A Critique of OPEC, The Website Essay - 1775 Words

A Critique of â€Å"OPEC† – The Website OPEC stands for â€Å"Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries† and is comprised of the largest oil-producing nations of the world. Through OPEC, these Member Countries work together to control the price and availability of oil--one of the most significant commodities in today’s worldwide economy. Founded in September of 1960 with headquarters in Vienna, the OPEC organization is currently comprised of twelve member countries (History of OPEC, 1). OPEC’s mission is defined in a formal organizational statute that identifies their role â€Å"to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular†¦show more content†¦In â€Å"History of OPEC,† Rousseau (1998) outlines the negative effect of this collaboration by highlighting OPEC’s responsibility in two critical historical events: the October War and the Persian Gulf War. As d emonstrated in the 1973 October War between Egypt and Israel, and the 1990 Persian Gulf War between Kuwait and Iraq, the global oil market impacts much more than the economy. Rousseau stated that â€Å"the OPEC countries did not want to reduce prices, for fear that they would undermine their whole pricing structure, lose their economic and political gains, and so diminish their political influence† (Rousseau, 1998). OPEC serves a seemingly essential purpose, though differing agendas for financial gain and political influence make success impossible among separated countries. The general purpose is meant to prevent countries from producing too much oil which would drive down the price, thereby reducing profits. It is an interesting idea, but it is impossible to believe that individual countries join forces to manage the supply and demand of oil production in order to ensure that everyone makes a profit: someone will cheat. It would be important to keep oil-producing countries on a â€Å"budget† that defines the number of millions of barrels of oil that is allowed to be produced by a country daily. If the members of the OPEC organization were â€Å"impartial† without concern for individual prosperity, thenShow MoreRelatedPrinciples of Microeconomics Fifth Canadian Edition20085 Words   |  81 PagesPrice Elasticity of Supply and Its Determinants 105 Computing the Price Elasticity of Supply 106 The Variety of Supply Curves 106 Three Applications of Supply, Demand, and Elasticity 109 Can Good News for Farming Be Bad News for Farmers? 109 Why Did OPEC Fail to Keep the Price of Oil High? 111 Does Drug Interdiction Increase or Drecrease Drug-Related Crime? 113 Conclusion 115 Summary 115 Key Concepts 115 Questions for Review 116 Problems and Applications 116 PART 3 SUPPLY AND DEMAND II: MARKETSRead MoreMarketing Mistakes and Successes175322 Words   |  702 Pagesauthorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, website www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, (201)748-6011, fax (201)748-6008, website http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. To order books or for customer service please, call 1-800-CALL WILEY (225-5945). Library of CongressRead MoreTestbook Answers112756 Words   |  452 Pagesprobabilities include all information you have up to just prior to analyzing the CG Ltd. financial statements. They could include information based on an analysis of CG’s past financial statements, plus other news to date about the company from media, websites, speeches by company officials, analyst forecasts, etc. They could also include the results of a study of the current market price of CG shares. If share price is low, this would indicate an unfavourable market evaluation of future prospects,Read MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagesabout what managers actually do from day to day. He further faulted management textbooks for introducing students to the leading theories about management while ignoring what is known about effective management practice. Sympathetic to Mintzberg’s critique, we set out to identify the defining competencies of effective managers. Although no two management positions are exactly the same, the research summarized in the Introduction highlights ten personal, interpersonal, and group skills that form the