Introduction
Strategic directions of publicly-traded energy companies seem to be the paramount determinants of their successful operation as they identify the overall direction of the companies. In this regard, due to the fact that BP plc is an integrated oil company efficiently performing on the global market, I would like to propose it including the peculiarities of the company, its strategy, and the research plan.
Specific Characteristics
The British Petroleum Company ranks the fifth place in the world among energy companies (Rapier 2016). Today the company is the owner of 19 gas and oil refineries and 17, 200 petrol stations while 7, 000 of them are located in the US (BP Global 2016). The company possesses its representatives in more than 100 countries around the world. In the world, there are approximately 80 thousand employees working for BP (BP 2016). The company distinguishes by its active international performance.
Taking into account the specifics of the prospective study, it is essential to pinpoint the company’s strategy in bare outlines. Basically, it focuses on five-year and annual strategic development plans pursuing three focal objectives listed below:
- Promote growth by achieving concrete results, especially in terms of profit amounts that ensure long-term growth (Smith 2015);
- Increase of the dividends per share;
- Return free funds remaining after reinvestment in the business and the payment of dividends to shareholders.
Moreover, the company’s strategy includes the raise of production by finding the largest fields, concentrating on a limited number of the richest oil and gas basins in the world, securing a leading position in occupied regions, providing an effective management, and selling non-competitive assets (Durand 2013). The company pays attention to the oil refinery, where a high level of production quality is provided by the scale and flexibility of the process.
Such a position ensures the competitiveness of BP (Chew 2012) for a long-term operational period. In the field of marketing, the company tends to enlarge the product range. BP continues to invest in those fields, which hold a strong leadership position (Hartung 2010). For instance, it invests in such markets as oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear energy, renewable energy, and others.
A leading position among the world’s largest suppliers of gas by means of developed infrastructure, increasing gross profit, and the supply chain optimization remains the strategic goal of the company (Beale 2012). One might note the establishment of the alternative energy in BP that is engaged in the production and marketing of the low carbon energy (Safina 2011).
In response to the growing demand for more environmentally friendly energy, BP is expanding its presence on the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market and low-carbon types of energy (Skjaerseth & Skodvin 2013). The company works on large deposits of natural gas in the vicinity of major markets, owns large stakes in the gas pipeline network, and takes the stable position in the production of liquefied natural gas in Pacific and Atlantic oceans (Valvi & Fragkos 2013).
Research Plan
Methods of Inquiry
The literature analysis will be used to collect more detailed information about the BP Company. Precisely speaking, such sources as the FTSE 100, New York Stock Exchange, and Financial Times along with the company’s website and official documents are useful and comprehensible tools to create the specific survey and analyze results. For this study, the literature analysis is a cost and time effective way to examine the strategic direction of BP Company.
Study Credibility
In the framework of growing significance of energy industry, it seems appropriate to investigate this field. The operational potential of BP is high. One more argument in support of the company is the fact that the adequate interpretation and modeling of large volumes of information along with data mining might improve the performance of the company. The potential survey will allow determining the possible changes and will either support or refute the anticipated outcomes with nominal evidence that can be discussed with a reasonable degree of reliability.
In order to ensure the confirmability of the research, the data will be collected from credible sources and appropriately analyzed according to the studied course concepts. It is also crucial to pay attention to the transferability of the research that will contribute to the generalization of findings. In this regard, the research will provide reliable information describing the company’s strategic vision that might be generalized for the broader understanding of the issue.
Possible Method of Analyses
Every research needs a study design before starting, because it is an integral part of the research design. Therefore, there is a need to determine the methodology of the possible investigation. Seeing the specifics of the proposed company, it seems appropriate to utilize the qualitative research that would reveal the strategic direction of BP based on their economic indicators. According to Packer (2011), the nature of the qualitative research is richly descriptive and conveys the perception of the organization.
The qualitative method involves the collection of information in a free form; it focuses on the understanding, explanation, and interpretation of empirical data that is the source of speculation and productive ideas (Packer 2011). Therefore, the study will utilize qualitative method approach in order to collect the data for analysis that will allow taking the advantage of the richer data that is expected from qualitative research. The qualitative procedures are necessary as they enable the researcher to interpret facts and make it easy for understanding by interested parties. Finally, applying the identified method of analysis, I would like to interpret and understand the results to make relevant conclusions and potential recommendations.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper proposes the study of the BP’s strategic direction. It was stated that the purpose of the proposed research is to scrutinize the strategy of the company in order to suggest possible recommendations to enhance the company’s performance. This paper supposes the methodology of the potential research and justifies its importance in terms of the global context that is reflected in the growth of competitiveness in the energy market and need to improve the strategy of BP.
Reference
Beale, N 2012, Constructive Engagement: Directors and Investors in Action, Gower, Burlington.
BP 2016.
BP Global 2016.
Chew, D 2012, Corporate Risk Management, Columbia University Press, New York.
Durand, R 2013, Organizations, Strategy and Society: The Orgology of Disorganized Worlds, Routledge, New York.
Hartung, A 2010, BP’s Only Hope For Its Future. Web.
Packer, M 2011, The Science of Qualitative Research, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Rapier, R 2016, The 25 Biggest Oil And Gas Companies In The World.
Safina, C 2011, A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout, Crown Publishers, New York.
Skjaerseth, J & Skodvin, T 2013, Climate change and the oil industry: Common problems, varying strategies, Manchester University Press, Manchester.
Smith, G 2015, BP’s new strategy depends on oil prices rising 25%. Web.
Valvi, AC &Fragkos, KC 2013, ‘Crisis communication strategies: A case of British Petroleum’, Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 383-391.