Vertical integration. Examples of vertical integration

The present stage of development of the world economy is characterized by the entry into a qualitatively new stage of its development. Qualitative changes are taking place in the structure and management system of large companies, which allow them to adapt to constantly changing conditions and heightened competition.

In modern conditions, the market model, in which each enterprise is a separate and independent production unit, is economically impractical for some industries. For many enterprises, the creation of vertically integrated companies is the most promising way out of the crisis. World experience confirms the feasibility of creating powerful vertically integrated holding-type structures.

The potential of integration processes in the Russian economy was laid down by the chosen strategy of privatization, during which an enterprise was considered as an object outside the system of its traditional, well-established economic ties, the significance of which is obvious.

The prerequisites for the activation of integration processes arose in 1998, after the August financial crisis, which increased the investment attractiveness of many sectors of the Russian economy.

At the present stage of the formation of market relations, the logical completion of the restructuring of large industrial enterprises in Russia according to the production principle is the creation of the so-called vertically integrated companies - new and extremely important structural elements of the Russian economy and industry.

There is a need to study the organizational structure, principles of corporate governance and financial and economic activities of vertically integrated companies, making it an atypical object of assessment.

The peculiarities of a vertically integrated company as an object of appraisal require the improvement of the appraisal process in order to increase the reliability of the final value of the value.

A vertically integrated company as a special subject of assessment

In the literature, there is a different, sometimes not entirely accurate, interpretation of a vertically integrated company (hereinafter - VIC).

An integrated company is a company that unites several enterprises or industries. Various ways and forms of integration are known: horizontal integration, integration of a conglomerate type, contractual relations, the creation of financial and industrial groups, etc. Vertical integration is a special form of association that is different from others and has its own characteristic features.

Goldstein G. Ya. Gives the following definition of vertical integration:

"The method by which a company creates (integrates) its own input stages of the process chain (backward integration) or its output stages (frontal integration)."

Stages of the technological chain and directions of vertical integration.

Integration can be complete and narrow. When complete, all inputs or outputs are combined. An example of a narrow one is the purchase by a company of only a part of the input elements and the production of the rest on its own.

As the main feature of the VIC, it should be noted that it unites manufacturers operating at the subsequent stages of one production vertical.

Vertical integration takes place in the following cases:

• The downstream subdivision of the company supplies 100% of the products (raw materials) for processing to the upstream subdivision of the company in the form of in-house deliveries.
• The upstream division of the company that manufactures the final products purchases 100% of the raw materials coming from the downstream division. The missing part of raw materials can be purchased on the external market (outsourcing).
• The division of the company that produces raw materials is obliged to supply them for processing within the company, and cannot sell outside the company, and the processing enterprise within the holding can purchase raw materials only within the company. Thus, with vertical integration, one of the company's divisions serves as an alternative to the market, the creation of which is due to cost savings compared to market transactions.

VIC is a holding company, while not all holding companies are vertically integrated.

VIC is the most common form of integration in the Russian oil industry. Recently, integration processes have intensified in many sectors of the Russian economy: metallurgy, mechanical engineering, communications, energy, agro-industrial and financial sectors, high-tech industries.

Analyzing the organizational and structural features of Russian VICs, one can single out their common characteristic features:

1. The organizational and legal basis of vertically integrated companies is an open joint-stock company of a holding type.

2. The core of the VIC is a set of enterprises that are successive stages of one production cycle and are interconnected by technologically necessary production links.

3. Natural resources are one of the main natural elements of the system.

4. The structure includes auxiliary and service industries that ensure the development of industries of specialization and partly their own needs.

5. Production and cash flow management is carried out by the parent company.

Vertically integrated company- a complex organizational and production structure of a holding type with a single control center and a closed production cycle, uniting enterprises that consistently participate in the production, sale and consumption of the finished product at subsequent stages of a single technological process, thus interconnected with each other by commodity and cash flows.

The study of the organizational and legal structure of the VIC and the specifics of the functioning of the VIC of Russia made it possible to identify the main features of the VIC as an object of assessment:

1. VIC is an investment holding company. In accordance with ICSO Standards Guide No. 6, an asset-based approach should be considered when evaluating controlling stakes in investment or holding companies. Therefore, when evaluating blocks of shares in VIC, the result obtained by the net assets method should be considered as one of the main ones when deriving the final value of the market value.

2. VIC as a holding company prepares consolidated and unconsolidated statements. The consolidated balance sheet compiled in accordance with Russian standards is suitable for accounting purposes, but not suitable for the purpose of assessing the market value of VICs.

Consolidated (consolidated) statements are understood as financial statements compiled taking into account the indicators of subsidiaries and dependent companies, but with the exclusion of a number of costs in the form of mutual settlements, etc. , is included in the consolidated statements in full (100%) composition. This reporting consolidates all assets and liabilities, income and expenses of the parent organization and subsidiaries, and also takes into account participation in associates. Consolidated statements prepared in this way are more suitable for accounting purposes, but not suitable for the purpose of assessing the market value of vertically integrated oil companies.

To assess the market value of a VIC using a cost approach, it is better to use unconsolidated reporting with subsequent adjustments to the value of assets.

3. VIC combines the structural links of one production and technological chain, the stages of which are controlled to one degree or another by one company.

4. The share of participation of VICs in the equity capital of dependent and subsidiaries may range from a blocking stake to a controlling stake. VIC is the parent company in relation to the enterprises that are part of it. VIC manages the entire production process, sales of products and cash flows by exercising control over the financial and economic activities of the enterprises that are part of it.

5. The VIC receives income from the functioning of its subdivisions and enterprises. Thus, long-term financial investments in the form of investments in subsidiaries and affiliates are the main income-generating assets.

6. Natural resources are one of the main elements of a vertically integrated system. For companies in the technological chain of which natural resources are the initial product, the rights associated with their use (for example, intangible assets in the form of licenses for the right to develop subsoil and mineral resources) are also the main income-generating assets.

7. The share of fixed assets in the balance sheet of VIC is relatively small.

8. A large share of reserves can be represented as finished products and goods for resale, the market value of which may differ significantly from the book value, which necessitates its adjustment when calculating using the net assets method.

9. The formation and accumulation of profits of the entire production and technological process of the VIC is carried out by the parent company.

10. Within the VIC, a transfer pricing mechanism is widely used to optimize taxation. When forecasting the cash flow of the VIC and its subsidiaries, in the calculations, products / services are taken into account not at market prices, but at transfer (internal) prices.

11. Most of the enterprises that are part of the VIC operate on tolling raw materials. The parent company pays for the products / services of each individual production unit of the VIC. Thus, when forecasting the VIC cash flow, the revenue / operating profit of each link in the VIC production chain is the cost for the parent company.

12. According to its organizational and legal form, the VIC is a joint stock company. The shares of the majority of Russian VICs are traded on the stock market and are liquid securities.

13. The main profitability of investments in minority blocks of shares of VIC is formed due to the increase in market value.

14. Subsidiaries and affiliates are de jure open joint stock companies, and de facto closed joint stock companies. Therefore, to calculate the cost of long-term financial investments in subsidiaries and affiliates within the framework of the comparative approach, the method of an analogous company can be used.

15. In the framework of the comparative approach, methods of correlation and regression analysis can be used.

The main factors affecting the value of the market value of a vertically integrated company

There are two groups of factors influencing the value of the market value of stakes in a vertically integrated company, external and internal. Let's consider them in more detail.

1. External factors

1.1. Macroeconomic

This group of factors influences the market value of any appraisal object. The main factors are the rate of change in GDP, the volume and dynamics of industrial production and investment, the volume of budget items and its execution, the refinancing rate, the inflation rate, and the ruble exchange rate against other currencies.

1.2. Industry

1.2.1. The conjuncture of the global and domestic markets for the initial and final product (for example, oil and refined products) is one of the main industry factors affecting the market value.

1.2.2. The market model influences the level of demand, supply and, accordingly, prices.

For example, the market for oil and petroleum products is a standardized oligopoly. An oligopoly can be local, national and international. The pricing policy of producers in oligopolistic industries differs from the strategy of enterprises that is characteristic of a purely competitive market model. Oligopolistic prices are rigid, rigid. When prices change in the market, firms change their prices together.

In localized markets, oligopolistic suppliers of standardized products set the same price level. When setting a price for an oligopolist, the most important data are the data on costs and demand, but to this must be added the reaction from competitors. The inability of a firm to predict with certainty the response of its competitors makes it virtually impossible to assess the demand and marginal revenue faced by the oligopolist. Without such data, the firm cannot even theoretically determine the price and volume of production that would increase its profits.

Anti-dumping policy of importing countries; relations with international organizations (for example, Russia's obligations to the OPEC member countries to limit the volume of oil exports).

1.2.3. Legislative and normative regulation of the activities of companies in the industry.

The state can indirectly influence the market and prices by setting taxes, excise taxes and export duties. For example, if taxes on the development of unprofitable fields are reduced, one can expect an increase in oil production and supply on the market. And with an increase in export duties on oil and oil products, the attractiveness of operations in the domestic market may increase.

In order to ensure the normal life of the population and the functioning of the sectors of the economy of the Russian Federation, to create conditions for the energy security of the state, the Government of Russia regulates the oil and oil products market. Government measures include:

• the adoption of the so-called "balance sheets" for the supply of petroleum products;
• artificial limitation of exports;
• obligatory sale of part of export proceeds;
• the requirement to settle with the budget in cash.

1.3. The general condition and conjuncture of stock markets have an impact on stock prices.

2. Internal factors

2.1. The size of the block of shares and the set of rights arising from the shareholder.

The number of links in the production and technological cycle, united in the VIC, and the directions of integration have an impact on the value of the VIC assets, the level of costs and the amount of income of the VIC, and therefore on the amount of cash flows.

