...Knowledge & Information Systems Bus 650 Spring 2013 Chervon McElroy International Business Machine better known as IBM is an American computer manufacturer that was established in 1911. IBM was formed from the merge of several companies. These companies were known as the Tabulating Machine Company which was used to count the population for the US Census, the International Time Recording Company who produced clocks and other time recorders, and The Computing Scale Company which produced commercial computing scales that provided the weight and price of a retailers products. This product was popular with butcher and dairy retailers. For a few years after the merge the company was known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording or CTR until 1924 when the company changed its name to IBM. IBM has been in many markets throughout its years. Other than taking over the vast businesses and products when the company merged back in 1911, the company has taken advantage and used the technology in earlier products to create new ones. In the 1930’s IBM started producing calculators using the technology from their tabbing machines. In the 1940’s IBM partnered with Harvard University to finance the invention of the first machine to compute long calculations automatically.[i] Although IBM did not create the first computer, by 1953 the company was producing their own line of computers. In the 1970’s IBM introduced the floppy disk which allowed customers to store and save data. IBM created...
Words: 2372 - Pages: 10
...In an article written in the NY Times by Tom Zeller and John Broder titled “Gulf oil Spill is Bad, but How Bad?” on May 3, 2010 they explains the Golf oil spill as it was happening in the beginning. The article starts out by tell the reader that some expects have been quick to predict that the oil spill is an apocalypse to the area and cripple the area for years. As President Obama states the problem as “a potentially unprecedented environmental disaster”. After, scaring the read with this, the rest of the article changes direction and leaves the reader with some optimism that the oil spill is not the worst thing to ever hit the golf cost area. Quenton R. Dokken who is a marine biologist states this “we’ve certainly stepped in a hole and we’re going to have to work ourselves out of it, but it isn’t the end of the Gulf of Mexico”. The second article which was written on November 9, 2010 by Mark Gauarino and can be found on csmonitor.com is more of an overview of the fact from the oil spill. The reader first learns that the oil spill was caused by a huge bubble of flammable methane gas which ignited after shooting up the drill pipe. The blame for the oil spill was put onto three different companies- Transocean, BP and Halliburton. The reader also learns that the cleanup efforts were paid for by BP and at the height of the crisis BP had more than 48,000 workers and 3,200 vessels involved in the clean up. As of the day this article was written, BP paid 11.6 Billion dollars...
Words: 347 - Pages: 2
...Gulf Oil Summary George Keller of the Standard Oil Company of California (Socal) wants to acquire Gulf Oil Company. He has to make a decision on how much to bid to win against competitors like Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company. These competitors are willing to pay $70 or more. Although ARCO is willing to pay this price, its debt to total capital ratio could amount up to 60%, which is risky for a company. On the other hand, Socal debt to equity ratio is low. This means that banks are willing to lend money to the company to acquire Gulf Oil Corporation. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company’s advantage lays in the fact that it is willing to preserve the current structure of Gulf Oil until management finds a long term solution. This was the main concern for Gulf Oil Corporation’s executives when they decided to liquidate the company in order to overturn a takeover by Mesa Petroleum Company. In fact, Gulf Investors Group (Mesa) purchased several shares of Gulf Oil for $39. Its president, Boone Pickens, had the objective to be a member of the board of directors to change the company’s policies. The idea was to mimic what he did with Mesa by moving from domestic oil and gas properties to a royalty trust. In his attempt to disrupt the company, he also made a tender offer at $65 per share in 1984. The Gulf Investors Group (GIG) could only afford to buy 21% of Gulf’s stock. The reincorporation strategy operated by ...
Words: 700 - Pages: 3
...ANALYSIS OF GULF WAR II-LESSONS FOR THE INDIAN ARMED FORCES INTRODUCTION 1. From time immemorial the land known today as Iraq has been the scene of conflict. Iraq has been, not only a strategic highway linking the Eastern Mediterranean lands with those of the Orient, but also the scene of frequent clashes between empires and great powers. It has seldom been the master of its own destiny, and in the numerous conflicts that stud its history, it has more often than not, been a pawn or the prize of other powers seeking regional hegemony. Until the beginning of twentieth century, most conflicts in the region were imperialistic in nature and involved Iraq because of its strategic important position. However, the discovery of vast oil deposits in the region in 1907 added another element to the equation, and conflicts, since have sprung from imperialistic motives as well as from a desire to protect or control sources of much of the world’s most important strategic resource. 2. Iran-Iraq war and the misadventure in Kuwait bear testimony to the misuse of power by Saddam Hussein. Saddam had always been labeled by the West as a producer of weapons of mass destruction. Ultimately a stage had reached where US and UK convinced themselves that Saddam was stockpiling these weapons. They demanded a change of regime and when threats were not taken seriously by Saddam, they launched Operation Iraqi Freedom or Gulf War II, despite all the opposition the world over, to attack and liberate...
