Olympics security: an unprofitable contract

​What a shambles! But what a fantastic case study for business teachers and students for years to come!

One year ago, LOCOG proudly endorsed a short video from G4S which trumpeted their role as the security provider for the 2012 London Olympics. The video is shown further below.

One year on, and just days before the Games begin, G4S has admitted that it is unable to meet the requirements of the contract and the Armed Forces have been required to stand in to provide the desired level of security. You couldn’t make it up.

As you might expect, a huge amount of media coverage about the G4S problems, much of which focuses on the political implications about who knew what, and when.

For business studies, the story is relevant in many ways. For example:

A failure of recruitment (at a time of high unemployment) - G4S was contracted to supply 13,700 security guards. It is said to be many thousands short of those targets

Concerns over absenteeism - Olympics organisers are worried that a high proportion of the guards employed by G4S will not turn up for work

Training - the security training process has been beset with problems and (if the whistleblower from the Channel 4 video clip below is to be believed) has been going on for some time

Significant losses on a contract which, at G4S’s usual margins, should have been profitable.