Abstract
BP is a multinational company with an interest in sustainable energy production. Its main components include gas, petroleum, and lately wind. The company explores, refines, and retails all its products. It has various branches all over the world and is a major employment provider. BP has the purpose of improving efficiency in the energy sector and meeting the world’s energy needs. In April 2010, one of their contractors, Transocean, the rig had two explosions in the Gulf of Mexico. Transocean is the world’s greatest offshore drilling contractor (Beckcom, 2010). This resulted in a spillage in the ocean causing death to marine life and affecting Far East beaches. Thereafter there emerged a blame game between BP and Transocean on whose fault the incident was with both parties refusing to take full responsibility.
BP Oil Spill
In the BP case, a proper environmental assessment would have controlled if not averted the whole fiasco. Judging by the impact the blast had and the consequences that followed, it is clear that BP had a very weak environmental impact assessment. The amount of damage that resulted from the incident was so overwhelming but with proper environmental impact assessment, the excess damage would have been contained. People in the Gulf depend on the ecosystems for services, as food, fuel, tourism, and recreation (National Academy of Sciences, 2013). BP needed to have assessed that beforehand to avoid any inconvenience.
BP was not genuine in blaming Transocean for the incident. Although, on the other hand, BP would not take full blame it had to agree that the project was aimed at benefitting their organization and Transocean was just a contractor. It was the duty of BP to ensure they have well-laid action to avoid the spillage. Alternatively, control it in the case it occurred. In their report on the spill, Transocean attributed some of the errors to themselves but they maintained that the incident was due to a succession of interrelated good designs, construction, and sequential abandonment choices that compromised the reliability of the well and increased the risk of failure (Deep Water Horizon – Oil Spill Solutions, 2011).
These decisions were made by BP a few weeks before the blast and led to the instability of the well. According to the report, BP had realized that their geological window for drilling oil safely was decreasing, and they introduced new equipment, some even without inspection, to hasten the process. Other reports including that of BP still blame Transocean for the incident. The report cites Transocean’s poor maintenance and poorly trained staff and Transocean had an inadequate safety plan (Schwartz, 2011).
The balanced scorecard is used in strategic management and planning. It is used in many organizations to line up the organization’s operations to its vision and goals (Tutorials Point, n.d.). Using this concept, there are four main areas that are covered. The first is the financial perspective, which includes the costs an organization incurs for maximum production. From this perspective, BP had invested heavily in the offshore drill. In addition, in BP’s operations throughout the world, the return on capital appeared to be on a rising scale.
Secondly, there is the customer perspective. Here, customer satisfaction, retention, and market share are evaluated. BP has a broad market share globally with it operating in all six continents and its services available in over 100 countries. The third area is the business policy, which focuses on measures such as the costs one incurs and if they relate to the quality of the business process. BP has invested in research, and its products are of high quality.
The fact that they have a wider market is proof enough that their products are affordable and satisfactory. The last is the growth and learning perspective, which measures the satisfaction of employees and their retention. BP employs a workforce of over 80000 worldwide thereby providing employment opportunities to society. On the Balance Scorecard, BP can be rated as an organization with an aim to fully achieve its goals and objectives.
References
Beckcom, B. (2010). Transocean Oil Rig Explosion: All about the Deepwater Horizon Semisubmersible Rig. Web.
National Academy of Sciences. (2013). Assessing impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Science Daily. Web.
Deep Water Horizon – Oil Spill Solutions. (2011). Web.
Schwartz, J. (2011). Transocean Report Blames BP for Gulf Spill. The New York Times. Web.
Tutorials Point. (n.d.). The Balanced Scorecard. Web.