Words: 16645 - Pages: 67
...multinational oil and gas company incorporated in the United Kingdom and headquartered in the Netherlands. Created by the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum and UK-based Shell Transport & Trading in 1907. By 2011, they became the second largest company in relation to revenue, growth and profitability in the oil and gas sector (Bruijn et al, 2002). The company operates in all areas of oil and gas industry, these areas include exploration of oil and gas, supplies and distribution, marketing, production, refinery, petrochemical development and power generation (McIntosh, 2001). The company is also concerned about environmental conservation, and it has invested heavily on the production, and distribution of renewable energy (Carroll, 1999). It supports initiatives of developing and distribution bio-fuel energy, wind and solar power, and hydrogen energy. The oil boom of the early 1920s, particularly at Shell’s Signal Hill, California site, provided the company with an opportunity to penetrate the Los Angeles area with sales of Shell gasoline and petroleum products manufactured in its new refineries nearby. In 1922, Shell Company of California and Roxana Petroleum merged with Union Oil Company of Delaware to form a holding company called Shell Union Oil Corporation. Approximately 65 percent of the holding company’s shares was held by Royal Dutch/Shell Group. Upon developing the ability to synthesize 100-octane gasoline, Shell began supplying this fuel to the U.S. Air Corps in 1934, and...
Words: 907 - Pages: 4
...GROUP 10.6.2009 IME Chevron Corp. RECOMMENDATION: BUY Stock Data Price (52 weeks) Symbol/Exchange Beta Shares Outstanding Average daily volume (3 month average) Current market cap Current Price Dividend Dividend Yield Valuation (per share) DCF Analysis Comparables Analysis Target Price Current Price $56.12 – 81.92 CVX / NYSE From regression or other method 2 (Biln) 9,766,056 $153.5 (Biln) $76.64 $2.76 (annually) 3.5% $108 $165 $113 (.9 DCF & .1 Comps) $76.29 Summary Financials (millions) Revenue Net Income Operating Cash Flow $55,112 $23,931 $29,632 BUSINESS OVERVIEW Chevron Corporation’s (CVX) core business provides their customers with fully supportive administrative and financial management dealing with the integrated petroleum, chemicals, and coal mining segment of the Integrated Oil sector. The company is centered around and ran by CEO David O’Reilly. As of January 2000 O’Reilly and company Covering Analyst: Matt Hollands Email: mhollan1@uoregon.edu The University of Oregon Investment Group (UOIG) is a student run organization whose purpose is strictly educational. Member students are not certified or licensed to give investment advice or analyze securities, nor do they purport to be. Members of UOIG may have clerked, interned or held various employment positions with firms held in UOIG’s portfolio. In addition, members of UOIG may attempt to obtain employment positions with firms held in UOIG’s portfolio. Chevron Corp. university of oregon investment...
Words: 7600 - Pages: 31
...analysis. Case Study 1 ExxonMobil Corp. Acquisition of XTO Energy, Inc. Case Study 1 ExxonMobil Corp. Acquisition of XTO Energy, Inc. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this document is to outline elements of the acquisition process in the energy industry by detailing ExxonMobil Corp.’s (referred to as ExxonMobil) acquisition of XTO Energy, Inc (referred to as XTO). This transaction was announced in December 2009 and finalized in June 2010. The subsequent information will contain an introduction that focuses on the economic atmosphere of the energy industry at this time and details surrounding the agreement including motivations for the deal and terms of the deal. Next, calculations used in the valuation process will be introduced with results presented. Finally, a discussion of findings will conclude, supplying answers to the following questions: (1) What should the acquisition price for XTO shares have been? (2) Which comparable firm is the best comparison firm for XTO Energy? (3) Why did ExxonMobil want to acquire XTO? (4) Based on the analysis, did ExxonMobil overpay for XTO or get a Bargain? (5) What additional information could help with this analysis? INTRODUCTION Economic Considerations and Pertinent Features of the Energy Industry The timing of this acquisition corresponds with an economic downturn in the energy industry. This downturn is represented in Figure 1 which depicts the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas Index (DJUSEN). ExxonMobil’s...
