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2.mis Case Study Joy
2.mis Case Study Joy
Isabel
GRADUATE SCHOOL
City of Naga
Case Study on
Greyhound/Laidlaw/Fi
rst Group
JOY CAEBA CHAVEZ
Ph.D. Student
HDM 307A
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
First groups (a UK based company) main business was in the bus and rail divisions. It
acquired the Laidlaw Company (US and Canada based company) during 2007 which had a
franchise called Grey Hound, a popular name in US trips and tours. With the purchased,
FirstGroup is the largest transportation provider in Great Britain and North America with revenue
of over 6 billion a year.
The main drawbacks of Greyhounds was that it could not strategically locate and address
its costumer wants and needs though it had enough potential and information about its
customers. The unwisely implementation of IT lead Grey Hound to suffer from major deficit
over decades. Though customers would prefer services offered Grey Hound, it made lots of
wrong decisions during implementation of its plan which lead it to suffer loss. Greyhound is a
different type of business from the ones that FirstGroup currently operates in the US. It provides
bus services directly to users and not through a contractual agreement. FirstGroup intends to
conduct a strategic review of Greyhound before deciding whether to pursue the opportunity it
offers or to sell off the business.
Case Digest:
The Greyhound case shows a lot of management errors, the combination of which led to
several declines in companys operation. First thing done wrong in Greyhound was the lack of
reaction to increasing automobile ownership and airlines as competitors. Secondly, after the
company emerged from bankruptcy protection, there were two persons at the helm of it who
were not transportation professionals. Their mistake was that they were too self-confident, and
did not consult any expert in transportation sphere.
Thirdly, Schmieder and Doyle often made incorrect public announcements and in fact
manipulated the stock prices, which added to Greyhound financial instability. Also, Schmieder
and Doyle were not interested in Greyhound growth and development: their aim was to get fast
revenue using all possible methods. Cost-cutting practice used by Schmieder and Doyle was
ineffective, and the resulting short-time profit was not used for company purposes: it was
primarily used for covering Schmieder and Doyles expenses.
Firing people and hiring part-time workers was another highly ineffective decision: as a result,
employees received very low payment, did not have any perspectives, and were intolerable to the
passengers. All these factors have significantly damaged the companys image. One more totally
wrong decision was to reschedule routes and create schedules which could hardly be covered
while driving at maximal speed. Again, in the search of short-time sources of revenue the
company has lost potential competitive advantage.
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