2.3. Market value of intangible assets in the form of licenses

The rights to use raw materials, which are often one of the main elements of the VIC, are secured by licenses for the right to use subsoil; for the right to extract minerals. Many analysts view inventory as the most important contributor to VIC's corporate value.

Despite the fact that often the right holder of licenses for the use of raw materials is the input elements of the VIC (for example, oil producing enterprises), in world practice, raw materials are considered as the main asset of the VIC. This is due to the fact that VIC owns a controlling stake in enterprises engaged in the extraction of minerals, the main income from the use of which is received by the parent company.

2.4. The volume of long-term financial investments in enterprises that are input stages production and technological process, and the share of participation in them.

Because The VIC receives income from the operation of subsidiaries and affiliates, long-term financial investments in these facilities are the main income-generating assets and affect the volume of production, market share, the amount of VIC income, and the formation of Goodwill.

2.5. The volume of investments in the production process.

Economically feasible investments of the parent company in new construction, expansion, reconstruction, technical re-equipment of subsidiaries reduce the current cash flows, but are a factor in the growth of future income of the VIC.

2.6. The production potential and efficiency of the initial link, for example, the volume of mineral reserves, as well as the volume of production of main types of products, services, starting from the initial product, including intermediate and ending with finished products. These indicators have an impact on the market value of long-term financial investments and cash flows of the VIC.

2.7. The value of intracorporate and transfer prices, principles of intracorporate management.

2.8. The issuer's relationship with small investors and dividend policy affect the value of minority shareholdings.

Improving valuation methods for vertically integrated companies

Within the framework of the cost approach, one of the main assets is licenses. Despite the fact that mining divisions are often the owner of licenses, licenses can be considered as the main asset of the VIC. This is due to the fact that VIC owns a controlling stake in mining companies. The main income from the use of licenses is received by the parent company.

The book value of licenses is the implementation of one of the methods for assessing intangible assets - the value creation method. Licenses are useful. The usefulness of a license lies in the fact that during its validity period it provides the opportunity to receive income from the extraction and subsequent use of certain natural resources.

Therefore, the cost of licenses (reserves at specific fields) should be analyzed in terms of projected revenues. In the income approach, the royalty exemption method can be used. Before proceeding with the evaluation of licenses, you must familiarize yourself with the license agreements, which indicate the royalty rate and other stipulated payments for the license.

According to Miller & Lents, the royalty rate, for example, on oil fields can be 10%.

Many analysts view reserves as the most important contributor to the corporate value of oil companies. Therefore, the proved reserves method is of particular relevance.

The proved reserves method is one of modern methods income approach, which allows you to calculate the present value of future income from the exploitation of mineral deposits. It is used to assess the market value of a controlling stake in VIC, in the production cycle of which natural resources are the basic element.

The source of information is the stock assessment report.

The following categories of reserves are involved in the calculations:

1. Proved Reserves

1.1. Proved Developed Producing

1.2. Proved Developed Nonproducing

1.3. Proved Undeveloped

2. Probable

3. Possible

Investors are currently interested in total proven reserves. The assumption of the method is a permanent price event, i.e. no significant change in raw material prices, cost increases, capital changes or taxes relative to the forecast date.

Future net income is projected as follows:

Total income (inventory volume * price - transportation costs - export and customs duties - port dues - VAT and excise taxes - special taxes)

• royalties (10% of total income)
• total costs:
• operating costs (may be the average annual operating costs for the previous period)
• wear
• restoration costs, renewal of resources
• commercial and administrative costs
• interest paid on short-term loans
• and other costs (eg taxes).

If there is information about the production volumes from the fields for each year of the forecast period, you can forecast cash flows for each year of the forecast period. The forecast period is the life of the deposits.

One of modern trends valuation - the use of regression analysis methods in the process of calculating the cost of equity capital. The need for a significant amount of information explains the possibility of applying and the significance of the method specifically for assessing the VIC.

The main stages of calculations based on the regression model can be distinguished:

1. Collection of primary information.

2. Conduct correlation analysis.

3. Choosing a model and evaluating its parameters.

4. Analysis of the quality of the resulting model.

5. Calculation of the value of the variable based on the constructed model.

When assessing using the DCF method, the features of calculating the cash flow of the VIC arise.

1. The income of the VIC is formed through the sale on the market of the products of the extracting or processing unit at market prices.

2. Most of the enterprises that are part of the VIC operate on tolling raw materials.

3. Payment for products / services of the links of the production and technological process is carried out above the cost, but below market prices - at transfer (internal) prices.

4. Payment for products / services of each individual production unit of VIC is carried out by the parent company. Thus, when forecasting the VIC cash flow, the revenue / operating profit of each link in the VIC production chain is the cost for the parent company.

The classic examples of vertical integration, which ties all business ties in one market segment within itself, are the companies - Interros and LUKoil (see Fig. 30.1). With a horizontal scheme, the holding combines homogeneous production (see Fig. 30.2). He offers the market a wide product line and already in this area dictates his own rules. The classic examples of such holdings are the Bolshevik, Krasny Oktyabr, and YUKOS concerns.

The most striking Russian example of vertical integration is the oil complex, in the course of the restructuring of which it was decided to form vertically integrated oil companies covering all stages of oil production and refining and marketing of petroleum products - from geological exploration to the sale of gasoline at gas stations. To date, 16

Examples of vertical integration include

All of these companies are deeply involved in manufacturing, making massive capital investments in labor and technology, and carefully crafting critical strategic infrastructure decisions, such as vertical integration and specialization. In this chapter, we discuss the process of developing manufacturing strategies and the role they play in improving competitiveness.

An example of Japanese oil refineries. These companies did not take any part in the activities of oil-producing companies, therefore their financial position was largely dependent on the prices of crude oil, changes in exchange rates, demand and supply of petroleum products. Only those Japanese oil companies that are subsidiaries foreign leaders oil production has shown relative stability due to a high degree of vertical integration.

Give examples of vertical and horizontal integration.

Let us illustrate this with an example. Let's say that direct vertical integration is chosen as a development strategy, and within the framework of this strategy, it is planned to acquire retail trade enterprises. In order to include new stores in the company's management system, a number of programs should be developed.

Here are some typical examples of vertical Japanese industrial integration.

They say that Russia has a surplus of processing capacities. But it was like that before. Today there is no surplus, because we have adjusted the capacities to the needs that the state had for these 10 years, 160-170 million tons per year. Until there was economic growth, everything was fine. But during the economic recovery, when the consumption of gasoline, electricity, diesel fuel and our other products increases sharply, we are faced with a shortage, first of all, of light oil products. We are all now increasing the depth of processing, but this takes time. There is not enough capacity. For example, here is the NORSI plant. It is not included in the structure of any vertically integrated oil company and does not use its potential. The plant practically stood in Angarsk. And there are also a number of similar enterprises for which no one bears responsibility and which, therefore, are also idle. And to top it all off, an increase in export duties. Today we have increased the load on both NORSI and the Moscow Oil Refinery. For what, vertical integration is necessary For there to be a close connection between oil production, refining and sales. There was a problem in Komi - the Ukhta plant did not function. Today it is loaded to the capacity that allows it to work efficiently. Also with the Perm, Volgograd, Ryazan factories. The inclusion of individual refineries in vertically integrated oil companies is a real way to solve pressing problems of oil refining.

Diversification implies that a firm operates in markets for different products that are not close substitutes, as opposed to vertical integration, which involves the release of one product. An example of diversified manufacturing is a refrigerator manufacturing company that produces one-

A firm can benefit from vertical integration through investments in other countries focused on its sales or supply side. Recently, however, there have been more examples of investments focused on the supply of raw materials from other countries than the other way around. This is due to the growing dependence of developing countries on raw materials and the lack of funds for firms in these countries for significant investments abroad.

Germany was the only European state where by the end of the 19th century. the modernization of the enterprise management system took place. On the eve of 1900, a significant number of large companies diversified their activities and carried out vertical integration. Based on the American model, many have adopted a multi-unit strategy. On the eve of the First World War, for example, Siemens possessed such an organization.

EXAMPLES OF VERTICAL INTEGRATION 5.3.1. Toyota Motor Company

We mentioned that with vertical integration, especially quasi-integration, adaptation to technological change can be accelerated because the lead company is able to plan and manage change. Good examples this is given by Seiko and Toyota. On the other hand, if investments in certain technologies are large, vertical integration can become a conservation factor. Not-

Diagonal integration - integration with a company located at a different level of the vertical production cycle and producing parallel types of products. An example of diagonal integration would be the acquisition of a motorcycle and motor boat engine plant by an auto maker.

Long-term contracts vary in the degree to which they are used and the density of the emerging economic out-of-firm wears. The lowest level is a long-term contract, which preserves the complete independence of the parties. The next step is long-term contracts with vertical restrictions. An example is the franchising system, which is widely used in the retail trade of cars, gasoline, and other goods. Let's say an automobile company grants the right to sell its branded products in a specific area to a dedicated dealer. Although the dealer does not lose the status of an independent firm, at the same time he is forced to comply with whole line restrictions imposed by the supplier and submit to its control. As a result of such not complete, but partial vertical integration, a quasi-firm is formed.

A vertically integrated company is one of the most effective methods of running your own business. The emergence of large structures with vertical integration is one of the most significant trends in the modern Russian economy. At the same time, the ambiguity that distinguishes any vertically integrated company is a pretty good reason to comprehensively consider its main advantages and incentives.

Incentives

Modern large integrated organizations constantly dictate the vector of development of the modern economy and represent the basis for maintaining stability in the field of production of any developed country. A vertically integrated company is a fairly popular option for doing business, and various are becoming more and more important in the Russian economy. One of the most important reasons for the formation of such structures in the current sector of the domestic economy can be called the fact that for maintaining economic activity favorable conditions were created, mutual barriers were removed, and an opportunity appeared to strengthen its competitive position and exercise control over the market situation.

