsourcing contracts for five or more years?
Solution: The outsource deals being huge requires major investment from the vendors in the
initial two years as this is the time when service is implemented and customized. This is done to
expect profit in the end of two or more years (Gurung & Prater, 2017). Therefore, outsourcing
contracts are for five years or more between two or more corporations. The outsourcing contracts
for five years or more is done to accomplish the strategic goals of the project to prevent any
loopholes in the project. The outsourcing contracts previously were of long terms that is 10 years
or more than that. However, in recent years the outsourcing contracts has decreased to 5 years or
more. The outsourcing contracts are for longer years to provide better and flexible
accomplishment of goals and objective.
Question4: Why do you think two major corporations could make such mistakes?
Solution: The two major corporations involved in the contract were from different sectors.
AstraZeneca is from pharmaceuticals sector and IBM is from Information Technology
applications sector. The two major corporations can make such mistakes due to poor assumptions
from both asides. The major mistake was that both the corporations did not focused on the
problems that will be generated from the long term Information Technology outsourcing. This is
the major reason where corporations make assumptions by themselves without discussing with
other party. The lack of knowledge regarding outsourcing and preparation from the client side
resulted in mistakes from both sides of corporation (Gunasekaran et al., 2015). The other mistake
was that the important details were overlooked by the corporations in the rush for deal closure.
Question5: Do you think the 2007 SLA was doomed to fail? Explain your answer.
Solution: The answer is yes because both the corporations did not realized that the contract they
made can result into some consequences. The SLA is Service Level Agreement that is approved
and agreed between the parties to avoid any future conflicts. The infrastructure of Astra Zeneca
was based on research and development. This shows that it was an experimental infrastructure

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that may results to failures. The committed time was long however, there were glitches such as
vendors growing and investing more for gaining profits that resulted in failure of 2007 SLA. The
result of this failure led to modification in the Information Technology applications that were
rapid and drastic.
Question6: What provisions in the 2012 SLAs protect AstraZeneca and the vendors?
Solution: Service Level Agreements are beneficial for any outsourcing contracts done between
two parties. Here the two parties between which the Service Level Agreement is done are
AstraZeneca and IBM. The contracts consisted service deals for standard provision of
Information Technology, Service Level Agreements and budget along with a policy for
corporation. The policy comprised of 13 principles that specified the collaboration terms. The
most important principles among the 13 principles was fix first and pay later (del–Río–Ortega et
al., 2015). This shows that in case of urgent problem related to Information Technology occurs
then AstraZeneca and vendors should first cooperate in fixing the problem rather than focusing
on cost incurred. AstraZeneca agreed for paying vendors quickly in return of quick solutions to
the problems occurring. The contract was also done that if there is a conflict regarding the
contract the both the corporations can appeal and approach to an independent moderator for
resolving the conflict by overseeing the policy made by the corporations.
Question7: Why would parties prefer to use an arbitrator instead of filing a lawsuit in
court?
Solution: The moderator is used in this type of conflict to make less investment. The lawsuit
filing is expensive in relation to this conflict. The approach to a moderator is less expensive, less
time is consumed and less confrontation (Menkel-Meadow, 2015). This is because both the
corporations agreed to the moderator in advance after appealing to the moderator. The arbitrator
usage helps to provide less time consuming for resolving conflicts as they are done faster than
lawsuit processes. The flexibility of resolving conflicts through arbitrator also provides more
benefits than lawsuit filings and its proceedings. The reason is lawsuit proceedings are longer
and often lead to more complexities whereas arbitrator allows mutual agreement and judgment is
quicker. The cost is the major aspect that prevents parties going for arbitrator rather than going to
file lawsuit. The cost related to process of proceedings, paper work and getting sign from
multiple judges are expensive and hence it is not preferred by the parties to resolve conflicts.

