Strategic Analysis Of The BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

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BP DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL: STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill accident of April 20th 2010 that caused a gas release followed by the explosion that took place causing hydro carbons to leak into the Gulf of Mexico posed a lot of strategic implications in the competence, capabilities, internal resources and Corporate Social Responsibility of BP. The implications of the Oil Spill underscores the Icarus paradox, which holds that the very capabilities that give an organization its source of competitive advantage can become constraining with changes to the external context. Teece (2009) emphasised that dynamic capabilities revolve around three generic types namely: Sensing (ability to scan, search and explore the external …show more content…

The key strategic and operational issues present in this case are encapsulated in BP materiality matrix, which revolves around internal priorities and external concerns. The major issues confronting BP in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deep water Spill are environmental and economic restoration as well as contending with legal proceedings. One of the basic strategic issues BP had to face is posed by climate change and managing carbon risks and understanding that operating at the frontiers involves deep water and gas, oil seeds and hydraulic fractions. Operationally, BP had to embrace good corporate governance through Board / Executive control with oversight functions, establishing risk management strategies and financial sustainability. BP’s success was based on using Porter’s competitive force model and organizational design to achieve their strategic …show more content…

This is the open-system view of the organization. Prior to the accident, BP was concerned with its procurement process, technology development, infrastructure and human resource. BP was also using SWOT Analysis through which the company examined strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Internal analysis here refers to BP’s capabilities and resources, which define her strengths, and weaknesses while opportunities and threats derive from the external context of BP operations. However, after the accident, BP became more aware that the external environment is where opportunities and threats exists and must be constantly monitored and scanned. This can be explained with The ‘PESTEL’ model which identifies the key elements of Political (Legislation/ Ideology, government expenditure and legislative factors); Economic (Macro-economic factors and business cycles); Socio-demographic (Changing societal attitudes towards ethical standards and life style choices); Technological (technologies that can affect an organization); Ecological / Green issues (Opportunities and threats, impact of pollution or reclying and carbon reduction) and legal factors (legislative or regulatory framework under which the company operates that create opportunities and threats). The essence of using the PESTEL model here is to identify the key drivers that allows scenario planning to occur in relation to market

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