Analyzing the market in which integrated participants operate involves actively considering different specific incentives for different integration options.

What are they like?

There are two types of incentives that distinguish a vertically integrated company - these are internal and external. The latter represent various requirements that are imposed by some special characteristics of the structure of a certain industry market to potential or existing participants, as well as all kinds of actions performed by firms operating on it.

The concept of vertical integration also provides for the division of external incentives into two more categories - non-strategic and strategic. Non-strategic ones are determined depending on the characteristics of the industry that do not directly depend on the company's activities. At the same time, strategic incentives are characteristics and are combined as a result of the work of the organizations themselves.

The defining non-strategic characteristics of the market are:

• capacity and saturation;
• concentration of buyers and sellers, prevailing at the moment;
• elasticity of demand;
• the degree of infrastructure development;
• foreign competition;
• administrative barriers;
• general economic situation;
• transaction costs.

If we talk about the most important strategic characteristics of the market, then this already includes:

• price and other types of discrimination;
• the nature and degree of integration;
• concerted actions of companies;
• presence of potential competitors;
• actions of companies aimed at restricting market entry.

Internal incentives represent any potential and real benefits that a company receives after using a particular type of integration. Internal integration advantages that Gazprom and other organizations with such a structure have received can be the result of effective interaction between several group members, and at the same time can be expressed in various structural market changes that are favorable for the organization's work.

Benefits and motives

The Russian economy, dominated by such large organizations as Rosneft and others, is characterized by a trend towards vertical integration, which in fact represents one of the most controversial forms. Vertically integrated companies differ not only in all the advantages and disadvantages of large enterprises, but also have their own patterns of development.

Disadvantages for the market

In this regard, it can be said that the consequences that vertical integration entails are ambiguous. As an example, we can take the same Rosneft company, which, on the one hand, sets the trend for lower production costs and, accordingly, prices, but on the other hand, it has significant market power and strengthens monopolization.

Vertical integration concept. Preconditions for vertical integration. Features of Russian vertically integrated oil companies. Formation of the organizational structure of the company. Choosing a development strategy for the company.

Vertical integration

Introduction

The emerging market relations in the domestic economic space stimulate the possibility of a departure from traditional enterprise management, determine the inevitability and economic feasibility of the transition from management as such to management and marketing, require the creation of a system of effective adoption algorithms. management decisions taking into account changes in market conditions.

And although the topic of the course work sounds like "Creation and development of vertically integrated oil companies", without specifying their geographical location, it will focus on domestic companies, as new and extremely important structural elements of the oil industry in Russia.

Stabilization and development of the oil and gas complex, increasing the efficiency of its work to a large extent depends on its structural transformations through the reform and further improvement of oil and gas companies.

The problem of vertical integration and improvement of the structure of oil companies through the formation of vertically integrated structures that unite the entire technological chain into a single whole has acquired particular urgency.

For the effective functioning of the Russian oil complex, it is extremely important to create an interest in combining the efforts of enterprises in oil production, refining and marketing in order to save on production costs and on the basis of the introduction of new technologies. One of the forms of ensuring such mutual interest is the formation of vertically integrated companies in the form of joint-stock companies or partnerships with the connection of transport and petroleum product supply enterprises.

Integration allows us to consolidate economic ties, strengthen incentives to obtain the most effective end result, concentrate resources in the most effective areas of technical policy, use the most efficient system of mutual settlements, including through the use of calculated prices, increase the competitiveness of Russian manufacturers in the foreign market, as well as to economically solve individual problems of using production and social infrastructure.

There are about 100 vertically integrated oil companies in the world, among them there are now about 20 relatively large companies. Despite a number of significant differences both in the form of ownership and in structure, they are united by one common feature - activity along the entire process chain: identification of oil fields , oil production, bringing it to end-use products and selling oil products to consumers.

In fact, life itself is pushing the Russian oil industry to create vertically integrated structures, of course, on a new market basis. Only in this way can, if not neutralize, then at least mitigate the consequences of such negative phenomena as mutual non-payments, an acute shortage of working capital, an unjustified depreciation of the ruble by the Central Bank, which hurts the interests of exporters, in particular, oil.

Vertical integration concept

The modern structure of the world oil business, which was formed back in the 30s of this century, is dominated by vertically integrated oil companies. They are the most famous and efficient oil companies in the world. Russia also made its choice in favor of VINK. Vertical integration is understood as the consolidation on a financial and economic basis of various technologically interconnected industries. In the oil business, this includes enterprises belonging to the sequential stages of the technological process: exploration and production of oil - transportation - refining - petrochemistry - marketing of petroleum products and petrochemicals.

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation on the privatization of the Russian oil industry No. 1403 of November 17, 1992 established three types of organization in this industry:

1. Enterprises involved in production, processing and distribution;

2. Integrated companies (LUKoil, Yukos and Surgutneftegaz);

3. Transport companies - one for crude oil (Transneft) and one for oil products (Transnefteprodukt), thus eliminating the former rigid structure of oil exports.

The three largest integrated companies, formed in accordance with the Decree, represented a vertical structure of regional production associations with a single governing center, while the associations themselves - subsidiaries were independent legal entities and kept their own records of the movement of their funds. As legally independent enterprises, these organizations issued their own shares.

Preconditions for vertical integration

The development of the oil business in the West followed the path of vertical integration from the very beginning. The largest oil companies - Standard Oil, Gulf, Texas, Shell and others have established control over all spheres of the oil business on a national and then international scale. Many small outsider businesses followed the same approach, although they operated in limited areas.

In the 60s and 70s, serious changes took place in the world oil business. The OPEC oil-exporting countries have been able to largely establish control over their oil resources. Nowadays, there are powerful national oil companies in practically all oil-producing countries. However, even having achieved the right to dispose of most of the oil produced, the producing countries were unable to get a fair, in their opinion, share in the total revenues from the exploitation of oil resources. The main reason for this is the lack or limited access to the markets for the end product.

Therefore, in the 70s, first for self-sufficiency in petroleum products, and then with the aim of entering foreign markets with them Saudi Arabia- the largest oil power in the world - and many other producing countries have begun the construction of oil refineries and petrochemical plants. In the 1980s, they diversified their policies by acquiring tangible and financial assets of oil refineries and sales companies in the territory of oil-consuming countries - North America and Western Europe.

In this case, the process of vertical integration has developed in the direction from oil exploration and production to the areas of its processing and marketing of products. The most important prerequisites for such a process can be considered the desire to master the markets of final demand and competition in the field of oil production in the context of a sufficiently saturated market and declining efficiency of investments in the development of new oil resources.

Integration in the oil companies of the countries went in the other direction. Western Europe excluding British Petroleum and Shell, which have long been among the largest international companies. For example, in France and Italy, the powerful state sector in the oil refining and petrochemical industries, formed back in the 1950s, was heavily dependent on supplies from the world's largest oil companies. Using the competitive contradictions between transnational oil corporations and the governments of oil-producing countries, primarily in North Africa, European public and private companies were able to penetrate the oil production sector on concession terms that are more acceptable for the resource-owner countries. In other words, the main driver of this integration process was the desire to overcome dependence on the supply of raw materials. As a result, large oil companies have emerged, such as the French Total and the Italian ENI, which are now in the top twenty.

Analyzing the experience of creating vertically integrated oil companies in Western countries, the following should be noted among the most important prerequisites for vertical integration:

1. The desire of oil companies to control the markets for their final products - first oil products, and then petrochemicals.

2. Due to natural, technological and economic factors, the need to create an efficiently controlled organization of production and sales.

3. Possibility of economies of scale of production. The concentration of capital and production, the presence of a single infrastructure, the ability to maneuver (capital, capacities, flows of raw materials and products) contribute to a reduction in unit costs in production and lead to an increase in sales activities, an increase in mass and profit margins.

4. Provision of controlled sources of raw materials within the framework of vertically integrated structures.

5. The international character of the oil business and its close relationship with world and national politics.

However, the main prerequisites for the integration process cannot be considered factors of absolute action. They are quite contradictory and manifest themselves only in tendencies. Planning, concentration of production and capital, the establishment of control over the markets for raw materials and products in combination with monopoly do not exclude competition. The largest oil corporations compete with each other and independent outsider companies.

It should also be noted that the desire of companies to control and participate in all stages of the oil business leads to not always justified duplication of production and sales structures. In other words, the cost savings achieved within vertically integrated companies have their downside wasted resources.

Integration and combination in the oil business by no means exclude specialization. Along with small ones, there are large specialized companies. Both those and others, being independent economic and legal structures, can, nevertheless, be included in the sphere of influence of integrated companies, for example, through the system of financial participation. In the oil business in a market economy, a partial (fragmentary) combination of various fields of activity is widespread. Typical examples of this kind are the following links: exploration of reserves - oil production; transport - wholesale trade in oil; oil and gas processing - petrochemistry; wholesale - retail trade in petroleum products. Specialization and partial combination, apparently, are most convenient in oil refining due to a wide variety of processes and technologies, the need to manufacture products with desired properties (lubricating oils, various additives, etc.).

The development of the integration process in the oil industry in the presence of the necessary powerful financial base took place and is taking place in different forms:

Direct investment with the creation of new facilities in the areas of production and sales;

Acquisitions of tangible and financial assets of existing companies (mergers, acquisitions, etc.);

Implementation of joint projects and the formation of joint companies.

As a result of this process, integrated companies of two fundamentally different types... The first group includes financially integrated companies - holdings that are not engaged in production activities, but exercise control over numerous companies and branches.

Integrated companies of the second type are production companies engaged in exploration, production, transportation and refining of oil, as well as marketing of finished products through their branches and specialized divisions. There is an overwhelming majority of such companies in the modern oil business. However, at present, “purely” manufacturing companies practically do not exist anymore. All of them are financial companies to one degree or another.

