by QB 52.32
newpylong wrote:I do not think you will find many who share the opinion that "Pursuing growth is a primary reason CSX adopted Hunter Harrison's PSR principals in the first place".Beyond opinions, many unqualified, and in pursuit of the facts amongst all of the issues, when CSX's directors and owners chose Hunter Harrison as CEO for his transformative Precision Scheduled Railroading principals they did so for its on-the-record and unassailably-demonstrated primary benefits:
1. sustainable volume and revenue growth
2. improvement to operating ratio
3. strong free cash flow generation and lower capital intensity
4. superior shareholder distributions and returns.
A 2017 quote early in CSX's transformation attributed to Harrison (that) "we're going to get bigger in the rearview mirror of the competition and then pass them on the left" sounds like a primary pursuit of growth, no?
Without PSR and its benefit of strong free cash flow generation providing the resources and improved operating ratio and sustainable growth coming from greater efficiency and reliability providing the financial justification, doubtful CSX woulda/coulda pursued this acquisition even with available operational capacity and risk of 1 of 2 of the Canadians, already operating under Harrison's PSR principals, acquiring PAR. With this possibility in mind, how might that alternative have gone to CSX's pursuit of growth instead?