Strategic Analysis of British Petroleum (BP) and External Business Environment

Evaluation of UK and Global Haulage Industry

Students in this module submit two individual essays that carry out an analysis of British Petroleum (BP) and its competitive environment. Each individual essay will constitute 50% of your overall mark (please see below the note on the requirements of the individual essay).

 

In September 2021, some petrol stations in the UK were forced to close after the nationwide shortage of HGV drivers left forecourts without supplies.

 

British Petroleum (BP) spokesperson apologised for any inconvenience, adding: “We are experiencing fuel supply issues at some of our retail sites in the UK and unfortunately have therefore seen a handful of sites temporarily close due to a lack of both unleaded and diesel grades.”

 

Details of the disruption to petrol supplies emerged after a meeting between the government and executives from several companies convened to brief ministers about the severity of Britain’s supply chain crisis.

 

Queues formed at some petrol stations in London and Kent on Friday as motorists rushed to fill up.

 

Although Downing Street claimed there was no shortage of fuel, the developments will add to pressure on ministers already facing calls to take action to ease acute labour and supply chain shortages linked to Brexit and the pandemic– with businesses calling for a visa scheme to help meet demand for more workers on farms, in factories and in road haulage firms.

 

Rod McKenzie, of the Road Haulage Association trade body, accused ministers of “government by inertia”, allowing the situation to get gradually worse in recent months.

 

You need to conduct a strategic analysis of the British Petroleum’s (BP) external business environment. In specific, the following criteria should be covered in your report.

1) Evaluate with evidence the UK and global Haulage industry. Use related frameworks to critically analyse the industry as well as the sector.

2) Evaluate with evidence the competitive environment of British Petroleum (BP).

For this assignment you are required to apply different frameworks discussed in class such as Pestel Analysis, Industry Five Forces, Strategic Group Analysis, Industry Life Cycle, and Swot

Assignments must be presented in the following format:

• Assignments need a front cover page stating: Module number, Module name, Title of the assignment, Your name and student number, Submission date, Word count

• An Executive Summary is not required.

• It is mandatory that learners adhere to the specified word count given in the assignment brief within a margin of -/+10%.

• Your assignments should be written in a report/essay style with an introduction, body of the essay broken down into sub-sections), and conclusion.

• Assignments must be word-processed in 11 font Arial and double spaced

• All pages must be numbered

• Margins must be as follows: Top: 1 inch, Bottom: 1 inch (2.5 cm), Left: 1.25 inches, Right: 1.25 inches (3.2 cm)

• The assignment word limit does not include the cover page, reference list or appendices.

• The length of an assignment is limited by a set number of words to contribute towards the development of writing skills and to ensure all work is assessed equitably. We, therefore, require you to complete your assignments within the number of words specified in the assignment brief. If you write more than required words, the extra words will not be marked to ensure equality of marking.

• Your report will be assessed based on the content within the main body of your report (within the word limit). However, you are encouraged to use appendices for the presentation of the detailed research which supports your discussion, and for the detailed analysis using course models. Please ensure, however, that your main argument and key findings are included in the body of your report.

• Please also remember that a report can be enhanced or damaged through layout, for example, placing all tables and drawings in appendices can hamper the flow of discussion.

 

Decisions, therefore, need to be made about the most appropriate place to use tables etc. to support your case. Page 4 of 11

• Appendices themselves will not be marked. However, inappropriate use of appendices will be taken into consideration when awarding the final mark.

 

• Assignments not complying with this format might be returned to students unmarked.