BUSINESS AND THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Business and the Business Environment

Introduction

BP Plc, originally British Petroleum is a company with head quarters in UK. It operates in the energy sector and especially of oil and natural gas in which it is one of the four major global players.

BP originates from the first merger in 1998 of British Petroleum with Amoco to form BP Amoco. Now the company's name is simply "BP." The change emphasizes the new international society, both to avoid a conspicuous link to the UK that could be a hindrance to business in certain regions of the world (Bamberg 2000, 55).

Growth

1909 - 1955

In May 1901, the Shah of Persia gave a concession to William Knox D'Arcy for the search for oil in the Persian territory; Knox D'Arcy identified deposits seven years later. Commercially significant find of reserves first occurred in May 1908. In 1909, it was founded as Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (Anglo-Persian Oil Company). It explored further after this first discovery. Until World War I the company grew slowly but later it got its strategic importance and was British government got the controlling interest .It became the largest provider of fuel in the Royal Navy during the war.

The 60s and 70s

Since the late '60s, the company changed its strategic focus from Middle East and to USA which includes: Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and the North Sea. In mid 70s both fields came into proper production and it transformed the company. It allowed company to leverage the rising oil prices that was done by OPEC from 1973 to 1979.

In 1969 BP acquired the land of the Valdez oil terminal in Alaska, the native Chugach for $ 1 American. In the mid-'70s, BP acquired Standard Oil of Ohio (Laxer 2008, 99).

The 80s and 90s

BP's chairman IP Walter (later Sir Peter Waler) was leading the company as chairman from 1981 to 1990 and he promoted a movement with the intention to spin off the operation of company only with the economic point of view. He explicated that profit is the only strategy. He made the industry transformation that was dominated with the vertical integration to emphasize on trade and decentralization. In 1987, BP acquired the Britoil and the shares of Standard Oil of Ohio. The 2000s

In 1998 BP merged with Amoco which was formerly known as Standard Oil of Indiana and it became BP Amoco un til 2002. It later changed the name and became BP and it also adopted the subtitle of Beyond Petroleum. This stated that BP had never been an abbreviation of its subtitle (Falola & Genova 2005, 66). In April 2004, BP decided to move most of its petrochemical business in a separate entity called Innovene within the BP Group.

In 2002 the company was renamed BP. The new slogan, "Beyond Petroleum" was accompanied by a rebranding of its famous "Green Shield" turning it into a symbol of helium (ray of sunshine yellow and green) to emphasize the company's focus on environment and renewable energy ...