BP's Crisis Management

Question

What are the processes in place at BP for managing a crisis?

Answer

BP (British Petroleum) is one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, currently ranked at 6th largest, the firm operates in over 80 countries across the globe (BP Annual Report, 2015). In terms of scale and revenue, the organisation reported a revenue of over 300 billion in 2015 indicating a strong market position. However, the firm has seen a reduction in the overall organisational value for its shareholders since 2010, this is due to the Deepwater Horizon oil, one that is considered the worst incident in the old exploration industry (Becchetti et al, 2012). Since the incident, a significant overhaul of how BP operates and how it monitors its processes needs to be evaluated. BP Global (2015) states that since the oil spill, BP has developed multiple internal teams that both audit as well as continuously develops an integrated process to improve these processes. Muralidharn et al (2011) highlights that the main set-back for BP was lack of effective and implemented standard operating procedures (SOPs). This essentially meant that the organisation’s long term planning around management processes did not take into account how the firm reacts when in crisis. Becchetti et al (2012) state that BP failed its crisis 101 basics, where the organisation’s leadership was unaware what needed to be implemented during the crisis and how to react in order to contain damage to the organisation’s image. Over the past 3 years, BP has formed a team that focuses on its crisis management processes, one that is linked with the growth and development of the firm.

References

Becchetti, L., Ciciretti, R., Hasan, I., & Kobeissi, N. (2012). Corporate social responsibility and shareholder's value. Journal Of Business Research, 65 (11), 1628-1635. BP Annual Report (2015) Available from: http://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/pdf/sustainability/group-reports/bp_sustainability_review_2015.pdf (Accessed on 4th September 2015) BP Global (2015). Deepwater Horizon accident and response | Gulf of Mexico restoration |. Retrieved 4 August 2015, from http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/gulf-of-mexico-restoration/deepwater-horizon-accident-and-response.html