In general, in the oil business, largely due to the processes of vertical integration, there is an extremely complex interweaving of economic and political interests. The very vertical integration, including the one based on the system of financial participation and joint ownership, has acquired a multi-stage nature, adequate to the conditions of a modern market economy.

At the same time, almost all the largest oil companies in the world include links in the technological chain - from a well to a gas station. As a rule, they include subsidiaries with national status if they are located in other countries. VINK itself acts as a parent company in relation to them and has joint ventures with other firms. All companies are joint stock companies by their form of ownership.

Subsidiaries are practically independent, they have their own management, Board of Directors. The headquarters (main office) of the parent company gives the subsidiaries specific tasks that should contribute to the achievement of high financial results.

In principle, the separation of the role of the Headquarters (parent company) and its constituent companies, firms and branches is that the former determines the strategy, and the current work is concentrated in the lower levels.

Features of Russian vertically integrated oil companies

For the Russian oil industry, which has all stages of the oil cycle, reforming by creating a vertically integrated oil company is correct, but at the same time there are a number of characteristic differences between classic vertically integrated companies and Russian ones in their current state.

First, Western companies have grown organically under the influence of market forces, responding to consumer demands and challenges and government regulations. Each of the existing companies went through a series of mergers and sales of their subsidiaries, which continue to this day. Russian companies, on the other hand, were created simultaneously in accordance with presidential and government regulations for a ready-made and tried-and-true idea, albeit in different economic conditions. They include enterprises that have been functioning for decades within the framework of various ministries and departments in a centrally planned, sectoral-disunited economy. At the same time, the set of merged enterprises did not always have a sufficiently substantive justification. Therefore, the problem of their interaction and transformation into a single economic organism, one of the goals of the functioning of which is to obtain an optimal aggregate of profit, has not yet been solved.

The form of organizing the interaction of enterprises that are part of most Russian companies is known in the world as a "soft holding". It assumes that the subsidiaries are virtually independent of each other in the sense that their operations and marketing are not aligned within a single strategic approach. In such a situation the main objective creation of vertically integrated oil companies is practically lost, but enterprises get full opportunity to optimize the results of their activities.

This form of organization is not very common in world practice and arises in foreign companies at certain stages of their development, when individual enterprises reach the degree of maturity at which any interference in their activities by the company can only worsen the situation, or the company becomes so large that unable to effectively manage all of their businesses. As a rule, this situation arises only with individual enterprises of the company, which remain in it mainly to preserve the trademark familiar to the market and, possibly, to maintain and use the established ties in the information and financial spheres.

The reason why Russian companies are in a state of "soft holding" has a different origin. She. is explained by the already mentioned one-stage "directive" their formation. A situation arose when various enterprises of the oil complex, preserving their illnesses, were merged into new organizational structures designed to cure these illnesses. However, mechanical fusion has not yet yielded the expected results.

Of course, as will be discussed below, such a generalization cannot apply to all Russian vertically integrated oil companies, for example, since 1995, NK LUKoil has been successfully pursuing a consolidation policy aimed at tightening the centralization of management in the company.

An important unique feature of Russian oil companies is that they operate under two significantly different price conditions for crude oil. While domestic retail prices for unleaded A-92 gasoline have reached American levels, and wholesale prices have exceeded those in Rotterdam at certain times, the price of crude oil remains significantly below world prices. After repeated increases and reaching the ceiling of effective demand, it does not exceed 60% of the world price (including excise tax).

The price scissor situation is stimulating oil producers and oil companies to maximize crude oil exports. However, this is hindered by technical capabilities the existing transport system, which is already close to saturation. In addition, the export orientation of oil production jeopardizes the existing system of oil products supply, the restructuring of which can be very painful for the entire economy. The possibilities of exporting petroleum products from Russian refineries are also limited due to high production costs, which makes them limited competitively, and even then only when purchasing crude oil at domestic prices (the average price of a set of petroleum products obtained from one ton of crude oil at Russian refineries is 30 -40% below the world average). Therefore, Russian vertically integrated oil companies are faced with the task of finding the optimal balance between exports (within the limits of transport capabilities), supply to their own and other refineries and the production of petroleum products to meet domestic demand and economically efficient exports.

It is necessary to point out another significant feature of Russian vertically integrated oil companies - a fairly high degree of state participation, which remains, despite the ongoing loans-for-shares and other auctions. This is not only due to the presence of state blocks of shares and state participation in the management of companies, but also due to the nature of Russian companies. Almost all of their assets were created at the expense of the state budget, i.e. at the expense of society, which did not receive adequate compensation as a result of privatization. Therefore, even if the state cedes its blocks of shares, it will have a moral right supported by the society (which can easily be turned into legislation) to prescribe certain activities to companies that contradict their economic interests, as was the case, for example, with a commodity loan to agricultural enterprises. However, with the expansion of participation in the share capital of vertically integrated oil companies of private and foreign investors, the influence of the state is weakening along with a decrease in its initial share in companies.

Russian vertically integrated oil companies are also characterized by a small degree of inclusion in their composition of geological organizations and a significant degree of drilling. Western companies have the opposite picture in this regard. Apparently, this is due to the fact that the enterprises of Roskomnedra were not widely enough involved in the process of reorganizing the oil industry.

Further reform of the Russian oil industry should go along the path of transforming the already established oil companies, "adjusting" their structure to the real conditions and goals, as well as along the path of creating small independent structures dealing with individual elements of the oil business as independent operators or as service companies performing their work on a contract basis.

By the nature of the operation and management of their subsidiaries, oil companies formed in the Russian Federation are holdings.

A holding is any joint-stock company that owns a controlling stake in other JSCs. Most of the holdings formed on the basis of privatized enterprises are locked into a single technological process.

In the Russian Federation, three groups of existing holdings can be distinguished:

State-owned (where the share of state ownership is 100% in the authorized capital, for example, JSC Rosugol, JSC Transneft);

partially state-owned (the share of state property is a significant part: 38-51%, for example, East Siberian Oil and Gas Company JSC, Rosneft Oil Company, etc.);

New holdings created without the participation of the state. Without exception, all oil holdings in Russia are created on the basis of state-owned privatized enterprises. Only subsidiaries created by the holding itself can be classified as new JSCs. Compared to foreign oil holdings, Russian oil holdings have their own characteristics:

1. A high share of the state in the authorized capital of companies. Controlling stakes in virtually all oil companies are federal property.

2. Strict focus on completeness and completeness of the technological cycle - "from a well to a gas station". Most large holdings are actively developing the entire technological chain, especially at the level of the territories in which this company operates, with the prospect of geographical expansion.

3. Providing oil holdings with functions that until recently were in the exclusive competence of the government and a number of line ministries: oil export and development of oil and gas fields. The presence of large and promising deposits of the company attracts domestic and foreign investors to the holding, which in turn affects the market quotations of the company's shares and, accordingly, increases the value of its market capitalization.

4. The right of the state to determine the share of foreign capital in the authorized capital of each company. The share of foreign investment for a number of holdings is strictly limited. For such companies as YUKOS, LUKoil, Surgutneftegaz, SIDANCO, KomiTEK, it is no more than 15% in the initial offer of shares.

Recently, along with the creation of holdings, other tendencies have become increasingly active, namely, the transformation of holdings into large consolidated companies.

Upon consolidation, the former subsidiaries (companies) lose their legal independence and become structural divisions of the parent company.

Consolidation is carried out by exchanging shares of subsidiaries for shares of the holding. Such an exchange is carried out taking into account the system of coefficients defined for each holding company, corresponding to either the par or the market value of shares of subsidiaries. For example, in 1995 the oil company LUKoil announced the beginning of the company's consolidation based on market criteria for exchanging shares of subsidiaries for united shares of the holding.

The conversion of shares is not an absolutely painless process, since the level of liquidity of various subsidiaries is significantly different, and those investors who have invested in shares of the most liquid subsidiary in the holding, Kogalymneftegaz, are unlikely to be satisfied with the exchange of their shares for a “single share »Holding.

To implement the consolidation program, LUKoil carried out an additional issue of common and preferred shares. However, this process takes a long period of time, since the bulk of the exchanged shares falls on individuals - employees of the holding's subsidiaries.

The consolidation process should gradually affect most of the largest holdings. At the same time, great attention should be paid to protecting the rights of shareholders when choosing a strategy and methodology for implementing a share exchange program, given that not all shares of subsidiaries of holdings are freely traded on the secondary market and, therefore, do not have a market value.

In the process of consolidation, the Company is switching to new schemes of work in relations with its structural divisions, consumers, partners and the state. In this case, the fundamental principle laid down in the scheme of work is the principle of the priority of the general corporate interest over the local interests of individual enterprises.

In practice, this is expressed in the creation and implementation of planning, budgeting, financial reporting and material incentives common for the Company and its subsidiaries, as well as investment management, implementation of scientific and technological progress and personnel.

The Company's efforts are aimed at creating a unified budgetary system, which should ensure:

Unified target orientation, proportionality and balance of all links;

Possibility of strategic and operational planning of production and sales;

Continuous monitoring of the implementation of planned targets, their adjustment in accordance with changing conditions;

The work of the mechanisms of corporate control of financial flows of the use of own and borrowed resources, the formation of unified investment and other funds, etc.

An important direction of the Company's restructuring is the transition in its activities to the principles of reasonable decentralization of the management of production processes for oil production and refining and strict centralization of the management of financial flows, organization of financial control over the activities of subsidiaries.

The principle of reasonable decentralization of production management implies the separation of decision-making powers at the strategic and operational levels. At the level of the Company's Headquarters, issues of strategic production planning, the development of a unified policy in various areas of production activity and its comprehensive support should be resolved. Issues directly related to the management of production processes are brought up to the level of oil producing and refining associations, petroleum product supply associations, subsidiaries.

Rigid centralization of financial flow management presupposes, first of all, control over the flow of funds from the central office of the Company at each stage of operations carried out with them and the possibility of prompt intervention in ongoing operations in cases where this becomes necessary.