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References
del–Río–Ortega, A., Gutiérrez, A. M., Durán, A., Resinas, M., & Ruiz–Cortés, A. (2015, June).
Modelling service level agreements for business process outsourcing services.
In International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (pp. 485-
500). Springer, Cham.
Gunasekaran, A., Irani, Z., Choy, K. L., Filippi, L., & Papadopoulos, T. (2015). Performance
measures and metrics in outsourcing decisions: A review for research and
applications. International Journal of Production Economics, 161, 153-166.
Gurung, A., & Prater, E. (2017). A research framework for the impact of cultural differences on
IT outsourcing. In Global Sourcing Of Services: Strategies, Issues And Challenges (pp.
49-82).
Langer, N., Mani, D., & Srikanth, K. (2014). Client satisfaction versus profitability: An
empirical analysis of the impact of formal controls in strategic outsourcing contracts.
In Information Systems Outsourcing (pp. 67-88). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Menkel-Meadow, C. (2015). Mediation, arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

4CASE STUDY AND IT RESEARCH
Task B
Abstract
The social media is a popular
platform for meeting people virtually and
making contacts. The paper is presenting
social media in the light of its impact on
society. The social media in this report
shows how it has impacted the organizations
and individual’s life and its benefits and
drawbacks. The analysis of this report is
done through social media trends and
different platforms of social media. The
report finally concludes that social media is
growing and hence concerns related to it are
also growing. However, with proper
measures it can be mitigated.
Index Terms: Social media platforms,
social media trends, advertisement, personal
lives and privacy issues.
Introduction
Social media is widely used platform
to communicate with people across the
globe. Two decades ago, social media come
into existence and since then it has seen
massive growth and recognition across the
world. Social media has seen rapid growth
in recent years where not only personal
communications but also business
communications are done (Fuchs, 2017).
There are different social media platforms
that are popular among people that are
discussed in this paper. The purpose of this
paper is to discuss impact of social media
and social media trends across the globe.
The structure of this paper is to
discuss impact of social media, social media
trends, social media platforms and
advantages and disadvantages.
Discussion
Impact of Social media
The social media has impacted
people across the globe in different ways
and organizations are also getting impacted
by social media. The impact of social media
are as follows.
Social media impact on politics- The social
media has largely impacted the political
campaigns (Gerbaudo, 2018). Social media
also provides updated news every second to
the people.
Social media impact on society- Social
media provides interaction among people
where they can take part in societal issues
(Perrin, 2015). However it has killed the real
activism of people participation.
Social media impact on commerce- Social
media has not only provided communication
but also providing organization to grow its
revenue through social media marketing
(Ruths & Pfeffer, 2014). Organizations are
using social media to connect with potential
customers and increase their sales.
Social media impact on work
environment- The recruiters are
increasingly using social media as a tool to
make decisions for hiring people based on
details found on individual’s profile in social
media (Boyd, 2014). Social media such as
LinkedIn has found major recognition for
recruiters to hire people.
Social media impact on training of
employees- The social media has impacted
people to develop skills through latest
techniques (Tuten & Solomon, 2017).
People are increasingly using social media
as a tool to learn and develop required skills.
Social media impact on personal lives and
relationships- Social media has impacted
people’s lives and relationships where they
make friends on social media (Hollebeek,
Glynn & Brodie, 2014). They do not know
each other but still through social media
they want to make bond of friendships.
Social media platforms
The social media can be classified
into various platforms based on their
functions and purposes (Krishen et al.,
2016). They are as follows.
Social networking platforms- The
platforms which helps to connect with
people or groups of people directly.

