With oil and tar balls washing up on the Gulf Coast, weddings on the beach became a casualty. The weddings on the beach business evaporated with cancelled orders and local flower shops were on the brink. Lee Kitchens Taylor continues to be devastated from losing 85% of her business and has given up her salary. Her business lost $90,000 dollars and had only received emergency payments of $20,000 to date. She received checks as little as $12.31 for interest payments not knowing where the principal was.

BP established a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the oil spill but only $3.8 billion had been paid out at present. Roughly 2 out of every 5 people who filed a claim had been reimbursed which created confusion and anxiety. Individuals proclaim that BP has not fulfilled their obligations.

Washington attorney, Kenneth Feinberg, was appointed by President Obama and BP to oversee the claims fund that pays his firm $15 million a year. Fienberg proclaims the program is not perfect but is working. He says that 200,000 claimants were paid in 9 months.

The beach wedding business of Jeff and Jennie Sherrill indicate they have had to live check by check and day by day. Within three days of the oil spill they had lost 14 weddings at $10,000 each, had depleted their savings, and were on the verge of closing. Months later they received a check that largely covered their 6 figure losses. However, many are still waiting and still losing and speculate they will never recoup their true losses.

What environmental changes and trends (opportunities and threats) might they have discovered?

How should BP have handled an external environmental analysis? 

Analyse BP using the five forces of competition model, to determine the industry's attractiveness in terms of profit potential.