ORPIC Strategic Management

Introduction

Strategies of the business organization are very important in its development as the business strategy can change the company's current and future positions and it can help it reach and better competitive advantage in future. This makes the company in need for wise management and effective strategic management that can run the business based on a supportive change and a new strategy. (Babatunde and Adebisi, 2012) This report is discussing how strategies of the business organization should be changed for purposes of development and improvement using the theoretical views and ideas and implementing them by experts in the work environment. Orpic is used an example that can follow the differentiation strategy of Porter in order to present its services and products to the market in a new way. The research is based on views of authors in the literature and presents different relevant analysis that targets the Omani market and life. The research is considered an attempt to guide a company towards achieving higher levels of success in its filed and industry which is the oil refineries and petroleum industry as the company is one of the greatest oil companies in the Gulf and the Middle East and changing its strategy can develop and upgrade its competitiveness to beat international companies in the same industry.

 Analysis of the industry and the firm

Orpic is a large oil company in Oman and it is one of the fast growing oil company in the Arab Gulf area. The company has many refineries for oil in Muscat and in Sohar. It also has plants for producing aromatics and polypropylene in Sohar for presenting products made of plastic, fuel, aromatic products, chemicals and other petroleum products to the Omani market and to other different areas in the world. The company is characterized with having a strong management and a strong strategy but the current strategy is in need to be changed in order to develop the company's business and competitiveness. The company is owned by the Omani government and with shares of Oman Oil Company SAOG. It has different growth plans that made it bear an ambition of being more prevailing as a local and an international oil company. This makes the company has forward thinking techniques to build up its future based on research, theories and real practice. In the oil industry, the company is considered one of the most important companies that recruits more than 2000 employees and that has a good human resource management. it has a shared common goal with its employees which is building a strong integrated Omani refinery and petrochemical business that can easily be internationalized. Orpic is a company that depends on safe operations and reliable management as it gives high care for the environment and the society as it has different corporate social responsibility activities in Oman aiming at developing and improving it. Orpic has a number of plants in Oman such as the Mina Al Fahal Refinery in Muscat and in Sohar it has Sohar refinery, polypropylene plant and the Aromatics plant. It also has an integrated complex that includes four main industrial plants working in Muscat and in Sohar and they are joined by a 266 KM pipeline delivering feedstock from Mina Al Fahal Refinery to the Sohar plants which shows how far the company has strong infrastructure and is able to develop its abilities to improve its processes. The company's business depends on taking the raw materials including mainly the crude oil from Oman in order to process them for creating a number of important high quality fuels and other petrochemical products. The company also uses its other plants such as that in Minal Al Fahl for processing its crude oil into fuel products that are marketed in Oman and in the Arab Gulf and in other different international markets. The company's products also include plastic products, Benzene, industrial chemicals, paraxylene and thermoplastic polymer that is sued in many products such as carpets and banknotes. The company's two refineries have a high production capacity estimated with 222.000 crude oil barrels that is turned to naphtha, gas oil, gasoline, fuel oil, jet fuel and liquid petroleum gas which confirms that the company needs a new strategy in order to innovate in its products and in marketing them well in Oman and in the world. The company depends on a growth strategy and it has different projects based on this strategy and aiming at improving its environmental performance and extracting greater business value such as Sohar refinery improvement project, Muscat-Sohar product pipeline and the Liwa plastic industries complex. (Orpic, 2016)

The petroleum and oil refinery industry is very important today on Oman and in the whole world as there are different developments in the industry daily locally and internationally which raises competiveness and makes Orpic work hard to develop and improve its production. This makes it seeks a new strategy to apply and new techniques for improvement. This industry includes different processes such as exploration of oil, refinery, transportation and marketing the different products which includes plastics, petroleum and other products. In Oman, this industry is very strong and has different fields. The biggest and most important field is fuel industry as it has the largest volume among oil industries in Oman. Fuel oil and petrol are the two main important products found there. Yet there are also other chemical products that can be gained through this industry such as using the raw petroleum materials for making fertilizers, solvents, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and plastic products. Petroleum products means that they are relevant to a big number of other industries such as agriculture, furniture, plastic, kitchen tools and others which makes it a vital main tool for different businesses and industries. It is also important in the industrial civilization such as in making roads, building and maintenance operations. Oil is very important in energy consumption in the world ad it accounts for a big part of it internationally especially in the Middle East as it accounts for 53% of all energy consumption. Oman oil industry plays a very important role in the country's economy as this sector is considered the most important industry in Oman and it is still growing to compete different countries in the Gulf area and in the world. There is a great focus from the ministry of oil and gas in Enhanced Oil Recovery techniques and raises the products used in Oman's gas and oil consumption and in improving the applications used in the industry. The ministry of oil and gas in Oman gives high interest in improving the production of oil and gas and in developing plans and policies used to maintain optimum oil and gas exploitation. The government also tries to develop its laws and legislations and make them suitable to the developments occurring in transportation and dealings of oil and oil prices locally and internationally and to cope with changes occurring in the different needs of energy worldwide. The government is also keen to establish petroleum agreements with international companies working in oil and gas to agree and recognize the different laws and legislations related to oil production and consumption internationally. The industry in Oman is developing with a high need for change and applying new strategies that can cope with the great changes occurring worldwide in promotion techniques, marketing techniques, development and production. (Jccp, 2016)