BP's Africa Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

BP's Africa Strategy - Essay Example BP is a multi-million multinational oil and gas company with regional branches in almost every part of the world. The company has a head office in the United Kingdom. According to the latest version of Forbes magazine, the company is ranked in the third largest among the energy companies, while it falls in the fourth position among the largest companies in the entire globe (Monasa, 2008). The company has ventured in almost all major process in the energy sector; this includes exploration, refining, production as well as marketing and distribution among other processes. Currently, the company has its branches in about 85 nations. This work focuses on the BP analysis in Africa. BP has an established brand name, and this can be indicated by its fast growth rate. The company has its branches in several nations in Africa, but the African branch is headquartered in South Africa. The company has its billboards in major parts of Africa, this is a good indication that the company is still on the move to brand itself further. BP Africa is facing stiff business competition from other oil and gas companies like SNEPCO, Gulf Oil Company, sea petroleum and gas group of companies, Teresols Oil & Gas, The Hydra group and PetroSA among others. The company has adopted some business strategies to remain on top of the business among its competitors. These strategies are meant to attract and maintain more customers. The company has been on a business growing trend since the Africa Company was established. BP Africa ventures on oil and gas as its main products (Mark, 2007). These products are termed as global products since they are important in any part of the government. Oil is a very important commodity in the current generation where the automobile is part and parcel of human life. Gas on the other hand is another commodity current generation can hardly do with. Gas is majorly used as a source of fuel. BP Africa has adopted some business strategies to beat its competitors. The f irst move advantage is applied in several ways of the company’s operations. First Bp was among the first oil and Gas Company in the continent. This provided a humble ground for its marketing. The company reports indicate that little resources were used to market or advertise the company products. This is because very few related companies were already in the market. It took several years before African countries could establish their own oil and gas companies like PetroSA , Oil Libya and National oil among others. The pioneers in a certain business would always the overall control of the sector, since it sticks to the memory of majority for quite a long time despite the competitors (Schmenner, 2004). BP Africa created a business monopoly or emperor which would take a long time to be broken. The company has however advanced its operations to maintain the customers it captured when it came to Africa. The company also enjoys the fact that the majority of auto-mobile owners like to maintain fuel from a specific company. Using oil from different companies interferes with the efficient operations of engines. Advantage of first move The company took advantage of emerging first in the market by purchasing large amount of oil and gas from African companies at more subsidized price then repackage and sell at a more favorable prices to attract more customers but make profit in