TY - JOUR

T1 - The Manager’s Job at BP

T2 - Decision Making and Responsibilities on the High Seas

AU - Lüdeke-Freund, Florian

AU - Zvezdov, Dimitar

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - The case takes a look at the recent history of the oil major BP. It contains two storylines: Part A is about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010, its physical and financial consequences, and how it was perceived by the public, especially political representatives. The first section provides comprehensive information on the oil spill and the preceding explosion on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon. This event in particular and BP’s safety performance in general were treated in numerous U.S. Congress hearings, to which also BP’s CEO Tony Hayward was summoned. Two sections on “The Hearing”, which are based on original protocols, illustrate Hayward’s inability (or unwillingness) to answer crucial questions on safety and risk management and decision making at BP. Additionally, Part B provides further background information on the company. Three sections present milestones between 2000 and 2009, with a focus on the “beyond petroleum” campaign. Readers learn of BP as a complex business group that tried to re-define itself after one century of corporate history. Former CEO Lord Browne gave BP the “beyond petroleum” identity and in his term BP Alternative Energy was founded. But he left the company because of a private scandal. Despite this re-branding and improved business performance, Tony Hayward, Lord Browne’s successor, was exposed to fierce critique and accused of greenwashing.

AB - The case takes a look at the recent history of the oil major BP. It contains two storylines: Part A is about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010, its physical and financial consequences, and how it was perceived by the public, especially political representatives. The first section provides comprehensive information on the oil spill and the preceding explosion on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon. This event in particular and BP’s safety performance in general were treated in numerous U.S. Congress hearings, to which also BP’s CEO Tony Hayward was summoned. Two sections on “The Hearing”, which are based on original protocols, illustrate Hayward’s inability (or unwillingness) to answer crucial questions on safety and risk management and decision making at BP. Additionally, Part B provides further background information on the company. Three sections present milestones between 2000 and 2009, with a focus on the “beyond petroleum” campaign. Readers learn of BP as a complex business group that tried to re-define itself after one century of corporate history. Former CEO Lord Browne gave BP the “beyond petroleum” identity and in his term BP Alternative Energy was founded. But he left the company because of a private scandal. Despite this re-branding and improved business performance, Tony Hayward, Lord Browne’s successor, was exposed to fierce critique and accused of greenwashing.

KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics

KW - teaching case

KW - case study

KW - BP

KW - oil spill

KW - Deepwater Horizon

KW - Sir John Browne

KW - Tony Hayward

KW - Gulf of Mexico

KW - BP Alternative Energy

KW - beyond petroleum

KW - renewable energy

KW - strategy

KW - business model

KW - Entrepreneurship

KW - Sustainable entrepreneurship

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 11

SP - 1

EP - 32

JO - International Journal of Case Studies in Management

JF - International Journal of Case Studies in Management

SN - 1911-2599

IS - 2

ER -