The most important task facing the management and management personnel of the Company is mastering management - new methods of management in a market economy. It means:

Orientation to the demand and needs of the market, to the requests of specific consumers and the organization of production of those types of products that are in demand and can bring the intended profit;

Constant striving to improve the efficiency of production and sales of products at the lowest cost, obtaining optimal results;

Economic independence, providing freedom of decision-making to those who are responsible for the final results;

Constant adjustment of goals and programs, depending on the state of the market;

The need to use modern information technologies, including computer networks, databases, information technology, etc. in order to carry out multivariate and model calculations for making informed and reliable decisions.

Formation of the organizational structure of the company

The most important factor in the development of vertically integrated oil companies is rational organizational structure, that is, the type of control device within an enterprise or enterprise association.

The organizational structure must be such as to ensure the implementation of its strategy. As strategies change over time, organizational structures may need to be changed accordingly.

There are several stages in the development of firms, in which, depending on the goals and objectives, organizational structures are formed.

First stage. When creating a new company, its tasks, as a rule, are rather modest: production and sale of products in the local or regional market. All activities of the company are supervised by one person - the director (manager).

Second phase. At the second stage, when the firm conquers the national market, the work of its management becomes more complicated, since the organization of various areas of activity - marketing, production, R&D, finance, personnel - requires constant attention. Deputy CEOs take over the management of functional divisions, the main task of the CEO is to coordinate their activities.

The third stage of the company's development is associated with its entry into the world market. At this stage, an international department is organized in the structure of the company, headed by a vice president - a head of the same level as the heads of other functional divisions. With the development of international activities, the company has subdivisions created on a geographical basis, responsible for individual regions.

The fourth stage of the company's development is associated with the diversification of its activities in the national market. At this stage, a functional unit appears in the organizational structure of the company, headed by a vice president responsible for the release of new products.

The fifth stage of the company's development is associated with the implementation of the strategic task of entering the world market with several types of products and requires a more complex organizational structure. It is organized either on a product-based basis or on a geographic basis. An analysis of the experience of companies operating in world markets has shown that there are no rigid rules for choosing a specific type of organizational structure for such companies. Therefore, the most appropriate seems to be the use of product and geographical principles in various combinations.

At the sixth stage of the company's development, after entering the world market and in the presence of success, there is a gradual increase in the number of its foreign branches, which leads to a change in the organizational structure of the company, which manifests itself in the creation of mechanisms for integrating new foreign subdivisions into the general corporate management system.

JSC "Oil Company" LUKoil ", for example, currently has an organizational structure corresponding to the sixth stage of the company's development.

Over the past decades, many companies around the world have begun to use new, more flexible views organizational structures that are better suited to the rapid change in the internal and external environment of the company.

World experience shows that there is no one optimal organizational structure for all. You should choose the management structure that is adequate to the prevailing economic conditions for the functioning of the company and allows it to achieve its goals. Many large companies use a complex organizational structure made up of various types of structures. Within any structure, emphasis can be placed on the decentralization of authority, allowing lower-level managers to make their own decisions. The potential of such a system is to improve the interaction of managers at various levels along the vertical and to increase the efficiency of the decision-making process. Decentralized structures are recommended when a company has access to dynamic markets, diversified production, competitors, and rapidly changing technologies.

Choosing a development strategy for the company

Opportunities for economic growth largely depend on the choice of an effective company strategy that ensures the competitiveness of products and, as a result, high profits.

The general concept of forming the company's development strategies is based on the requirement to achieve the target level of indicators by quantifying the deviation of their current value from the projected one and developing measures to overcome them.

The development of an effective economic, financial and personnel policy, adequate organizational and management structures can bring tremendous benefits to any vertically integrated oil company, creating invaluable competitive advantages... Conversely, the “cost” of making a key decision can be very high, and it will take many years to pay.

All this speaks of the exceptional importance of developing and implementing a strategy for the long-term development of Russian vertically integrated oil companies. And here two sides of the problem can be distinguished. The first concerns the general principles of corporate strategic planning and management, the second concerns the specifics of Russian vertically integrated oil companies, which actually operate in the conditions of the transitional economy of Russia.

The basic "philosophy" of strategic management of corporations of the scale of vertically integrated companies is system analysis.

First, the development of a large corporation is usually viewed as the evolution of a complex system that includes very specific elements, relationships and structure. Secondly, it is assumed that there are certain goals for the development of this system. Thirdly, it is understood that a corporation has many options (ways) to achieve its goals. Fourth, it is assumed that the development of any corporation occurs in interaction with the external environment (meaning not only the natural environment, but also political and socio-economic factors). For a vertically integrated oil company, this can be, for example, natural complexes in the places of its activity, the country's economy, world markets for oil and oil products.

At the stage of developing a strategy, it is extremely important how the development goal of vertically integrated oil companies will be formulated. It would seem that everything is clear here - getting the maximum annual profit. However, in strategic terms, this means the following: in each specific situation, the management of the corporation makes the most risky decisions when trying to extract the maximum profit; production assets wear out intensively without an adequate investment policy; saving on current costs weakens the motivation to improve quality indicators, which inevitably leads to a drop in the "quality" of the entire corporation.

Thus, in the long term, the goal of maximizing annual profits may turn out to be false and it becomes necessary to develop a sustainable development strategy, implying mutual adaptation of goals to maximize profits and external and internal constraints. True, there are difficulties of a special kind, for the goals of the development of the external system are not defined or are extremely vague. This is typical for non-stationary, transitional periods, for example, for modern Russia, when the set of declared goals does not allow one to form a clear idea of ​​the socio-economic processes taking place in society. Periodic attempts to concretize these goals are extremely contradictory, which further exacerbates the uncertainty of the situation.

The next step is to specify the target setting in relation to the corporation itself. Now the goal setting is understood as the desired state of the system upon reaching a given planning horizon and can be described in the form of volumetric or structural indicators.

The strategic goal of a vertically integrated oil company is universal for every large organization. This is getting the profit that is optimal from the point of view of sustainable long-term development of the company.

Being common for any business entity, this goal is realized based on the results of the analysis of its current activities. It is on the basis of such an analysis that those objects in an oil company or links in its management system are identified that represent a clear or potential danger in terms of both the amount of profit and the sustainability of development. As a result, specific strategic tasks and related decisions arise, aimed at the redistribution of resources of the vertically integrated oil company, its restructuring. liquidation of some management structures and (or) creation of new ones, etc. When developing such decisions, it is important to analyze not only external conditions (economic, legal, social, natural), but also the current activities of the company.

In turn, the implementation of these decisions presupposes practical activity, which, although it can be classified as current, is already falling under the category of strategically managed. Such strategic tasks of vertically integrated oil companies can be, for example, the following:

The use of available resources or their redistribution for the solution of certain strategic tasks;

Attraction of external (additional) funds, resources for the same purposes;

Expansion or improvement of the quality of the mineral resource base of the oil company;

Reconstruction of individual links in the vertical cycle of the movement of raw materials (for example, reconstruction of an oil refinery in order to ensure the optimal combination of the structure of produced petroleum products that meet the market demand for certain types of them, and the properties of the initial petroleum feedstock);

Changing or expanding the geography of markets for crude oil and petroleum products;

1. Stabilization of basic industries and divisions, their adaptation to new economic conditions, the choice of the main directions of companies' activities in a strategic perspective.

2. Structural restructuring of company divisions to ensure their maximum compliance with corporate interests, leading to the formation of organic vertically integrated systems.

3. Dynamic development and possible growth of "adapted" vertically integrated oil companies in the conditions of the expected economic recovery in Russia and the formation of the foundations of a market economy.

The first stage for the majority of domestic oil companies can be considered almost complete, so now it is important to work out the goals of the next two stages of their development. They will differ in the essence of the tasks being solved, the planning horizon, the degree of uncertainty of a number of factors. These goals should be formulated in such a way that their achievement makes all divisions work efficiently during this period and at the same time does not contradict the strategic long-term goals of vertically integrated oil companies. Already at the second stage, the plans of the oil companies should include the basic starting conditions for the third stage in order to achieve the most complete pairing of them.

It is characteristic that at the first stage of the formation of Russian vertically integrated oil companies, the "state" tasks of their development as a set of production units of different branches of the centralized planned economy of the former USSR prevailed. As the economic and political independence of companies increases, all greater importance began to acquire, although not contrary to the most important state, but their own interests. Naturally, over time, they will become dominant.

The most important event in the modern history of the domestic oil industry was the transition from the state form of ownership of the enterprises included in it to the joint-stock one. In this regard, the overwhelming number of measures of any long-term development program requires the attraction of funds from shareholders, and, consequently, taking into account their interests, including at the stage of formulating strategic development goals for oil companies.

An oil company, like any other commercial organization, primarily pursues its own material benefits. At the same time, being an extremely large corporation, whose economic activity cannot develop solely on the basis of its own resources, it must make its strategic goals attractive for the inflow of additional funds, both equity and debt.

The main most general goal of the company (its mission) is always formulated in such a way that its achievement would interest both today's shareholders and potential shareholders and large investors. Thus, the oil company can solve two problems: to avoid an outflow of funds by selling its shares at low prices due to the fear of shareholders to lose not only dividends, but also fixed capital; to attract additional external funds by expanding the circle of shareholders or using other mechanisms (such as a project financing apparatus).

In general, with some exceptions, shareholders are indifferent to the sphere of their capital investment, since they operate in purely financial categories of profit, liquidity, dividend, etc. Therefore, during the period of formation and development, the strategic goals of domestic vertically integrated oil companies should be: firstly, obtaining the optimal profit at the moment in a volume that allows making the necessary investments and paying guaranteed dividends on shares; secondly, ensuring the stable functioning of the company up to a given planning horizon. However, such an impersonal formulation does not reflect the peculiarities inherent in each oil company separately.

