1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 BHP Billiton Company Background

BHP Billiton Limited was founded in the year 2001 as a merger between Australian Broken Hill Proprietary Company and the Anglo-Dutch Billiton Plc. BHP Billiton is a dual listed company and well known as the leading global resources and the largest mining company in the world measured from its revenue. The headquarters is in Melbourne, Australia and a major management office in London, UK. They have more than 100,000 employees and contractors across the 25 nations. BHP Billiton is the major producers of commodities namely energy coal, aluminum, iron ore, minerals, copper, manganese, uranium, nickel, and mining in oil, gas, and diamond. They have more than 100 mining and processing …show more content…

The currencies can be fluctuated irregular when BHP Billiton increases the price or decreases the price of their products. Moreover, it can affect the price of metal and petroleum all over the world.

The other weakness is the management strain. Due to size of the company, their entire management system can be affected. It is because when they are changing their management system from decentralized to centralized, it needs a long time to adapt with the new system, which cost a lot of time and money for the company.

*It is true that the company has a strong financial status, but they also have financial risk when there is market depression and global economic crisis (economic down turn). They might not be able to maintain their financial strength in the long term.

Opportunities

Based on their strengths, it is noted that there are a lot of opportunities for BHP Billiton. They are able to increase their purchasing power as their profit has been increased due to merge with some other big companies.

The other opportunity is to discontinue their divisions in the company, which is not able to generate any more profits and earnings to the company. By cutting unimportant cost, the company will be able to operate effectively and efficiently. Effective means that the company is able to have more stable competitive positions in the global market regarding on