Analyzing an organization: Critical Analysis of Crude Oil Industry during COVID-19 pandemic

1. Strategy tools are vital for business and competitive analysis. These tools vary in terms of the level of analysis as some are found to be more suitable for analyzing the internal environment while others are more practical for the external environment analysis. How useful these strategic tools and models in helping decision-makers at organizations to make a better decision is a noteworthy question for investigation.

2. This TMA is meant to assess the student’s ability in understanding, and application of the course materials and ideas from external sources, as well as to student’s reflection and critical thinking. It is also intended to test the student’s ability to argue relevantly and to justify a point of view besides, constructing, defending and evaluating an argument, using relevant evidence and giving reasons for conclusions.

This TMA must be done with strict compliance to the guidelines and instructions stated, otherwise there will be penalties in form of marks deduction as per the university’s policy. Submitted work copied from or written jointly with others is not acceptable. Submitting work that has been done by someone else and persistent borrowing of other people’s work without citation are obvious instances of plagiarism and are regarded as cheating. If a case of plagiarism is proven, this is a serious offence and the disciplinary procedures will be followed, as described under the Examination Policy of the AOU. Cases of plagiarism will receive a mark of “Zero” on the assignment. Please refer to AOU plagiarism policy.

TMAmust bewritten in ESSAY (discussion) format, bullet points and numbering not allowed

Word count should be exact with 10% (More/less) tolerance.

You must acknowledge all sources of information using Harvard Style Referencing (In-text referencing plus list of references at the end). Minimum of 3 references are required. MUST include E-library and course materials. Wikipedia is not recommended as areference.

Copy and paste-plagiarized work willbe detected by TURNITIN and heavily penalized.

Strictly use the PT3 form accompanying this TMA.

You should present a well-structured and organized piece of work that is of your own.

N.B-1: Grades deduction will be implemented if you did not comply with the following criteria:

Proper referencing (Harvard style referencing) - Deductions could be up to 5 grades.

Presentation (including Pt#3 form)- Deductions could be up to 5 grades.

Adherence to specified word count – Deductions could be up to 5 grades.

Use of the E-library/External resources – Deductions could be up to 5 grades.

Instructions

N.B-2: TMA is meant to respond to recommendations given by EE to encourage and develop greater critical analytical skills especially at level 6, by encouraging students to read more widely and encouraging students to reflect on the application of the course theories and concepts

You should use publicly available information to begin your analysis: the organization's Web site is often the best starting point. Remember, however, that you are using the Web site as a source of data for the analysis; do not simply copy material off the Web site. Your assignment is an analysis, not a data-dump.

You may need to contact at least one member of the organization (either a current member or one who has recently left it). It can be very useful to make an initial contact with your informant early in the research process, to ensure that the person is indeed willing to talk with you. You will find the informant most useful, however, after you have done the preliminary work with the publicly available materials.

The purpose of the assignment is to develop your ability to use the conceptual frameworks and tools from the course. Also, to create a complete and a persuasive critical analysis answering, and in an essay format the following TMA four questions.

The COVID-19 pandemic situation affected the demand for the crude oil and byproducts in world-wide markets. The recent demand for crude oil weakened from COVID-19 pandemic which affected countries’ economies.  At an international level major oil companies have taken a hit following the outburst of the pandemic. It is a fact that the mandatory world-wide lockdowns of countries to contain the coronavirus is limiting the travel within and between continents, weakening international trade, slumping down production in nearly all industrial economies and is shaking the balance between supply and demand of products and services. These repercussions reduced oil consumption which sent prices tumbling to levels not seen in nearly two decades. However, if the COVID-19 crisis accelerates, the management of the world oil market should shift from defending prices to battling for market share.

Q1. Critically discuss the key factors and forces in the general and industry environments that affect the demand for crude oil and consequently an oil company that you have to choose from your country. (30 marks-500 words).

Q2. Based on your findings in question 1, discuss how the pandemic COVID-19 affected chosen company demand for its crude oil and its byproducts. From your own perspective, what should the chosen company do to keep its position locally and world-wide if this situation prevailed? (20 marks-500 words)

Q3. Discuss whether the chosen company market position is supported by its value chain and other key internal resources. Identify problems you think they are facing in respect to current COVID-19 pandemic situation.  (30 marks- 250 words)

 Q4. Critically discuss how COVID-19 pandemic affected the Business–Level-strategy of the chosen company petrochemical division. Suggest ways by which this division may sustain its competitive position in future. (20 marks-250 words)