The fact is that, despite the apparent solidity, the mass of shareholders is heterogeneous in their preferences. Some are quite happy with a moderate but stable income. Others, in anticipation of high income, agree to take risks. Someone wants to receive big dividends today, at least at the cost of future losses, and someone is ready to wait for the sake of a brighter tomorrow. Moreover, if the “ordinary shareholder” is set up exclusively to receive dividends, which he wants to see as maximum, then the stock speculator is interested in sharp fluctuations in the share price on which he could win. Therefore, when formulating development goals, it is necessary to explain what lies at the basis of the individual strategy of this vertically integrated oil company and what are its priorities, how during the period under review the company is going to receive dividends acceptable to shareholders and ensure the stability of their investments.

Another problem is the issue of shares of various levels within companies. Often, a vertically integrated oil company issues its shares as a parent company, its subsidiaries - theirs, and subsidiaries in relation to them ("granddaughters" of the parent company) - theirs. In the context of the underdevelopment of the domestic stock market and the changing relations between the structural subdivisions of vertically integrated oil companies, the situation becomes excessively confusing, especially for foreign investors who are accustomed to clarity in such matters.

When creating and improving the strategies of domestic energy companies, financial and industrial groups with the participation of the oil and gas business, its diversification, modern trends should be taken into account. The most significant are the following questions.

What should be the domestic oil and gas business environment? How and at what expense will domestic energy companies compete in the long term in the domestic and foreign energy markets?

What competitive strategies will the companies pursue and what will they focus on?

What should be the mechanism for the creation, conquest, retention and strengthening of competitive advantages by domestic energy companies in the framework of their own strategy implementation?

What is the role of parent companies and how to evaluate their performance? What are the advantages of headquarters and central offices?

What organizational structures of companies are preferred when implementing different strategies?

Reforms of the Russian oil and gas sector will lead to significant changes at enterprises of the entire spectrum of the oil and gas complex - from giants to small companies, which requires constant scientific research and sound methodological approaches to the development of strategies for the development of oil and gas companies, their effective management in a competitive environment.

Numerous publications provide information on the activities of tens of thousands of foreign oil and gas companies: development and production; drilling; oil refining; service; transportation; ecology; corrosion control; information and software; traders; suppliers of equipment and reagents; providing consulting services, etc. These companies form the oil and gas business environment.

All companies in the business environment solve their own problems, which differ both in scale and in final results, but they have one thing in common: they operate in a tough competitive environment, compete with each other, implementing their own strategies (each at its own level). Today the leading companies are pursuing a global policy: worldwide sales; purchase of materials and raw materials around the world; location of production in different countries; competition through foreign investment; placement of R&D (R&D) in various countries; alliances with other companies (moreover, if companies from several countries enter into an alliance, then, as a rule, companies with competitive advantages become leaders in these unions), etc.

The figure shows a conceptual approach to the formation and analysis of economic information on the development trends of energy companies in the world.

The key strategic directions of the Russian fuel and energy complex development include the creation of an oil and gas business environment, the participants of which are oil and gas companies of various sizes and specializations. This business environment should contribute to the stabilization and dynamic development of the Russian fuel and energy complex, which implies the most complete and efficient use all its resources and potential.

The ways to improve Russian energy companies are closely related to the need to change the paradigm of competition and competitiveness - from comparative advantages (due to factors that are in abundance - raw materials, labor, infrastructure, capital, etc.) to competitive (creating conditions for constant renewal, application new management methods, innovations, Information Technology etc.).

Modern business conditions, increasing competition among manufacturers force the company to reconsider the traditional ways and methods of achieving the main production goal - profit. Companies are diversifying their activities in an effort to increase economic strength while reducing entrepreneurial risk.

At the same time, management at the level of economic units is faced with the need to take into account economic, socio-political, scientific and technical and other changes occurring in the environment, to take into account the likelihood of such changes and the risk associated with it. It is no less important to analyze the internal capabilities of a business unit from the point of view of their compliance with external requirements and strategic objectives.

Below is a variant of the procedure for forming the company's strategy, tested at OJSC LUKoil:

1. The preliminary stage, at which the baseline information base is formed as a result of the measures taken: by assessing the market, business activity, turnover stability, and demand intensity; analysis of market attractiveness and selection of a market segment.

2. Formation of prerequisites. At this stage, a forecast of economic parameters is drawn up based on the existing internal trends and various forecast options for the behavior of the external environment.

3. Statement of the problem. The level of the company's claims is determined by calculating the quantitative values ​​of economic indicators. The forecast of possible performance results is compared with the level of claims, which allows you to identify the difference between the desired and the existing levels of indicators.

4. Development of a long-term strategy. Based on the identified deviations of indicators, the possibility of eliminating the identified difference is determined. The possibilities of developing new industries, expanding types of activities, creating branches and joint ventures, increasing production capacities and reducing costs are being investigated. The development of a strategy includes a package of projects to close the gaps with an assessment of their effectiveness, which allows you to choose the most appropriate areas of development. The strategic directions of the company's activities are determined by the ultimate goals (increasing or maintaining the market share of the company's products, leadership in technology, increasing employment, maximizing the use of material, labor and financial resources, increasing profitability, etc.).

The strategy process does not end with immediate action. Strategy allows the organization to select goals (benchmarks) and is a procedure (means) to achieve the goals. Almost always behind the success of the company is one or another original strategy that exists in an implicit form. If the external environment, technology, competition conditions change at their usual pace, managers can adapt their work skills, using the accumulated knowledge and experience. In these conditions, strategies can be effective, existing, for example, in the form of ideas known only to a narrow circle of leaders.

Due to the dynamism of changes in economic conditions not only in our country, but also in the world, a systematized and open strategy turns out to be the most effective. This, in particular, is confirmed by the analysis of information on mergers and acquisitions of American firms. It was found that the preliminary development of a takeover strategy provides significantly higher financial indicators than actions based on a specific situation.

LUKoil has developed a long-term development strategy for the company, which includes the priority development of the oil sector with a significant increase in oil reserves. At the same time, the "oil portfolio" is constructed by an increase in the share of highly productive reserves and an increase in the share of oil production at new fields with lower production and transportation costs. At the same time, it is planned to widely introduce modern methods of oil production intensification.

Another strategic direction of the company's development is the optimization of intersectoral proportions with the achievement of a more rational ratio of oil exploration and production, production and sale of oil products. The task is: while maintaining the priority of the oil sector, significantly increase the capacity of oil refining and the network of sales of oil products.

The third main direction of LUKoil's long-term development is the diversification of the oil business with the development of the petrochemical, gas, transportation, and engineering sectors for better use of raw materials and sustainable growth in profitability.

The global aspect of the company's development is strengthening with an increase in the share of international operations in the oil and oil products sectors, with the expansion of the company's participation in the development of highly efficient oil and gas fields abroad, consolidation in foreign sales markets and the development of mutually beneficial partnerships.

Effective improvement of the quality of management has become the basis for a new set of measures necessary for LUKoil to achieve world-class levels.

It is envisaged to expand and deepen the process of restructuring the company with a comprehensive reorganization of structures and management systems. At the center of this work is the accelerated completion of the organizational and financial consolidation of subsidiaries. This will make it possible to create a full-fledged joint-stock company instead of a holding, to consolidate financial flows, to simplify and increase the efficiency of the corporate governance system through better use of the potential of vertical integration. In addition, at the first stage of the long-term perspective (up to 2000), additional structural transformations should be carried out:

reorganization of the corporate center;

restructuring of foreign and regional subsidiaries and independent firms;

creation of an effective system of project investment management.

LUKoil's strategic goal is to modernize and significantly improve the efficiency of corporate and operational decision-making through the implementation of a comprehensive reengineering program, including the qualitative improvement of key business processes with the simultaneous introduction of new information technologies.

Reengineering programs include the consolidation of information resources of the company's structural divisions and the creation of an integrated corporate information management system operating in real time, based on objective data on financial and material flows in all areas of the company's business, providing an overall cost reduction and having the ability to respond flexibly to changes market and legislative situation.

At the next stages, the work on restructuring the company will continue with access to world-class management quality, i.e. structures and systems of corporate governance will be brought into full compliance with world experience and international requirements, including:

improving risk management, ensuring their minimization and increasing the company's market value;

gradual transition to a unified global organization of production and sales of the company in Russia and abroad;

strengthening of corporate morality - loyalty and joint responsibility of personnel;

and other necessary measures.

Implementation of long-term development strategies is a guarantee of sustainable growth of the company's production potential and financial results in the interests of its shareholders and investors.

Analysis of the activities of the world's largest companies shows that changes in strategies and organizational structures are closely related. This mutual dependence is formed as follows:

The company's strategy is the main factor that determines its organizational structure;

A multi-purpose strategy complicates the organizational structure of a company.

The choice of strategy is influenced by both changes in the external economic environment and the size of the company, the volume of its sales and profits. This, in turn, affects the organizational structure, improving which, the company ensures the effectiveness of solving strategic tasks.

Overcoming possible negative consequences of vertical integration

Thus, vertical integration is, in principle, capable of strengthening the company's potential, increasing the efficiency of its economic activities and strengthening its competitiveness. Along with this, vertically integrated oil companies have features that, under certain circumstances, can reduce their efficiency and competitiveness.

1. First of all, a company that integrates into its structure, for example, the extraction of raw materials, the successive stages of its processing, the production of the final product and the distribution network, is forced to make large investments with a long payback period, which links the company's resources for a long time, restricts its mobility and flexibility weakens the ability to make investment decisions outside of its sphere of activity, however potentially profitable they may be. Such companies have especially high fixed costs associated with the need for significant costs to maintain production capacity along the entire vertical chain, regardless of the level of demand for the final product. This makes the financial position of such companies especially unstable in the event of a significant reduction in demand for their final products. In addition, serious problems may arise as a result of the unevenness of technical progress in individual links of the production chain, which, ultimately, can lead not only to an imbalance in the production potential of individual links, but also to restrain technical progress due to the desire to recoup the costs of creating morally obsolete facilities.

