Who Is Conocophillips?

Cost leadership is also an important key to success in any commodity industry since it is one of few areas where any true profit can be squeezed out of markets defined by undifferentiated products. ADM’s vertical integration

The organizations that endeavour to wind up the least cost makers in an industry can be alluded to as those taking after a low cost procedure. The organization with the least expenses would gain the most elevated benefits in the occasion when the contending items are basically undifferentiated, and offering at a standard business market cost. Organizations taking after this methodology place accentuation on cost diminishment in each action in the value chain. Note that an organization may be a cost pioneer however that does not inexorably infer that the organization 's items would have a low cost. In specific occurrences, the organization can for occasion charge a normal cost while applying the low cost leadership strategy and put the earnings made back into the business

The purpose of this writing is to explain the cost/price leadership strategy of a company that has established a strong base in spite of facing competition from various established brands. The company’s focus strategies as well various aspects of strategy clock such as economies of scale is explained. It talks about the key resources the company employs in this cost leadership strategy to cover the market segment, the threats it faces in the foreseeable future with regard to the market share, price and innovation. Also, the counter measures applied by the company in order to counter balance the opportunities, threats and maintaining sustainability.

A cost leadership strategy focuses primarily on “producing products and/or services that are the lowest in the industry” (Turban, Rainer, & Potter, 2003). This type of organization forms business alliances that support their inventory management through computers and computerized purchasing. A differentiation strategy focuses on being unique within the industry and provides high-quality products at a competitive price (Turban, Rainer, & Potter, 2003). These types of companies “provide their customers with a

All indications are that the Company’s behavior pre oil spill was irresponsible and negligent and was potentially driven primarily by a focus to provide strong returns on their investments while compromising the integrity and internal controls of the operations. Post oil spill, the Company has had to learn from the consequences of a very costly disaster in order to stay in business and thrive. The Organization appears to understand now the need for effective communication, transparency and detailed due-diligence in all their efforts.

Long-term: Low profits cannot be maintained for so much time. In some time in the near future, Opec will have to drive the oil price up in order to regain losses.

Cost leadership (Johnson et al., 2013, p194) strategy involves becoming the lowest-cost organisation in a domain of activity. In this case, NiMH battery prices were reduced to remain competitive in the market considering the fact that NiMH batteries represented the Cash Cow of the company.

Chesapeake Energy operates under the natural oil and gas industry. While government’s economic data may separate operations within this industry, the industry covers a broad range of activities and is separated into three segments: upstream, downstream, and midstream. Activities within this industry by oil and gas companies include exploring for crude oil or natural gas, drilling into wells, and such transportation of oil and natural gas. Just as any other industry, the gas and oil industry have major risks that companies take into consideration and extensively consider. These risks have the capability of drastically affecting operations, and ultimately the profitability and financial stability of a company. Three top risks related to oil and gas companies are volatile prices of oil and gas, regulatory changes, and finding new reserves or extending prior ones.

The Cost Leader has the opposite strategy of the Pioneer. Cost Leaders places lower emphasis on product innovation and have a decentralized marketing organization. Instead, they are internal-cost oriented. To be successful, Cost Leaders must focus on process innovation that improves production efficiency over product

Riordan’s organization sells heart valves, plastic bottles, fans, and medical stents. Clearly, Riordan has a large variety of products. Organizations use a competitive strategy with cost leadership, which seeks tight cost controls. Cost controls pursue efficient ways to cut cost and be more efficient than the competition. Decreasing business costs every way

The cost leadership strategy seeks to improve profit margins by bringing down the costs of producing while enabling the organization to still charge market prices. They also focus on increasing the market shares through lower pricing, enabling the organization to continue to reach profits because of reduced costs. As with any organization the goal is to minimize cost directly to the organization providing the delivery of products or services. According to Barney (2007) low cost leadership strategy takes pride in initiating its costs advantage abilities to charge lower prices while reaping the rewards of higher profits.

Exxon and Chevron are no doubt some of the leading incorporated oil companies on the globe. Exxon Corp. is the second largest oil firm after Royal Dutch Shell, it is respected for getting the biggest revenue return in 2008 which no company in the U.S. have ever reported before. According to Wilson (2009) Chevron has managed to show a lot of profitability in the market despite the decease in its oil production. It graded as one of firms which made a billion dollars profit within a week in the period of July to September 2008. Regardless of profitability trends set by the two oil firms in the U.S. market, they have been facing financial decline like the rest of the companies in other industries. The two firms are like two sailing ships which are taking longer time to sink. In the last few years, the production capacity of Chevron and Exxon has decreased and their listings on the stock market have become weak. The continuation of construction and drilling which requires billions of dollars in expense of oil production might make them experience a bigger financial crisis (Wilson, 2009).

In 2010, Halliburton produced revenue of $17,973 billion and operating income of $3,009 billion, reflecting an operating margin of approximately 17%. Revenue increased by $3,298 billion, or 22% from 2009, while operating income increased $1,015 billion, or 51% from 2009. According to Halliburton’s 2010 Annual Report, “these increases were due to its customers’ higher capital spending throughout 2010, led by increased drilling activity and pricing improvements in North America” (Hal 2010 annual report). However, Halliburton remains cautious because of the shifts in oil and natural gas prices and supply/demand factors. These “shifts” are important for equipment and services providers in the oil and gas industry because it affects the

A successful cost leadership strategy usually provides the entire firm with high efficiency, low overhead, limited perks, intolerance of waste, intensive screening of budget requests, and wide span of control efforts. However, some risks of pursuing this strategy are that competitors might imitate the strategy, thus, driving overall industry profits down; that technology breakthroughs in the industry may make the strategy ineffective; or that buyer’s interest may swing to other differentiating features besides price.

It is significant to note that BP made a total loss of $3,324 million after deducting the cost incurred in that year from the total sales and operating revenues. The loss is largely attributed to the infamous Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill on the 20 April 2010. The incident was triggered by a well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, which ultimately led to an extensive oil spill. BP, however, responded quickly by funding the oil spill cleanup and setting up the Gulf Coast Restoration Organization (GCRO) that specializes in carrying oil spill cleanup operations, investigations and public reporting (BP p.l.c. 2012c). In the aftermath, BP has suffered considerably in financial performance. Figure 2.1 shows BP’s share price performance through the period of