Chevron Corporation was founded more than one hundred and thirty years ago and is based in San Ramon, California, the United States of America (Chevron Corporation, 2018). The company is in the oil and gas industry in the USA. Chevron Corporation has expanded its presence into the other countries besides the United States (Miranda-Stone & Leary, 2007) . The employees of the company, who are about fifty-two thousand worldwide, have been instrumental in intensifying the operations in the company that leads to expansion of the company (Miranda-Stone & Leary, 2007) . Chevron Corporation has two subsidiaries that have further increase the networks of the company. One of the subsidiaries is Caltex, and the other one is Texaco. The products of the company include petrochemicals, petroleum products, and natural gas (Grammel, 2018) . Chevron Corporation had a net income of almost $ 9.2 billion in the fiscal year 2017, which puts the company on the list of the best five hundred companies in performance (Chevron Corporation, 2018).
The United States of America was ranked as the third largest producer of oil in the world, ranking behind Saudi Arabia and Russia (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2016). As such, the petroleum industry is the backbone of the American economy (Baloochy, Marvast, Shokri, & Kakavand, 2018) . On average, several fortune 500 companies occupy the key players of the petroleum industry in the USA, one of them being chevron corporation (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2016). The state of California in the United States is one of the largest producers of petroleum in the country behind Texas, which is the largest producer of oil in the company. The discovery of oil in oil creek, the state of Pennsylvania, the USA in the year 1859 was the first step towards the mining of petroleum m in the country (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2016). Since then, developments in the sector and the advancement of technology have moved the industry forward and attracted more companies in the USA (Robb & Miller, 2012) . More than 9.48 million barrels of crude oil is currently produced in the United States of America (Anderson, Banker, Menon, & Romero, 2011) . That is an improvement from what was produced back in the 1970's (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2016).
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The petroleum industry in the United States of America has not been without its challenges. One of the challenges facing the sector is the increasing demand for the energy, which is not in enough supply (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2016). That has forced the country to import some of its petroleum from the other countries across the globe. In the recent past, most of the petroleum companies in the USA have not had sustainable operations (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2016). That has led to reduced output in the oil industry, and some of the players in the industry have gone bankrupt. Management of the sector has been another weakness that has been observed in the petroleum industry in the United States of America (Sumbal, Tsui, See-to, & Barendrecht, 2017) . The older oil reservoirs have significantly reduced in the production of crude oil. That has led to the need to seek other oil fields within the country and the outsourcing of the oil (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2016).
Chevron Corporation has come up with a corporate strategy to reduce the impacts that are in the petroleum industry in the United States of America. One of the policies that have helped the company to traverse the difficult economic times in the USA and the rest of the globe is the proper investment in the capital-intensive developments (Asiago, 2017) . The company management has been keen on the investment decisions that the company makes regarding the market in and out of the USA. Thanks to the efficiency and the robustness of the managerial decisions in the company its subsidiaries, they have been the leading oil producers and distributors worldwide. Chevron has also had several upstream projects to transform the company into an excellent oil producer and distributor. That has beaten all the odds in the petroleum industry. That has also improved the company's outlook of the investment projects (Gagnon, Hall, & Brinker, 2009) .
The company has been continuously changing in the recent past and the present. For instance, Chevron Corporation has kept shrinking its downstream assets. That will transform the company into a very different company several years from its current position. For example, the company has been reported to plan the sale of its plant and petrochemical business in South Africa. That has raised concern among its stakeholders with the fear in the shrinkage of the net income and the profits of the company along with the assets that the company has been investing in to earn its revenue. The company has done that after selling its refineries based in Canada and the state of Hawaii in the United States of America. On the other hand, the organization has been upgrading and renovating some of its facilities to focus on improving the investments according to the company's potential in those areas.
One of the factors that have contributed to the competitive advantage of Chevron Corporation is the use of technology. The increase in the level of technology in the United States of America has affected the various spheres of the company's business investments, the petroleum industry included. Therefore, Chevron has taken advantage of the increase in technology to transition from a traditional to a modern organization. Automatically, that has placed the company on top of most of the players in the petroleum industry in the USA. The negotiation of the international business deals has provided chevron with an upper hand in the industry by targeting the unexplored markets out of the United States. Chevron has exponentially increased its opportunities in the global crude oil market. That has placed it in an excellent position to compete with the other companies in the petroleum industry in the United States.
Effective Marketing of the oil products is the other way that Chevron has ensured that it is ahead of the competition. Notably, the company and its subsidiaries have increased in their awareness among the target companies (Crooks, 2016). Therefore, the efficient marketing has ensured that the company has a seamless connection with its target consumers both within and without the United States of America. The management of the company has provided that the business investments of the company can adjust to the economic situations as John Watson, the chief executive officer of Chevron Corporation told the Financial Times (Crooks, 2016). Therefore, the company has had the opportunity to prepare for the economic downtimes as well as when the economy of the United States of America and the rest of the world is stable. That is another area that chevron beats its competitors in the petroleum industry (Crooks, 2016).
The internal stakeholders of Chevron Corporation are the shareholders, board of directors, the company's management, and the employees (Chevron Corporation, 2018). The shareholders of the company are spread out in the countries that the company operates from across the globe. The shareholders of the company have a direct impact on the company's operations hand have control over the decisions that the company makes to some extent. Chevron Corporation also requires the shareholders' input in the implementation of the decisions (Chevron Corporation, 2018). The board of directors of the organization is the senior most leaders that the organization has in its hierarchical structure. The board of directors is engaged in making the vital decisions that the company makes and implements. They may also be included in the negotiation of the business deals that may affect Chevron Corporation. Thus, the board of directors has an essential role that affects the company directly (Chevron Corporation, 2018).
