Business Studies - Case Study: British Petroleum (BP) - Shareholder v Stakeholder Views - Assignment Example

Business Studies - Case Study: British Petroleum (BP) - Shareholder v Stakeholder Views Task Introduction The refinery of British Petroleum located in Texas countered a huge holocaust owing to an explosion which happened during 23rd March 2005. The explosion led to the loss of around 15 people while around 180 people succumbed to large amount of injuries. Most of these people were staffs of the company. This type of accident had occurred also previously which led to the death of the corporation’s staffs.

The management body of British Petroleum was operating in a recalcitrant manner in dealing of problems of the above kind. Further the management body of British Petroleum operated to take special care of the shareholders at the cost of the employees. The upper management body of the concern despite being aware of the potential problems gaining ground in the inner sphere of the company went on reducing the cost of maintenance of the infrastructural elements. This lack of focus in the above sector is taken to be the potential reason for letting events like the above mentioned accident happens in such great tenacity.

The happening of the accident challenged the business philosophy of British Petroleum. It is because the firm which mainly operates to take care of the investing community by draining and weakening the infrastructural base happened to become mainly responsible for the loss of many lives. British Petroleum like any other business organization is found to operate fully on a profit motive and with an outlook to take care of the investor’s or shareholder’s rights. The firm in no case works to achieve the social goal of rendering potential support for protecting the lives of the workers involved.

However, again the shareholders and the other stakeholders for whom the business functions are also required to help the business identify potential shortfalls so as to recover from such through effective planning (Case Study, n.d., and p.32). Conclusion The shareholders of the firm must potentially endeavour to cooperate with the business managers to take care of the employees of the firm. A business organisation therefore operating based on the shareholder’s views thus must not only cater to the needs of the former but also must enhance their accountability parameters in regards to taking care of the organisational staffs.

Task 2 Introduction The accident that took place during 23rd March 2005 in British Petroleum was another turn of event after the accident that took place in 2004. These events show a huge decline in the realm of social responsibility. The upper management body of the concern in the light of the aforesaid events still remain unperturbed and continued with its drives in taking care of the shareholding and investing community. The management body of the company in this regard reflected a huge decline in focus in being socially responsive to the community groups working in the company and to the society at large.

British Petroleum to cover up its tarnished image carried on activities to portray a healthy face to the external world by raising voices pertaining to events like global warming. The company during the 2006 period reflected other major issues in which the oil pipelines got leaked leading to major environmental and health hazards of both the internal and external community groups. The company which boldly spoke of rendering enhanced focus in the sector of social accountability and effective business governance suffered from the heat of being fined by a hefty $1.

42 million by the government of the region. In fact, it was clearly established that the business managers had long known of the potential shortfalls in the company’s infrastructure but had taken very less care in helping the company revive in terms of infrastructure and business processes by rendering potential investments. The management body of British Petroleum happened to continually drain the business profits and streamline such to the hands of the investors and shareholders. The happening of such gross accidents thereby showed that how much weak the company had become in regards to meeting the basic requirements of social responsibility.

Both the people and environment became grossly affected by such actions (Case Study, n.d., and p.32-33). Conclusion In terms of social responsibility British Petroleum reflected weak management policies which led to the loss of many innocent lives. The accidents that took place not only affected the lives of the people but also had deep impact on the natural environment of the region. Reference Case Study. (No date). BP: shareholder or stakeholder approach? .