5CASES STUDY AND IT RESEARCH
Examples- Google+, LinkedIn and
Facebook
Micrblogging platforms- The platforms
that allows to create, subscribing other
people’s content and hash tagging of other
people’s content by sharing them.
Examples- Tumblr and Twitter
Blogging platforms- The platforms used for
recording stories, articles and opinions on an
individual’s personal website.
Examples- Blogger and Wordpress
Platforms for sharing photo- The
platforms that provides sharing of photos
either in a public mode or private mode.
Examples- Flickr, Pinterest, Instagram and
Snapchat
Platforms for sharing video- The platform
that helps to share video either in private
mode or public mode.
Examples- YouTube and Vimeo
Crowdsourcing platforms- The platforms
used for getting information from
contribution of other people whether a group
or an individual’s work.
Examples- Ushahidi
Social media trends
According to Forbes, the social
media is evolving rapidly and it is going to
be an important part for every organization
and an individual (DeMers, 2017). The
trends that are going to make it presences in
the future are as follows.
Introduction of augmented reality- The
augmented reality was first introduced by
Google in the form of Google Glass but it
flopped. However, several companies now
wants to introduce augmented reality. The
popular augmented reality app is VR
headsets.
Rise of live streaming- The live streaming
has made its way slowly in the market but it
has potential to grow in future (Gerbaudo,
2018). This is going to be preferred by
people rather than reading a social media
blog.
Open source and privacy- The privacy is
the major concern in social media. The
major focus is on improving social media so
that people feel more safe and secure in
sharing their information on social media.
The coming future will see a major change
in privacy and security of social media
platforms.
Acceleration of ad growth- The social
media is now becoming a top priority for
organizations to grow revenue. The
organizations has shifted their focus on
social media marketing and advertising to
generate sales and revenue (Tuten &
Solomon, 2017). The coming future will see
a biggest transition in social media
marketing and advertising.
Changes to social media due to Brand
fatigue- The social media has been used by
every company from small to large, to make
it presence in the world. However, with
growing popularity of social media has
pressurized the organizations to make their
presence and brands better than others. This
competitive nature is going to be the biggest
trends in future.
Personal and local experiences- The social
media is majorly known for interactions
however, with growing popularity, social
media emphasizing more on creating a
personal and local experiences among
people.
Game like interfaces- The people are more
attracted to games and thus social media has
shifted its focus to game like interfaces and
experience (Fuchs, 2017). They are now
thinking and trying to introduce and
implement game like interfaces and
experience to social media apps.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
Connectivity- The major advantage is that
social media provides connectivity among
people to share their thoughts and learnings.

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Awareness of brand- The organizational
brands are promoted on social media to
increase visibility of brand among people.
Education- The social media also helps in
providing education to students and teachers
in different ways such as following any
professional or expert to learn from them
(Kumar et al., 2016). The education on
social media often comes free of cost where
people can connect with experts and
professionals.
Information and regular updates- The
social media provides information and
regular updates about the latest news
happenings every second (Nisar &
Whitehead, 2016). The social media are
stronger medium to get latest news as it is
approachable to every people in the world.
Increasing building communities- The
world has people from different religions,
backgrounds and beliefs. Thus social media
helps to connect these people to share their
opinions and views (Dijkmans, Kerkhof &
Beukeboom, 2015). This will help to reach a
large section of people interested in different
discussions.
Cost effective- The social media are cost
effective as it is cheaper than the traditional
way of marketing and advertising. The cost
is affordable for individuals, groups or any
organizations to maintain and manage social
media accounts or work.
Disadvantages
Cyberbullying- The cyberbullying is the
major reason for people worrying about their
details getting shared on social media. The
major victims are children aged under 18
years (Nisar & Whitehead, 2016). The
cyberbullying is done through making fake
accounts and threatening by sending
messages.
Addiction- The social media addiction
among people are seen frequently especially
among children and youth (Ruths & Pfeffer,
2014). This affects people from doing
productive activities and tasks. The
addiction make people cut off from their
families, friends and society.
Hacking- The hacking has affected social
media in a very negative way where
sensitive information are hacked from social
media without the consent of users. The
attackers can be anyone and they operate
through fake accounts and advanced
techniques. The financial losses and suicidal
situations are quite common.
Security and privacy issues- The security
and privacy issues are quite common in
social media where people do not feel safe
in sharing there details (Boyd, 2014). The
access to social media are not only limited to
people these days but also extended to
particular agencies and third parties where
there is a risk of privacy getting
compromised.
Conclusion
The above discussions shows that
social media has impacted the world in
various ways such as organization growth,
interpersonal communications and
education. However, there are loopholes in
these impacts as there are risks related to
privacy, security, hacking and others.
However, the popularity of social media
shows that it is not going to be diminished in
future. In addition to this, social media are
also implementing improved privacy and
security techniques to prevent attackers from
using details of social media users. The
social media should be used for engaging
with people and not only broadcasting their
brands, accepting friend requests from
trusted peopled and controlling sharing of
details on social media.

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