Greyhound Lines Strategy After September 11: A Case Study
This case study examines how Greyhound Lines Inc. could respond strategically to the post-September 11 travel environment in the United States. It outlines Greyhound's three core business lines — intercity bus transportation, package express, and travel services — before identifying five key problems created by the changed environment: increased short-term demand, the eventual downturn in that demand, customer retention, heightened security concerns, and the challenge of rapid service expansion. Five strategic alternatives are evaluated, and the paper recommends a combined approach of expanding holiday travel packages, partnering with hotel chains, and launching a broad marketing campaign emphasizing cost, convenience, and environmental benefits — with a long-term focus on converting new riders into repeat customers.
- Overview of Greyhound Lines Inc.: Company profile, services, employees, and safety record
- Problem Definition: Five strategic problems created by post-9/11 environment
- Strategic Alternatives: Five options evaluated with benefits and drawbacks
- Future Scenarios: Five plausible scenarios for the post-9/11 travel market
- Recommendations: Preferred strategy combining marketing and service expansion
- Implementation: Step-by-step plan to execute the recommended strategy
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper follows a clear and disciplined business-case structure — from company overview to problem identification, alternatives, scenarios, recommendation, and implementation — making the argument easy to follow.
- Each problem and each alternative is numbered and labeled, which helps the reader track the logic and compare options systematically.
- The recommendation is grounded in the analysis that precedes it, specifically ruling out a fear-based safety campaign in favor of a long-term awareness strategy — a distinction the paper explains with concrete reasoning.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates structured strategic analysis through the generation and evaluation of alternatives before committing to a recommendation. Rather than jumping to a conclusion, it explicitly weighs benefits and drawbacks of five distinct options — including the "do nothing" alternative — before selecting a course of action. This technique reflects core business-case methodology and shows how to avoid confirmation bias by taking opposing options seriously.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an executive summary, followed by a company profile section. It then moves into problem definition (five problems), alternatives analysis (five options), scenario planning (five scenarios), a consolidated recommendation, and a step-by-step implementation plan. The bibliography closes the paper. This seven-part structure mirrors a standard MBA-style case analysis.
Overview of Greyhound Lines Inc.
Greyhound is part of the travel services industry, providing intercity travel within the United States as well as travel packages and mail services. The environment in which Greyhound operates has been affected by the events of September 11. Safety concerns, the decline in air travel, and the decline in international travel all create opportunities for Greyhound. In this environment, there is increased interest in travel arrangements other than air travel, giving Greyhound an opportunity to promote its services. The main problem Greyhound faces is how to maintain current demand after the environment has stabilized. After analyzing the various problems and future scenarios, the recommendation is that Greyhound expand its services and launch an extensive marketing campaign. To ensure that increased demand is sustained, the company should also focus on converting new customers into repeat customers and ensuring the marketing campaign has long-term effects. This will allow Greyhound to take advantage of the current environment and carry that momentum into the future.
Greyhound Lines Inc. is a provider of bus transportation services, serving over 2,600 destinations in the United States with 18,000 departures per day (Greyhound Company Profile).
Greyhound has three lines of business. The first — and the foundation of its operation — is intercity bus transportation. Greyhound identifies three points as crucial to success in this area (Greyhound Company Profile):
Everyday low walk-up fares; provision of the only means of regular transportation between cities and towns across the United States; and provision of extra seats during peak travel periods to accommodate passengers.
The other two services Greyhound offers are Greyhound Package Express and Greyhound Travel Services. Greyhound Package Express is a package delivery service focused specifically on remote locations that other postal carriers do not serve. Central to the service is its Daily Direct offering, which also handles highly time-sensitive items (Greyhound Company Profile).
Greyhound Travel Services is a newer and quickly growing division. It delivers charter and tour services, Greyhound Vacations, destination management, sightseeing, shore holidays, and package tours. Future plans include a dedicated fleet for travel services equipped with televisions, audio systems, and luggage racks (Greyhound Company Profile). A notable addition in 2001 was Greyhound Vacations, offering getaway packages for popular destinations such as New York City and Los Angeles.
Regarding its workforce, Greyhound employs over 13,000 workers, 5,000 of whom are drivers. The company and its employees maintain a cooperative relationship through a labor union, based on mutual trust and mutual-gains bargaining (Greyhound Facts & Figures).
On the customer side, Greyhound reports that many passengers choose bus travel because it is safe and economical, and that most travel to visit family and friends (Greyhound Facts & Figures). In terms of safety, a recent audit showed an excellent record — one-fifth the accident rate of all commercial vehicles in the United States (Greyhound Facts & Figures). Environmentally, one Greyhound bus removes 17 cars from the road and achieves 162 passenger miles per gallon of fuel (Greyhound Facts & Figures).
The main issue affecting Greyhound is the impact of the September 11 attacks. Since September 11, a new fear of flying has emerged, which is likely to increase the number of people choosing bus travel over air travel. It also means that many Americans will opt for domestic holidays rather than overseas travel. Although there will be fewer international visitors travelling within the United States, the majority of Greyhound's existing customers are Americans visiting family and friends — meaning overall demand for bus travel is expected to rise. This brings both opportunities and problems.
This report focuses on how Greyhound can respond to these changes and, specifically, how the problems they create can be anticipated so that the opportunities presented can be fully utilized.
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