On April 20, 2010, there was an explosion on the deepwater horizon oil rig in the Gulf
Question:
On April 20, 2010, there was an explosion on the deepwater horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Review a history of those events from the following sources:
Deepwater horizon accident and response
Gulf oil spill
100 days of the Bp spill: a timeline in your initial post,
Respond to the following questions:
Did BP respond in a manner that was appropriate to stockholders or did they take a stakeholder view?
In making your determination, what were the primary factors that you considered? Provide specific examples, where applicable.
If you were the CEO of BP at that time, what would you have done in the hours, days, and weeks after the explosion?
BP is more focused on the welfare of the stockholders; initially, it has been trying to lower all the cost of operation in order to maximize profit. This is the sole reason for business existence, in all the areas of operation. Bp highly places the stockholders in the first place and accords them the highest priority, from the updates, it is clear that the any cost to be incurred was highly avoided. For instance, initially, the workers were aware of massive gas leaks before the actual accident occurred. They informed the management and the best that was done was the cementing up the leakages.
The stakeholder’s i.e. the government; tourist, other companies and even the fishermen were given the last priority. Although the company agreed to take all the responsibilities and the liabilities that arose from the incident, the fact that it did this at a minimal cost proves that it is not ready to seek the best for the stakeholders. To break down the oil and oil slick, the company sprayed dispersants on the oil from aircraft. The use of these chemicals is intended to break down the oil to small patches, this is a cheap method although it got irreparable damages to the environment, in doing so, and the company shows that it gives less attention to the welfare of the society. Moreover, the company went ahead to give a significant amount of dividends to the shareholders, this shows the position the shareholder has in the company in relation to the stakeholders.
If I was the manager of the BP, it would be really helpful to request for external Aid, initially, the fire at the oil rig burnt for a significant amount of time before it finally sank. The company lacked the needed resources to curb the inferno and if they had accepted aid, the damage would probably have been much less. The damages cost was due to the management assumption that it could hold the damage, the best thing was to access your power and request for help, the stakeholders would have lost less.
Statistics for Business and Economics
ISBN: 978-0321826237
12th edition
Authors: James T. McClave, P. George Benson, Terry T Sincich