Competitive Strategies and Resilience of Oil and Gas Companies in Equatorial Guinea

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to assess competitive strategies for business resilience of oil and gas companies amidst the challenges in the energy sector in Equatorial Guinea. The survey research design was adopted to assess competitive strategies and resilience of oil and gas companies amidst the challenges in the energy sector. Primary data was collected on competitive strategies and resilience of oil and gas companies as well as the challenges faced in the energy sector with the help of a structured questionnaire. A simple random sampling technique was adopted to select the oil and gas companies across the country with varied capacities and characteristics. The data was subjected to both descriptive statistics (percentage scores, frequency tables, graphs, and bar charts). Finally, the correlation and regression Statistic was adopted to determine if there exists any relationship between competitive strategies and resilience among the oil and gas companies. In response to these challenges, the companies adopted sustainability, Innovation, and diversification strategies in a bid to make their operations more resilient. Of the 3 competitive strategies identified in this study, Sustainability showed a positive moderate relation with resilience with a (β=0.197, Sig=0.001), while innovation also showed a positive moderate relationship with a (β=0.816, Sig=0.005). The study concluded that Diversification showed a strong positive correlation with business resilience ((β=0.313, Sig=0.000). Diversification was termed competitive, as it looked at new products, new markets, new customers aimed to increase profitability, while realizing that things happen that don’t fit with what is expected. In addition, Sustainability was seen to be moderately correlated with business resilience, because it fostered business longevity, while attempting to prevent undesirable acts from occurring. Also, Innovation strategy proved to be moderately correlated to business resilience, because it set clear goals, focuses efforts on reaching them, while modifying its functioning to be more efficient and effective. Although all the other strategies were seen to be uncompetitive weakly associated to business resilience, they can be used as control factors when designing policies and regulations to enhance the oil and gas industry in the country.