ASSIGNMENT

British Petroleum Company is the one of the largest oil companies in the world and the United Kingdom’s largest corporation. The company is headquartered in London, England, where the company participates in the London stock exchange as well as the New York stock exchange and it is listed on the 100 index FTSE. The company has experienced changes in the recent years, including the accidents of costly and breaking of brands and the pressure towards addressing the global climate change targets and focusing oAn the social responsibility. (McGee 2017). The strengths and the weaknesses of the company are assessed so that to make possible recommendations on how the company can take advantage of the opportunities when addressing any perceived long term and short term threats of the company.

General environment

The company environment is very favorable to the customers and the workers but environmental issues can be a threat to the company if the company does not formalize its social corporate responsibility and treat it as a forefront strategy. This can be done by revising the safety issues in the workplace so as to reduce refinery explosions, spills and oil leaks, corrosion of pipelines and many other environmental hazards. The company faces increased competition from other companies like the Chevron ad Shell, which deals with these environmental issues better that the BP Corporation.

Five Forces of competition

Analyzing the competition of the company, it is good to use the forces of competition according to porter. These forces have largely affected the business, but they are worked upon. In this paper I am going to handle only two forces of competition that is competitive rivalry and threats of subsidies of products and services.

Competitive rivalry

Due to efforts made by the company to meet the customer demands, the company makes its management successful because it has the following strengths:

· The BP branch Amoco has a tough loyalty brand to its oil business which makes it receive many revenues to the corporation due to its toughness.

· The Beyond Petroleum slogan of the company has severed the company well since it is recognized for its active participation in other markets and industries.

· The BP worked very extensive to rebuild its image in the wake of the recent accidents and the mishandling of the executives, including putting focus on the corporate social responsibility and transparency as well as a thoughtful communication within and outside the company.

Threat of substitute products and services.

Despite the fact that the company has made great advancements to make move and maintain its name, the company has the following weaknesses which has hindered its developments.

· The company has consistently faced many disasters and oil spills that have facilitated the damage of environment all around the world.

· The continued focus on climatic change and the reduction of the fossil fuels has put the company more pressure of migrating to provide clean energy options.

· The company has closed many oil wells which have led to layoffs, which have occurred in the poor cycles of economy, furthering the image of the brand of the company that it is uncaring and greedy.

· The competition of the company has been positioned as more attractive and responsible due to its many missteps that put the company in the position of having to play the catch-up on the leaders in their industries and the markets.

Evaluation and future improvements

The company is encountered with a significant weakness of the dishonest cases from its executives and they poorly handled the company disasters which tarnished the image of the company which led to massive penalties, fines and provision of costs to assist the damaged areas. Salama et al (2013) suggests that, to handle this problem, the company should audit the executives in every three months so as to evaluate their performances and whoever found none performing to be replaced with immediate effect. This is because; a company cannot be learn by dishonest and lazy executives and expect to develop. By doing auditing the members, it will make the executive team to work effectively so as to retain their positions in the company, which in turn will lead the company reduce some of the risks caused due to carelessness.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strength

· British petroleum company has a number of retail brands and subsidiaries including Amoco; BP express; ARCO; BP connect; BP Travel Centre; e.t.c, which provides the company with enough and diversified revenue portfolio rather than concentrating on the energy business only.

Weaknesses

· The company faces dishonest cases from its executives and they poorly handled the company disasters which tarnished the image of the company which led to massive penalties, fines and provision of costs to assist the damaged areas.

Strategy

An organization is subjected to advantages and disadvantages in its learning. In the case of the BP Company, it is better if it uses the advantage of its strengths to overcome the challenges. For instance, the more significant advantage is having a number of retail brands and subsidiaries including Amoco; BP express; ARCO; BP connect; BP Travel Centre; e.t.c, which provides the company with enough and diversified revenue portfolio rather than concentrating on the energy business only. The company to make sure the revenues keeps on learning to the business despite the challenges, it should employ skilled personnel to learn the business in various branches so as to keep the image of the company and maintain its product brands.

Resources, capabilities and core competencies of the company

Due to the high rank of BP Company, the company has the core capabilities and tangible resources which make it at the rank of competition with other big companies. The company opportunities include the following:

· BP Company has the potential of becoming the leader of many fuel companies and energy mare6s in the world if it invests in repositioning its strategies and research. The market opportunities of the company include solar energy, wind energy and hydrogen.

· The company has an opportunity to expand to new geographical territories with the alternative energy and fuel opportunities.

· The company has an opportunity to partner with some countries which have developing solutions to infrastructures issues so as to move to the use of clean energy options, positioning the brand of BP around environmental and renovation responsibility.

How the company will treat this thread

Olson et al, (2014), states that, to address the above threats, it should put more focus on environmental issues. For the case of spills and social issues, a company should put strategies to enable it revisit its safety issues like revising the issues by checking regularly on the tools they use and also repairing broken pipes. Similarly, the company should employ use of energy that is friendly to the environment so as to maintain its brand and reduce unnecessary competition from the companies which uses environmental friendly fuels and energy. The company has tried to deal with these issues for the past three years but due to dishonest staff and carelessness of the executives, the company has continued to experience the same problem for years and the problems which is seen to persist if the company cannot take necessary action like evaluating of the employees on their performances and productions.

Value chain

McGee, (2017), argues that, the company has an opportunity to focus further developments in its many subsidiaries outside its petrochemical focus to enhance revenue streams to the business. Since the company receives many revenues within a short period of time, it is better to invest on many other businesses not necessarily the petrochemical business to enable it receive some additional incomes. This can be done by opening up of many different businesses but with the same brand of the company. Opening the businesses will not only make the company known very far, but also marketing the company goods and products.

McNee, R. B. (2017). Functional geography of the firm, with an illustrative case study from the petroleum industry. Economic geography, 34(4), 321-337.

Olson, E.M., Slater, S.F & Hult, T.M. (2014, pp. 47-54) The Importance of Structure and Process to Strategy Implementation “Business Horizons, Volume 48,

Rees, C. J., Mamman, A., & Braik, A. B. (2013). Emiratization as a strategic HRM change initiative: case study evidence from a UAE petroleum company. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 18(1), 33-53.

Salama, A., Holland, W., & Vinten, G. (2013). Challenges and opportunities in mergers and acquisitions: three international case studies–Deutsche Bank-Bankers Trust; British Petroleum-Amoco; Ford-Volvo. Journal of European Industrial Training, 27(6), 313-321.