Critical Thinking and Persuasion Writing Case

BUS 300

Critical Thinking and Persuasion

Summer 2017 - Writing Assignment #1

Writing Assignment #1 Instructions

You are an analyst for the Capital City Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (CMATA).

CMATA is interested in hiring a management consulting firm to help overhaul CMATA’s image

and public transit system. Your boss, the head of Transit Operations and Planning for CMATA,

has asked you to review two management consulting firms and recommend one firm for hire.

Your recommendation should be presented in the Two-Criteria, Two-Alternative Decision

Template (handout).

You should not include any outside information, e.g. data, studies, or reports, in support

of your recommendation. Therefore, only the relevant criteria and facts from this business

scenario prompt and your own reasonable inferences from those facts may be used in your final

analysis. However, to understand the business concepts implicated in this prompt, you may find

it necessary to conduct outside research for the sole purpose of familiarizing yourself with those

concepts and effectively analyzing the prompt. You are strongly encouraged to conduct such

research.

Your memorandum should include a proper memorandum heading (i.e. “To”, “From”,

“Re”, and “Date” lines). In addition, you should use Times New Roman 12-font type with one-

inch margins and double-space your memorandum. Your completed assignment should be a

minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 800 words (exclusive of the memorandum heading

and any interim headings). You will not receive credit for any submissions below 500 words.

Your boss needs your memorandum no later than 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 11,

2017. Upload your memorandum to the folder labeled “Writing Assignment #1” under the

“Assignments” tab on Blackboard by no later than the deadline. If you have trouble uploading

your memorandum, email a copy of the memorandum to your professor by that deadline. Please

refer to the course syllabus for policies regarding late submissions, as these policies will be

strictly adhered to.

If you have any questions regarding Writing Assignment #1, please contact your

professor.

BUS 300

Critical Thinking and Persuasion

Summer 2017 - Writing Assignment #1

Writing Assignment #1 Business Scenario

The Capital City Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (CMATA) runs all of the public

transit in Capital City—primarily an elevated train system that is about 100 miles long in total.

A base fare for a ride anywhere in the train system is $3.50. Capital City is located in the

northern part of the country and has a population of 2.5 million people. Its borders encompass

approximately 200 square miles of land.

CMATA has been experiencing a significant decline in ridership, with a particularly

drastic drop in the past year. Just five years ago, ridership averaged 700,000 daily but is now

down to 410,000. While CMATA conducts appropriate maintenance of its trains, its fleet is

older than those of most other major American cities.

CMATA experiences some equipment failures each winter, however this winter, Capital

City has already experienced record-breaking snowfall within a short period of time and

unprecedented breakdowns in the transit system. The significant snow accumulation has caused

railway switches to freeze, failures in the trains’ propulsion systems, and power losses. As a

result, the transit system experienced two weeks of interrupted train service in December and

January, with regular delays and periodic closures of almost every rail line.

CMATA’s governing board is projecting a significant shortfall in CMATA’s budget for

next year. Almost all of CMATA’s revenue is from fares and government subsidies. However,

with the decline in ridership and fare revenues, CMATA is in serious trouble. Further, according

to a recent poll conducted by Capital City’s best-selling newspaper, there is a widespread

perception that CMATA wastes money and runs an over-stressed and outdated transit system.

That poll also concluded that many of Capital City’s more affluent residents generally find

public transportation to be “undignified”.

Given the severity of CMATA’s crisis, CMATA’s governing board has concluded that a

radical solution is necessary. It has decided to hire a management consulting firm to study the

situation and recommend changes. The board has narrowed its choices to two firms, Transport

Methods and J.D. Hunt Consulting. Using the following criteria, write an argument in favor of

the board’s hiring one firm rather than the other:

 The board wants to hire a firm with expertise particularly relevant to the issues CMATA is experiencing.

 The board wants to hire a firm with a proven record of success in devising radical business solutions.

Transport Methods is a firm that specializes in public transportation. Most of its

consultants have degrees from top institutions and specialize in engineering, management

sciences, or operations management. It has far more experience analyzing transit authorities than

any other consulting firm in the nation. A sizable majority of the transit authorities that have

employed Transport Methods have subsequently experienced satisfactory results. For example,

Transport Methods consulted for the San Francisco metropolitan area transit system, a system

BUS 300

Critical Thinking and Persuasion

Summer 2017 - Writing Assignment #1

previously near failure due to operational issues. San Francisco is now ranked the second best

transit system in the United States. The newest member of Transport Methods’ team of

consultants is a former airline executive who is known for advocating an overhaul of the nation’s

public transportation systems.

J.D. Hunt Consulting has experience in many industries but no experience in public

transportation. All of its consultants have worked exclusively in the private sector. J.D. Hunt is

mostly known as a Public Relations consulting firm but also has departments devoted to

accounting and management consulting. J.D. Hunt services a wide array of clients ranging from

Florida Power & Light Company to Goldman Sachs. In addition, J.D. Hunt consulted for

Domino’s Pizza in 2008 and 2009 when it recommended that the restaurant make major changes

to its pizza recipe and created a corresponding marketing campaign. J.D. Hunt’s most successful

projects to date were the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Presidential campaigns for President Susan

Steinberg. J.D. Hunt is the originator of the idea of centering an election campaign on the notion

of “hope and change”. J.D. Hunt is known within the industry as being “outside the box” and

providing unique solutions for a wide array of problems its clients face.