The company's management is involved in the day-to-day running of the operations of Chevron Corporation. The administration is engaged in tasks such as hiring and firing of the employees as well as developing programs that are supposed to improve the business operations of the company such as the payment of the employees' benefits. The management of the company is also involved in the direct interaction with the employees and the customers to the company (Chevron Corporation, 2018). The employees of chevron corporation are the brand ambassadors of the company at the various levels in the different countries that chevron is present. The employees have to deal directly with the customers to the corporation. The employees hence play the noble role of linking the employees of the company to the management. They communicate the messages of either party to one another (Chevron Corporation, 2018).
The company also has external stakeholders. The external stakeholders affect the operations of the company in multiple ways. Primarily, the customers of the company are some of the external stakeholders of the company. In the USA, there is the common belief that the interests of the customers have to be prioritized in the companies. Therefore, Chevron Corporation has been involved in various customer service efforts that are meant to boost the satisfaction levels of the customers. The other stakeholder to Chevron Corporation is the competitors of the company. Some of the competitors of Chevron Corporation in the United States of America are ExxonMobil and Valero Energy. The competitors of the company have a role to play in the strategies set in the company to be the best in the petroleum industry in the company.
The other external stakeholder of Chevron Corporation is the communities that the organization and its branches operate in within the USA and the rest of the world. The company has been involved in the environmental sustainability efforts put in place by the commissions and the institutions created in the United States. The company has targeted that as a way of interacting with the members of the community. The community also makes up the company's customers and vendors and it ought to take care of them. The other external stakeholder of the company is the government entities. The federal and the state governments in the USA have various regulations in the petroleum industry. The laws affect the company both directly and indirectly. For instance, if the federal government regulates the prices of the petroleum products, Chevron Corporation has to adjust to the new price changes by either increasing or decreasing the costs of its commodities.
One of the strengths of the organization is the dedicated employees. The employees of the company have been reported to be one of the best in customer service in the petroleum sector of the United States of America. The other strength of the company is the presence of excellent customer service. The social media platforms of the company have been filled with the comments of satisfied customers stating how Chevron Corporation served them well. That contributes to customer loyalty. One of the weaknesses of the company is the less involvement of the management in the employee related issues. Due to the over prioritization of the customers in the company, the needs of the employees may often be overlooked by the company. The other weakness is the lack of diversity in the products. The petroleum products of Chevron Corporation have been the same in the company's operations with slight improvements on them.
One opportunity of the company is the integration of technology in the production of the crude oil in the USA. The technological advancement has provided the company with a chance to change its systems by saving costs used in the production and easing the marketing process. The other opportunity is the expansiveness of the petroleum market in the world. That provides Chevron Corporation with the opportunities to increase the intensiveness of its investment opportunities. One of the threats that chevron corporation is facing in the petroleum industry in the USA is the instability in the prices of oil. The governmental regulations have been affecting the company negatively for a long time thus affecting the company's performance in the petroleum sector. The other threat that has been faced by the company is the possibility of the new entrants into the petroleum market. The new entrants, particularly those in the United States of America, may reduce the customer base of Chevron Corporation potentially. The new entrants in the industry may also come up with technological innovations and plans that may outdo the older players such as Chevron. That would affect the company negatively.
The net income of the company for the last three years has not been stable. The company made a net income of $ 4.587 billion in the financial year 2015 (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2018). The net income then reduced to $-497 million in the fiscal year 2016. The net income then shot to $ 9.125 billion in the year 2017 (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2018). From the values, it is clear that the year 2016 was not a favorable year for the company's management. The gross profit of Chevron Corporation stood at $ 37.14 billion. The following year, the gross profit of the company dropped to $ 30.626 billion (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2018). The drop between 2015 and 2016 signified a financial crisis for the company. However, the company rose back from the ashes in the fiscal year 2017 and recorded a gross profit of $ 39.472 billion in the gross profit. That was a turnaround for the company in the petroleum industry (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2018).
The total assets of the company totaled $ 264.540 billion in the financial year 2015 (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2018). There was a drop in the assets in the following year 2016 to $ 260.078 billion. The total assets in the fiscal year 2017 further dropped to $ 253.806 billion. The reduction in the amount in the total assets of the company recorded a drop in the three years due to the reduction efforts in the assets of the company that the management has embarked on in the various branches of the company (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2018). The stockholders' equity in the financial year 2015 amounted to $ 152.716 billion. The stockholders' equity in the company dropped to $ 145.556 billion in the financial year 2016 (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2018). The stockholders' equity increased to $ 148.124 billion in the fiscal year 2017. The financial year 2016 was a financially difficult year in the business operations of Chevron Corporation. If the management were to make plans that are more robust in the investment of the company's projects, the company would be in a better position to increase the stockholders' equity in the subsequent financial years (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2018).
Chevron Corporation is a significant player in the petroleum industry in the United States of America. The company has had elaborate efforts in the targeting of the external markets in the world. One of the factors that have helped the company is the competitive advantage that the company has in the industry. Chevron Corporation has had various competitive advantages that have been instrumental in the business activities that the company has undertaken. Some of the competitive advantages are the effective marketing and the extensive use of latest technology. The other factor that has helped chevron rise in the petroleum industry is the targeting of the potential customers in the oil industry in the rest of the world outside the United States. The company has beaten all odds in the petroleum industry to become one of the best five hundred organizations across the United States of America.
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