Introduction
British Petroleum is headquartered in London but operates in several other countries. It is concerned with the exploration, mining and supply of oil and natural gas. It is considered to be among the biggest oil companies in the world today. It was initially called Anglo Persian Oil Company.
Corporate Governance
Since its inception in the early 20th century, the company has recorded tremendous growth in terms of assets and profit making. However, as Ulph (2010) notes, the company has also experienced a turbulent time. In the late 1980s, the company was forced to reduce the number of its staff because of decreased revenue and redundancy amongst staff.
Today, the company is headed by Carl Henric, who is the current chairman of the board of directors. Under him, there are other non-executive directors who help him in the day to day affairs of the company.
SWOT Analysis of BP
Strengths
According to Vijayakumar (2011), the company has today managed to cut part of its operational expenses by using solar power to run some of its machines. In addition, he argues that the company has leased part of its space to Bean café as an alternative source of revenue. This has increased its revenue and profits.
Weaknesses
The company has for a long time been blamed for selling most of its products at a higher price than the market price. This has become its major weakness because people have tended to shift to other suppliers who are selling the same products at a cheaper rate. In addition, the recent oil spill in the United States exposed BP weaknesses in dealing with oil spillage. This is because it took a lot of time to fix the leakage.
Opportunities
Vijayakumar (2011) argues that the company has an opportunity of doing business with other countries that are still prospecting for oil. He says that the company can take advantage of its high level of technology to assist in oil exploration. Moreover, he adds that company still has a chance of expanding its services in other countries.
Threats
There are other companies selling their oil at a cheaper rate. Therefore, unless BP adjusts its prices downward, there are chances that part of its customers are going to shift to other companies. The number of oil companies is increasing by the day and therefore, this company may find it difficult to penetrate the market where these upcoming companies are. This is partly because of their prices.
Conclusion
Although the company has been in existence for more than a century now, we can learn from it that unless prudent management is in place, the company can collapse. The challenges it faced in the 1980s is a clear illustration of how a visionary leadership works.
Reference List
Ulph, C., 2010. PR Analysis of British Petroleum. Norderstedt: Auflage.
Vijayakumar, H., 2011. British Petroleum Oil Spill Crisis and Aftermath: Corporate Governance and Communication at BP During the Disaster. Boston: GRIN Verlag.