Winter Wall Revival: Advising Knight’s Watch Municipality on Public Sector Strategy

Recognize this as a cost case, but one that must first identify the municipality’s budget and means for generating funding. Push to first tackle the construction costs after initially brainstorming ways to determine the timeline and cost of construction for Governor Snow.

Notice that the costs given can be subset into fixed and variable, with the variable cost's dependent upon further information, including number of FTEs, number of hours, and number of square feet required to repair. 

Use additional information to calculate the estimated total cost of the wall repairs.

Start by rounding the population to 10M and average the taxable income.

Structure your math in table form and work through each piece as shown in the solution exhibit.

Note that Lannister Brothers LLC and Mother of Dragons LLC exceed the estimated time until the White Walkers arrive.

Additionally, the Westeros Construction and Dothraki Development exceed available funding as well as expected cost calculated previously.

Then assess pros and cons of Sansa Sisters LLP and Winterfell Wolves Contractors before identifying that Winterfell Wolves Contractors are a preferred choice given that they are domestically based (less risk) with slightly higher quality ratings (indicated by bubble size). 

Structure the brainstorming (pros vs cons, short-term vs long-term options), and finish by driving the case forward to determine whether the loan would impact the prior decision from Exhibit 3. 

This would allow Governor Snow enough funding to contract Westeros Construction with a similar timeframe and enhanced quality score compared to Winterfell Wolves Contracting. Note that the $20M for Westeros Construction is ~$2M above the budgeted costs and weigh the impact this may have on Governor Snow successfully selling the project to stakeholders.

Recommendation:

•Knights Watch Municipality should accept the bank loan and contract the construction work to Westeros Construction because they offer the highest quality while staying within the timeframe of 12 months before the White Walkers arrive.

Risks:

•Construction costs above estimated budget ($20M costs vs. $18M estimate), is a harder sell to internal stakeholders

•Requirement to accept debt financing ($5M) with associated interest loan and risk of default

•Westeros Construction is not the fastest company, risking of overrun in time beyond 12 month required deadline

Next Steps:

•Establish effective project plan and timeline with contractor to verify work progresses without issue.