Words: 2439 - Pages: 10
...Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill On April 20, 2010, an event occurred in the Gulf of Mexico that changed the life of many of the citizens living near and around the area. The event would be known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which was triggered by an explosion on a Deepwater Horizon oil rig resulting “in the deaths of 11 workers and injuries to another 17 workers” (NIOSH, 2011). Millions of barrels of oil were believed to have leaked into the Gulf, damaging resources, causing health issues, and injuring wildlife. The primary law, in the U.S., for companies conducting deepwater drilling is outlined in the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). The OPA “establishes a framework that addresses the liability of responsible parties in connection with the discharge of oil into the navigable waters of the United States, adjoining shorelines, or the exclusive economic zone” (Nichols, 2010). The OPA limits certain liabilities of the responsible party when an incident occurs in the previous mentioned areas. The OPA is limited based on the type of vessel or facility involved in the incident and the quantity of oil displaced by a discharge. Part of the OPA includes the claims for certain damages and removal costs. Claims for an incident must be presented directly to the responsible party, where the responsible party must pay appropriate claim within 90 days. If the responsible party fails to pay the claim during this timeframe, then the claimant can submit a claim...
Words: 3119 - Pages: 13
...Final Paper Management 5000 – OGF1 2010 Management Statement of the Problem From the perspective of strategic planning and leadership, how could British Petroleum Company (BP) have minimized the risk of the deepwater oil drilling incident of April 20, 2010, and done a better job of crisis management after the fact? This environmental emergency was the result of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion which killed 11 workers, injured 17 others, and resulted in a sea-floor oil gusher leaking 185 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The media is filled with stories criticizing BP for not taking proper precautions to prevent the accident, and for their public response immediately following it. The following are representative of the headlines covering media outlets across the country and internationally: “BP touts itself as ‘green’, but faces PR disaster with BP oil spill” (Farhi, 2010), “Another Torrent BP Works to Stem: Its C.E.O.” (Krauss, 2010) “BP contingency plans for dealing with oil spill was riddled with errors” (Clark, 2010), “BP’s failures made worse by PR mistakes” (Weber, 2010), “BP oil spill: Leadership and IT failure (Krigsman, 2010). Statement of major relevant principles to be applied The major relevant principles to be applied to this analysis are strategic planning and leadership as they relate to crisis management. Strategic Planning Strategic planning is the process by which organizations define their strategy and make decisions...
Words: 2199 - Pages: 9
...process of exposing the company's rampant fraud, abuse and corruption. Congress asserted the RIO contract was awarded without competition because Dick Cheney is the former CEO of KBR's parent, Halliburton. Moreover, a March 17 2003 Wall Street Journal article reported that most of the firms chosen by the government to bid on Iraq reconstruction contracts have extensive ties to the Republican Party. These firms "made political contributions of a combined $2.8 million between 1999 and 2002, more than two-thirds of which went to Republicans," reported the Wall Street Journal. The Bush administration continues to refuse requests from Congress to make the contracts public, citing national security concerns. Under normal circumstances, the Army Corps of Engineers is required to allow a number of companies to compete for Army contracts. But, as the Army explained, in times of emergency, when national security is involved, the government is allowed to bypass normal procedures and award contracts to a single company, without competition. The Army claimed the contract was awarded without competition because of a "national emergency" created by the pending war with Iraq. So, while President Bush spent months before the war wrangling with United Nations inspectors and calling for international support for an invasion, the Army somehow found it had little time for competitive bidding on the RIO contract. Halliburton defended the Army's no-bid policy: "We are the only company in the United...
Words: 1216 - Pages: 5
...the Gulf? Word count: 2589 Student number: 4827317 In the mid-eighteenth century, the emergence of absolute monarchies in the Gulf States takes root from their traditional royal families that were arbitrarily picked by British imperial interest – Saudi Arabia (the Al Saud family), Oman (the Al Said family), Kuwait (the Al Sabah family), Bahrain (the Al Khalifa family), Qatar (the Al Thani family), and UAE (a federation of seven sheikdoms). After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the traditional royal families in the Gulf States fell under British control, which sought to secure the route to India and pledged to protect the Gulf region from external aggression in return. Moreover, Britain’s imperial policy empowered the royal families’ authorities and gave them a recognized ruling identity. The arrival of Western oil companies, seeking concessions in the 1930s, further consolidated the authority of the ruling families (Cleveland and Bunton, 2009). This essay will focus on the impacts of oil-abundance on the Gulf states, which more precisely explain the resilience of incumbent regimes. The concept of ‘rentier state’ accounts for the continued survival of absolute monarchies such that democracy is forgone in favour of an authoritarian regime. The main argument of this essay is, however, that a combination of rentierism; and traditional Islamic culture, which are further reinforced by rentierism, elucidate the survival of absolute monarchies in the Gulf in a...
