Recommendation Report Assignment
INSTRUCTIONS: Structure a recommendation report based upon the following information. Use an informal report memo format (2-3 pages) but include headings and highlighting icons as needed. This report is NOT a formal report.
Do not add information, but you may delete information that seems inappropriate or irrelevant. Use headings, whitespace, and other appropriate highlighting devices to help the reader follow your logic.
Here's a formatting tip: use the Options as headings with the three criteria as subheadings under each option. You must also add at least two graphics, probably a bar graph for cost and a matrix or comparative table.
Audience: General
Visuals: At least two tables OR line graphs
Purpose: As a subcontractor, to recommend one of the two options based on the facts given in the case.
CASE: The City of Portland has contracted your company to control the weeds on public walkways, streets, rights-of-way, fencerows, utility poles, and fire hydrants. Your boss has decided that the company will use an herbicide as the most cost-effective means of doing the job. The job consists of roughly 800 acres of unwanted vegetation to be eliminated. The city wants only ONE herbicide application this year. You are to recommend one of the two following herbicides based on the criteria given:
CRITERIA
Cost: $250-$350 per square acre of treated area is the acceptable range
Safety: The herbicide must meet local, state, and federal guidelines for safety to humans, animals, and the environment in general
Effectiveness: Each herbicide must be applied in the spring for maximum effectiveness. SuperGoat destroys plants by attacking the leaves and circulating throughout the plant's system until the herbicide reaches the roots. As soon as it passes through the root system, the herbicide biodegrades in the soil. It does, however, work less effectively unless an oily or wax "carrier" is added to it to make sure it doesn't wash off in the rain. The other herbicide, TechnoFix, destroys plants by attacking the roots first and chemically neutralizing the plant's ability to pump nutrients and water through its root system. TechnoFix is a soil sterilant if misapplied--in other words, the soil saturated with TechnoFix will never again support life as we know it. At recommended application rates, soil sterilization does not occur.
OPTIONS
Option A--SuperGoat costs $275 per acre plus $25 per acre for the carrier. It meets all local, state, and federal environmental regulations. Its effective killing power lasts roughly 90 days, but it is more limited by rain and wind than is the herbicide in Option B. In laboratory tests, rats that drank SuperGoat became slightly ill but did not die (they did, however, begin to experience an intense desire to climb rocky places and to butt heads).
Option B--TechnoFix costs $350 per acre. It also meets all local, state, and federal environmental regulations for application in Oregon. It has "restricted use" labels in two other states because of its high potential for soil sterilization and potential toxic effects on fish, mammals, and birds. Its effectiveness is listed at 90 days (no weeds or any other vegetation will re-grow during this period).
NOTE: For political and economic reasons, there are NO OTHER Options, and you may not mix the two alternatives. They must be analyzed as given.