BP
The Case on Alternative Energy
Akiko Sugiyama Andrea Vitalich Shawn Wallace Owen Hunter Wagenhals Daniel Yorton
Western Washington University Management 495: Strategic Management March 13, 2006

Introduction
The world’s fossil fuel supplies are expected to be exhausted within the next century. The consumption of oil by industrialized and industrializing countries is increasing at a rate almost twice as fast as the rate oil is being discovered. With this in mind there are many nations, organizations and companies who are beginning to search for alternative energies, rather than continue dependence on fossil fuels. Alternative energies include the renewable: wind, solar, hydrogen – inexhaustible and less toxic “green” sources of energy; and other forms of alternative energies: natural gas, coal, nuclear – which are, by nature, alternative products to oil, but provide for some concerns of exhaustibility and toxicity to the environment. Super-major oil companies, such as BP Amoco, Shell and Chevron Texaco are diversifying their energy portfolios to provide alternative energies to consumers; and as a result are competing for world market share to supply the alternative energy demand.

Problem Statement
BP is at the forefront in research and production of oil based and alternative/renewable energies. In the event that oil based energy demand diminishes as the world’s supply of oil diminishes, BP needs to be prepared to leverage their first mover advantages in the alternative energy market and emerge as the world’s major alternative energy provider. With this in mind, the following facts and figures will answer the question: How can BP position themselves as the world’s foremost provider of alternative energies among the super-major oil producing companies? Administrative Heritage In May of 1901, William Knox D’Arcy was given permission to explore for oil in Persia. He struck oil 1908 and in 1909 Anglo-Persian Oil Company (as BP was first known) was founded.