2, Serious problems may arise as a result of uneven technological progress in individual links of the production chain, which can lead not only to an imbalance in the production potential of individual links, but also to restrain technical progress, negatively affecting the innovation and production potential of the company as a whole.

3. The potential threat of a decrease in the efficiency and competitiveness of the company is associated with the fact that its individual links may be isolated from the impact of market forces, including competition. This happens if a company focuses mainly on intra-firm supplies and VINK subdivisions are forced to buy products from their enterprises, despite the fact that they may be more expensive or worse in quality than similar products produced by competing companies.

In order to neutralize the possible negative consequences of vertical integration, they resort to a variety of measures of a strategic and organizational nature.

One of essential funds neutralization of the negative consequences of integration caused by the rigid linking of resources in vertically integrated companies and their weak maneuverability is the diversification of their economic activities. Firms can buy companies in other business areas, collaborate with other companies and organizations in the field of research and development to create research and development capacity focused on new technologies and markets for the firm.

In practice, vertically integrated companies resort to all of these diversification methods. At the same time, as practice shows, the diversification of companies in the industry, which is not related to the main direction of its activity, either technology or sales, often ends in failure and the company sooner or later is forced to leave such industries.

The complex problems arising in attempts to diversify vertically integrated firms into areas of business that they are not familiar with seem to explain the tendency that has clearly manifested itself in the activities of these firms in recent years to direct resources to those areas in which they have the most powerful technological and sales potential.

Another important direction for enhancing the flexibility and efficiency of vertically integrated oil companies is overcoming the isolation of the company's divisions from the market environment by giving the managers of these divisions a certain freedom of choice between a market transaction and an intra-firm operation.

Partial integration is becoming widespread, in which part of the products used by the company are purchased on the market, and the rest is produced in their own enterprises.

Partial integration allows a company to compare its products in terms of their quality and the value of production costs with those of competitors, which is important both for assessing the effectiveness of its divisions and when concluding contracts with independent companies.

The specifics of the situation in specific markets and in specific industries have a strong influence on the strategic choice of a company for or against vertical integration. Often, the decision in favor of integration is caused by the desire of the firm to weaken its dependence on supplier companies (in the case of "downward integration") or companies-purchasers of the firm's products (in the case of "upward integration") in the event that these companies are able to impose unfavorable conditions on the firm in relation to prices, supplies, purchases of its products, access to the distribution network, etc. An important role in choosing a vertical integration strategy is also played by considerations determined by the desire of the firm to strengthen the obstacles to the access of real and potential competitors to its sphere of activity and thereby strengthen its market position.

Improving the efficiency of vertically integrated oil companies

The rapid development of vertically integrated companies and the viability demonstrated by many of them over the decades are primarily due to their higher efficiency compared to non-integrated firms. Reducing the costs of production, distribution and marketing of products, and as a result, an increase in profits and return on investment - this is what companies rely on when deciding on vertical integration.

The sources of efficiency gains in vertically integrated companies are diverse. The main ones are the following:

The possibility of organizing an intensive information exchange between its departments, which makes it possible to coordinate plans and schedules for the supply of raw materials, materials and semi-finished products, their processing and delivery of the final product to the consumer;

The possibility of significantly accelerating the entire cycle of material movement and, accordingly, accelerating capital turnover and cost recovery;

The possibility of saving on the costs of market transactions (costs associated with finding a supplier, negotiating deals, in case of breaches of contract conditions, etc. - are especially high in countries with a poorly developed market infrastructure).

Economic growth requires identifying market opportunities in areas where the company will have a clear competitive advantage. It is possible to develop a growth strategy based on analysis carried out at three levels. At the first level, the opportunities that the company can take advantage of the existing scale of activities (opportunities for intensive growth) are identified. At the second level, opportunities for integration with other elements of the industry's marketing system (opportunities for integration growth) are identified. At the third stage, they identify opportunities outside the industry (opportunities for diversified growth).

Strong growth is justified in cases where the company has not fully exploited the opportunities inherent in its traditional markets. The three main varieties of vigorous growth opportunities are as follows:

Deep market penetration is about finding a way for a company to increase its sales in existing markets through more aggressive marketing;

Expanding market boundaries consists in the company's attempts to increase sales by introducing existing products into new markets;

Product improvement is the attempt by a company to increase sales by creating new or improved products for existing markets.

Integration growth is justified in cases where the company's area of ​​activity is strong and / or when the company can receive additional benefits by moving backward, forward or horizontally within the industry.

Regressive integration refers to the attempts of a company to acquire or gain tighter control over its suppliers. Progressive integration is the attempt by a company to acquire or tightly control a distribution system. Horizontal integration is the attempt by a company to acquire or put under tighter control a number of competing enterprises.

Diversified growth is justified in cases where the industry does not provide the company with opportunities for further growth or when the growth opportunities outside the industry are significantly more attractive. Diversification does not mean that a company should tackle every opportunity that comes along. The company must identify for itself areas that will help eliminate its existing shortcomings. There are three types of diversification:

Concentric diversification, i.e. replenishment of its nomenclature with products that, from a technical and / or marketing point of view, are similar to the existing products of the company;

Horizontal diversification, i.e. replenishment of its assortment with products that are not related to manufactured products, but may arouse the interest of existing consumers;

Conglomerate diversification, i.e. replenishment of its nomenclature with products that have nothing to do with either the technology used by the company or its existing products and markets.

Currently, there is a tendency of transformation of large companies interested in their further growth into transnational companies. From ethnocentric companies that view their overseas operations as secondary, they are transforming into geocentric companies that regard the whole world as a single market. The growth of a company is one of the main sources of increasing its efficiency and a means of survival in the competition. One of the driving forces behind the growth of companies is the pursuit of economies of scale.

Doesn't exist in the long run optimal size companies, because its growth is limited only by resources and the ability of managers to adapt to the new scale of the organization and maintain the integrity of the firm. However, the faster the growth, the more difficult it is to adapt the corporate governance structure to changing external conditions and the higher the costs of adaptation, opposed to savings on growth. With the growth of the company, the management functions and the organizational structure of management must radically change. Only then will it be able to maintain stability and realize the potential for economies of scale.

State regulation of the activities of vertically integrated oil companies and linking state interests with the interests of the company

The world experience of organizing and managing enterprises and branches of the fuel and energy complex indicates the need for a fairly strict regulation of their activities by the state. This is due to the following:

The enterprises of the complex are few in number, belong to the strategic sectors of the economy, to a large extent determine the industrial and military potential, as well as the state of affairs in the environment;

Energy in various forms is consumed by absolutely all members of society, and a feature of this process is its continuous nature. This means that energy issues were and remain political issues;

The energy industries are characterized by high inertia of development, huge capital intensity and concentration of material resources, the need for large-scale and comprehensive development of national natural resources, a predominantly monopoly position in the market and the impossibility of duplicating a number of industries in a certain territory.

For these reasons, majority governments foreign countries they prefer to keep many fuel and energy industries in the ownership of the state with very strict regulation of the activities of industries and enterprises that did not get there, which are directly related to the functioning of the national energy sector. In cases where competition in the sectors of the complex leads to the strengthening of the country's energy economy, to better satisfaction of the public need for certain energy carriers, the state allows private and foreign capital there (usually a network of gas stations, exploration and development of oil and gas fields under certain conditions, the creation of additional capacities for oil refining, production alternative sources energy, etc.).

The main tasks of state regulation in the energy sector include the following:

Creation of conditions for fair competition;

Contributing to the sustainable development of the energy sector;

Environment protection;

Regulation of the corporation's rate of return.

The degree of state participation in the regulation of the fuel and energy complex, as evidenced by world experience, entirely depends on the stage of development, the specific situation, the nature and scale of the tasks to be solved. For the effective functioning of the economic mechanism, an optimal combination of market methods and methods determined by government regulation is required. The state and dynamic relationship between the systems of commodity-money relations and state regulation of the economy are of great importance. The reproduction process is simply impossible without state participation. Forms and methods of financial and economic state regulation are unstable, they evolve depending on specific conditions. The experience of industrialized countries confirms that the more acute the situation, the more actively the state intervenes in the regulation of the fuel and energy sector.

The most important means of state regulation of competition relations is antimonopoly legislation.

In the Russian Federation, the Law "On Competition and Restriction of Monopolistic Activity in Commodity Markets" was adopted in March 1991. Its purpose is to define the organizational and legal framework for preventing, limiting and suppressing monopolistic activities and unfair competition to ensure the conditions for the creation and functioning of commodity markets. According to the law, a company occupies a "dominant position" if its market share exceeds 35% - a value set annually by the State Committee for Antimonopoly Policy (SCAP).

Modern antitrust law has two principal areas - control over prices and control over mergers of companies. Antitrust laws primarily prohibit agreement on prices. Any conspiracy between companies to set prices is illegal. The law also prosecutes dumping sales practices, when a company deliberately sets lower prices in order to push competitors out of the industry.

A merger occurs when one company acquires shares in another. The government usually takes action when the market share of companies increases significantly as a result of horizontal mergers. An exception can be made when one of the firms is on the verge of bankruptcy. In the case of a vertical merger (merger of technologically related industries), the law also sets an upper limit on the share of companies in the respective markets, since the merger of former suppliers and consumers makes it impossible for other companies to sell their goods to the buying company. Conglomerate mergers (mergers of companies from different industries) are usually allowed, since as a result of such mergers, the company's position in the respective markets remains practically unchanged.

