Strategy Development in the Global Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Industry Essay

Strategy Development in the Global Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Industry - Essay Example However, with the passage of time, the company realised that they had to compete with other companies in the global arena. Oil companies such as Exxon were giving Shell a run for their money because they were globally managed. In order to respond to this trend, the company opted to change its corporate governance style. They opted to control almost all their downstream sectors through their headquarters in London and The Hague. (Shell, 2008) Corporate governance within Shell had been carried down from almost a century of its existence. In certain scenarios, some critics have argued that this form of structure has cost the company in a number of ways. This is largely because shareholders in the company do not have as much clout as members of the board. The disadvantage of this structural approach can arise when the shareholders feel that their rights are in danger but can do very little to protect it. Bp has been faced with a number of corporate governance challenges. First and foremost, the company grappled with accusations from critics who claimed that it was doing business with a group that had been responsible for human rights abuses in the Baku Ceyhan pipeline. To add insult onto injury, BP was also faced with huge problems in its pricing strategies. This was especially seen in the United Kingdom. In Colombia, the Company was confronted with a law suit where it had been accused of colluding with terrorists to protect their clients. It lost millions of pounds in paying off that settlement. This goes to show that when companies make miscalculations and fail to implement ethical codes, they are the ones who pay for it through expensive law suits and tarnished images. Business ethics Companies need to have specified code of conduct and ethics principles that will guide their day to day practices. Shell as a company has well written down rules that assist employees in sticking to the company's goals and principles. Some of these codes of conduct include; honesty, trust and integrity. While stakeholders and employees may be well aware of rules, abiding by them is another issue altogether. (Zenobank, 2008) The enormity of this matter came to fore during the 2004 business ethics disaster; at that time, the company announced that twenty percent of all the oil reserves that it claims to have a hold to were overestimated. The revelation of such a matter brought shock waves within the Oil trading sector and even resulted in the company's poor performance. In response to this issue, the company changed its leadership structures. This business dismissed its managing Director - Sir Philip Watts and also changed their management structures. Besides this, the company also responded by providing opportunities for whistle blowers to report any irregularities through an official company website. (Beasnat & Cummins, 2005) BP also has a valid code of ethics and its company purports to a sound code of conduct. However, much like its counterpart Shell, the company seems to have fallen short of these high expectations. An example of how the company did this was when it hired an expensive public relations manager to create an Image of an

Analyzing the development of a web portal within an education setting Essay

Analyzing the development of a web portal within an education setting - Essay Example The purpose of the study The Internet has a profound effect on higher learning, and this effect is likely to develop in the current generation (Becker, 2005). Actually, in some aspects the internet is the current generation of instructors just as personal computers were in the previous generation. As a result, "web knowledge† will gradually become an ordinary tool of the exchange, and instructive web sites will develop to regular additions to classroom events (Becker, 2005). One of the improved ways to remain up to date with the development of education is to come up with a learning web site to present learners with the education syllabus and teaching learning resources (Becker, 2005). One benefit of publishing syllabi, as well as other learning resources on the web is that learners have all the time to access the resources (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002). In addition, teachers can put review questions on web pages containing information on class assignments, study tips, gradi ng, among others (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002). By printing these resources and information on the site, teachers avoid repetition of questions all through the academic period (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002). Therefore, this study aims at analyzing the development of a web portal within an education setting (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002).... Documents presented on the portal areas usually updated in libraries available with current research findings. Finally, simulation of real life is also presented to the learners through the web portal (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002). A web portal gives information that is assorted in a combined manner. These are sites of information, which developed during 1990s and in 2000 (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002). A web portal operates just like an investigator or explore engine, however, this portal has several features or purpose than the search device itself (Becker, 2005). A web portal, provides information a researcher wants to discover or search, as well as certified web portal. Apart from this, it also provides email internet services, entertainment cites to the users (Cappel and Huang, 2007). This portal can be defined as a website that presents reports together from different sources in an even manner. Normally, every information port acquires its dedicated part on for presenting information. Usually the researcher can figure out which presentation is important to search (Palmer, 2002). Web portals can be classified in to group’s horizontal and vertical web portals. The horizontal portal is usually used in several companies as a platform in economic issues or manufacturing issues. The vertical portal is a specific entry point for markets a given subject or a given interests. Therefore, the horizontal portal covers several areas, while the vertical portal covers specific areas (Pang, et al., 2009). The web portal has the following major functions; search, navigate, provides information or manages content, personalization, push technology, management of tasks, conducts the integration of applications and organizes business infrastructure (Pearson and