Words: 3319 - Pages: 14
...Hydraulic fracturing is a safe, economically efficient way to drill for natural gas, create jobs, and lessen America’s dependency on foreign oil. Safety is always an important factor when considering new methods for obtaining raw energy sources such as coal, oil, and natural and shale gas. The process of fracking can be considered relatively safe when compared to oil drilling and mining. For example, in 2010 an offshore drilling station suffered a malfunction in a blow back valve that caused a massive explosion killing 11 people and spilling an estimated 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico (Center for Biological Diversity, 2011). While the cost of lost lives is immeasurable, the costs of lost profits from the spilling oil, and the clean-up, are astronomical. The consequences of oil spills are not only immediate, but can also be felt for years after. Similar to the BP oil spill, in 1989 the Exxon Valdez ship ran aground spilling an estimated 750 thousand barrels of crude oil, an amount that equals almost 10 million gallons, into the waters of Prince William Sound. Litigation from this incident alone was continued into 2008 and cost the Exxon corporation $507.5 billion in punitive damages (The Whole Truth, 2008). These costs are then shared among the end user of oil, which is the American population. In the same vein as oil drilling, coal mining can be a hazardous way to obtain raw...
Words: 2044 - Pages: 9
...Production and Operations Management Introduction Improving the operations of a company that will enhance productivity and product quality may not only certainly benefit a company’s bottom line, but can also benefit national interests. Marathon Oil, for example, is the United States’ “fifth largest transportation fuel refining company and the largest in the Midwest” (“Corporate Profile”). This Findlay, Ohio based company’s operations “include a six-plant refining network, a comprehensive terminal and transportation system, and extensive wholesale and retail marketing operations” (“Corporate Profile”). Marathon’s six refineries have a total refining capacity of 1.142 billion barrels per day and provide the United States with approximately seven percent of its total capacity (“About MPC”). Marathon sells 4.1 billion gallons of gasoline each year that are then distributed to over five thousand independently owned and operated Marathon locations (“About MPC”). Marathon owns Speedway, the fourth largest convenience store chain in the U.S. Speedway not only sells gasoline but also sells food and beverages and a variety of other products in one of its 1350 locations scattered throughout the Midwest (“About MPC ”). To be sure, examining Marathon’s overall product process and identifying those phases which might be improved could result in more efficient refining and distribution of the United States’ life blood: transportation fuels. Efficiency improvements to Marathon’s...
Words: 2695 - Pages: 11
...Agency Structure Miatika Carter Strayer University 505 Public Budgeting and Finance Dr. Keller October 27, 2012 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Agency In determining where each agency lies in the administrative structure of the federal government the United States Agencies involved in the administrative structure of the federal government were the military departments such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Army corps of engineers developed strategies to restores and protects the Nation’s water resources through studies of potential projects involving some construction of projects. Working with other Federal agencies the Corps helps communities respond and recover from floods and other natural disasters just like FEMA in case of emergencies. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considered independent agency because it is an establishment created by Congress to address concerns that go beyond the scope of ordinary legislation. These agencies are responsible for keeping the government and economy running smoothly (Headquarters). Environmental Protection Agency There is the Environmental Protection Agency involved in protecting the human health, the environment as well as it is an agency established in the executive branch as an independent agency. As part of a government efforts to reduce spending are done mostly through support of funding to reduce water infrastructure earmarks as well as others that would help to fund the United States. United States Fish and Wildlife...
Words: 1131 - Pages: 5
...Ups and Downs: Valuing Cyclical and Commodity Companies Aswath Damodaran Stern School of Business, New York University September 2009 Ups and Downs: Valuing Cyclical and Commodity Companies Abstract Cyclical and commodity companies share a common feature, insofar as their value is often more dependent on the movement of a macro variable (the commodity price or the growth in the underlying economy) than it is on firm specific characteristics. Thus, the value of an oil company is inextricably linked to the price of oil just as the value of a cyclical company is tied to how well the economy is doing. Since both commodity prices and economies move in cycles, the biggest problem we face in valuing companies tied to either is that the earnings and cash flows reported in the most recent year are a function of where we are in the cycle, and extrapolating those numbers into the future can result in serious misvaluations. In this paper, we look at the consequences of this dependence on cycles and how best to value companies that are exposed to this problem. Uncertainty and volatility are endemic to valuation, but cyclical and commodity companies have volatility thrust upon them by external factors – the ups and downs of the economy with cyclical companies, and movements in commodity prices with commodity companies. As a consequence, even mature cyclical and commodity companies have volatile earnings and cash flows. When valuing these companies, the danger of focusing on the most recent...
Words: 13475 - Pages: 54
