Strategic Marketing at Bp Plc
Table of Contents Introduction 3 Background to BP plc 3 The Gulf of Mexico Incident 4 BP’s Historical Market Positioning 4 Internal and External Analysis 5 Internal Analysis – The SWOT Model. 6 External Analysis – The PESTLE Model 8 Strategic Choices 9 Recommendations 10 Porter’s Generic Strategies 10 Ansoff’s Matrix 11 Conclusion 12 Bibliography 12
Introduction
The global business environment has never been more challenging for companies and corporate management teams who are facing relentless pressures from an array of different sources including changing customer demand patters, difficult economic conditions and increasing competition from emerging economies (Banerjee, 2010). One way for companies to remain viable is to have streamlined marketing strategies. Strategic marketing is broader than traditional marketing since it focuses on integrating the overall marketing function within the long term corporate strategy (Reis & Trout, 2010). This report considers how strategic marketing can be used to respond to an adverse event by considering the impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on BP plc.
Background to BP plc
One of the oldest and most recognised global corporations, BP plc (“BP”) is one of the world’s largest energy companies with extensive operations in the petrochemical, natural gas and alternative energy sectors (MarketLine Inc, 2012). The company is one of the four largest global listed companies with dual listings on the New York and London stock exchanges (MarketLine Inc, 2012). For the year ended 31st December 2012, the company had operations in over 80 countries with a total workforce of eighty five thousand (BP plc, 2012). BP operates in all major upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the petrochemical and natural gas industry through its three operating divisions; exploration and production; refining and marketing; and, other business and corporate (BP plc, 2012). The exploration and production division
Introduction
The global business environment has never been more challenging for companies and corporate management teams who are facing relentless pressures from an array of different sources including changing customer demand patters, difficult economic conditions and increasing competition from emerging economies (Banerjee, 2010). One way for companies to remain viable is to have streamlined marketing strategies. Strategic marketing is broader than traditional marketing since it focuses on integrating the overall marketing function within the long term corporate strategy (Reis & Trout, 2010). This report considers how strategic marketing can be used to respond to an adverse event by considering the impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on BP plc.
Background to BP plc
One of the oldest and most recognised global corporations, BP plc (“BP”) is one of the world’s largest energy companies with extensive operations in the petrochemical, natural gas and alternative energy sectors (MarketLine Inc, 2012). The company is one of the four largest global listed companies with dual listings on the New York and London stock exchanges (MarketLine Inc, 2012). For the year ended 31st December 2012, the company had operations in over 80 countries with a total workforce of eighty five thousand (BP plc, 2012). BP operates in all major upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the petrochemical and natural gas industry through its three operating divisions; exploration and production; refining and marketing; and, other business and corporate (BP plc, 2012). The exploration and production division
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