The strategy for the development of the fuel and energy complex of Russia, declared in official documents, makes it possible to draw a number of conclusions in relation to the oil industry. First, the fuel and energy complex enterprises are considered as an important source of financial resources, and therefore it is assumed that the increasing tax burden will be transferred to them. Secondly, the support of commodity producers through a "skillful" pricing policy may again result in low prices for energy resources for certain groups of consumers. Third, there is a significant structural shift in the consumption of energy, in particular, oil products - from industry to the utilities sector and passenger transport (previously, these consumers were traditionally subsidized). Fourth, the growing requirements for environmental protection and the reliability of energy supply mean an inevitable increase in the internal costs of fuel and energy enterprises for the extraction, transformation and transportation of energy resources.

The official documents also define the priorities, directions and means of a new structural, regional and technical policy in the field of energy supply of the country, without which a system of goals for the strategic development of oil companies cannot be formulated.

The main priority in the documents is to increase the currently extremely low energy efficiency and energy saving. For vertically integrated oil companies, this means the following: with a persisting gap in the energy intensity of production, it is more profitable to export raw materials from Russia, rather than their processed products or final products. This situation, apparently, will persist for a long time; An effective energy conservation policy, coupled with a slow recovery in the domestic economy, is likely to result in moderate domestic energy demand both at the macro level and in most regional markets.

Consequently, a strategy for the development of a vertically integrated oil company that does not contradict national priorities and has as its goal to increase oil production and increase the production of petroleum products can only be justified if the increase in supply is oriented towards foreign markets, rivals are forced out of the domestic or regional markets and competing fuels are replaced by their products. ...

In the future, an increase in the share of oil obtained from the development of relatively small fields and gas as a fuel for the power industry is expected. The latter means that the consumption of fuel oil in the electric power industry in the European part of Russia will approximately halve, remaining at the current level in other regions of the country, and the capacity of this market will be relatively small.

State technical policy in the part that relates to oil companies is focused on: increasing the economic and energy efficiency of all stages of production, transformation, distribution and use of energy resources; refusal from excessive centralization of energy supply with its approach to consumers; environmental and emergency safety of energy sources and reliability of energy supply to consumers; development of effective technologies for the extraction and processing of hydrocarbon raw materials, etc. Obviously, the tightening of requirements for reliability and environmental safety, as well as the decentralization of energy supply will inevitably lead to an increase in the costs of vertically integrated oil companies.

It is believed that the energy market will become the economic mechanism that will be regulated by the state and will allow the realization of these goals. Moreover, the role of the state is reduced to the formation of price and tax policies, the creation of a competitive environment and the development of adequate legislation. The documents confirm the course of the state towards the use of fuel and energy enterprises, in particular, oil companies as an important source of funds for the development of other sectors of the economy, for example, mechanical engineering and the service sector.

However, along with these fairly clear points in the approach to the formation of a "state-regulated energy market" there are certain contradictions, which, in our opinion, should be taken into account when developing strategic development goals for domestic vertically integrated oil companies. First, the pricing policy itself is vague: what are fuel prices, limited by the price structure of the world market? Moreover, the price of self-financing in the conditions of Russia is not always lower than the prices of the world market (proof of this is the retail prices for domestic petroleum products). Secondly, the state is unlikely to be able to single-handedly create full-fledged economic market entities and market infrastructure. This can be done by private capital, and the state will only contribute to this process, creating a favorable climate. Thirdly, the declared tough tax policy in the fuel and energy complex is poorly consistent with the intention to improve the conditions for self-financing and expand the circle of domestic and foreign investors. Finally, the government's ability to collect taxes is far from limitless.

Such ambiguities, while making it difficult to formulate strategic development goals for vertically integrated oil companies, are not insurmountable. Taking into account their real contribution to the Russian economy, oil companies can build their development strategy quite independently of the state, subject to all the rules established by the latter. Moreover, in our opinion, the role of vertically integrated oil companies in the economy of modern Russia is such that the state cannot afford to ignore their interests.

Oil company sustainable development concept

1997 was a turning point for Russia and for oil companies. It was the year of the end of the economic crisis and the beginning of the economic recovery. In 1997, for the first time after a long decline, oil production increased. Most companies have a new private owner. Oil companies have established themselves in the stock market. Some of them (LUKoil, Tatneft) have received international recognition. The debt of the oil complex to the federal budget has sharply decreased. In general, the country's oil complex has been largely reorganized and is almost ready for the start of economic growth.

In this regard, the question arises about the nature and ways of such growth in the new competitive environment, its effectiveness, consistency with social and environmental criteria.

The way out is to create a scientifically grounded concept and models of sustainable development of oil companies with a solution on this basis of practical problems.

The essence of the new approach is targeting a simultaneous and interconnected increase in resource and production potential, increasing financial results, ensuring social and environmental security. This means that a long-term and stable increase in profits as a criterion for success in a market economy should have a solid, constantly strengthening resource and production base, which gives the growth of the financial results of oil companies the necessary stability. At the same time, a prerequisite is the solution of social problems and the achievement of environmental safety.

All these tasks have been solved to one degree or another before. But only within the framework of the concept of sustainable development, their interconnected balanced achievement is placed on a solid long-term planning basis. That is why LUKoil, which had adapted to new market conditions earlier than other companies, carried out restructuring and achieved production growth. Already in 1997, the company developed and approved a strategic concept for sustainable development, which includes the entire group of subsidiaries and regional structures.

Searching for ways of sustainable development, LUKoil used the world experience of the world's best oil companies - Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Mobil, ARCO, Texaco and others, the historical experience accumulated by the oil industry in Russia and other former republics Soviet Union and a generalization of the initial experience of LUKoil's sustainable development in recent years, the importance of such experience is evidenced by the production and financial results of the company.

For three years (1994-1996) the share of LUKoil in oil production increased from 13.8 to 19.4%, in oil refining volumes - from 8.4 to 11%. At the same time, the share of the company in terms of employment remained at the same level.

In 1997, LUKoil's production and sales volumes continued to grow steadily. Oil production and refining increased over the year by 6.5% and 13.5%, respectively.

In general, changes in the financial position can be assessed as positive. In three years, net revenue (in US dollars) increased 4.4 times, and net income 2.4 times. In 1997, payment for products sold by the company for the first time in several recent years expected to be 95-100% of the sales value. In this case, the share of funds will be 40-50%. The implementation of the promissory note program made it possible to displace a significant share of settlements on netting schemes, and to improve the structure and quality of financial flows.

Despite the general financial difficulties for the Russian economy, the company ensured almost complete repayment of current taxes and off-budget payments (at the level of 90-100%). In general, for 1997, actual fiscal payments to the country's budget system from LUKoil and its main subsidiaries will amount to 23-24 trillion. rubles, which is about 30-35% higher than in 1996.

In 1997, the growth of production costs for oil production, refining and marketing slowed down significantly. In a number of areas and organizations, significant savings in production and sales costs are expected.

The growth of production and sales of the LUKoil group was facilitated by the implementation of the investment program. Capital investments in Russian subsidiaries in 1997 (according to preliminary estimates) amounted to more than 6.5 trillion rubles. The company has allocated large funds to finance its foreign projects, in particular in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and a number of other countries.

In 1997, the company reached a new level of borrowing. Depository receipts for preferred shares of LUKoil were issued, a credit rating was obtained, and several borrowings were made on the international capital market for hundreds of millions of dollars. This allows us to largely resolve the problem of investment shortages, which contributes to the implementation of the company's long-term strategy.

All of the above indicators were achieved in the conditions of maintaining an unfavorable external environment, primarily the negative impact of the existing investment and tax climate (tax increases, an increase in transport and energy tariffs, etc.). It is this fact that makes it possible to speak of LUKoil's real entry onto the path of sustainable development.

The adopted strategic concept makes this path comprehensively justified and promising.

The generalized global and domestic experience allowed LUKoil to approach the definition of the time horizon for planning sustainable long-term development of the company until 2010 and, in some cases, for an even longer term. This long-term approach is caused by the urgent need to reasonably plan the implementation of investment projects for the development of oil fields, the construction of factories and marketing infrastructure. The natural long term for the implementation of investment projects in the oil industry, averaging 10-25 years, not only presupposes, but also requires long-term strategic forecasting, planning and management.

As for the uncertainty of external conditions, then there are generally accepted methods of the scenario approach and system analysis in the world. This helps ensure the company's readiness and improve its competitiveness in a wide variety of external conditions.

The basis for choosing the paths of sustainable development of an oil company is strategic marketing with an assessment of the prospects for the dynamics of demand, supply and prices for oil and oil products.

The level of demand and its dynamics is the most powerful external factor that determines the sustainability of the development of oil companies. In the context of the economic crisis, weak and even shrinking effective demand on the Russian domestic market is the main obstacle to the sustainable development of domestic oil companies. It is precisely in connection with the sluggish effective demand that non-payments, surrogate payment instruments, lack of demand for production capacities and other difficulties arise on the way to achieving the effect of sustainable development.

As for the demand on foreign markets, there is such a demand for crude oil. But it is necessary to take into account the limited possibilities of transporting oil for export and the simply social inadmissibility of ignoring the existing, albeit insolvent, domestic market.

In general, taking into account the dynamics of demand and the difference between domestic and world prices, for many years to come, an increase in oil exports will be the basis for the stability of the financial position of an oil company.

In the oil products sector, demand is additionally affected by the non-compliance of most of Russian products with world standards. With the solution of this problem on the basis of the restructuring of refineries, the possibilities of exporting petroleum products will increase. At the same time, this sector will for a long time be influenced by both limited domestic demand and difficult transportation conditions and a high level of competition in the world market of petroleum products. All this determines the limited opportunities for the growth of their exports.

With the beginning of economic growth in Russia, one can expect an increase in domestic demand and domestic prices for oil and oil products, which makes it possible to count on the company's promising reliance on the domestic market. However, this process is not easy, and only a specific marketing situation determines the real distribution of supplies of oil and oil products to the domestic and foreign markets.

In addition, what is very important, oil companies, as the experience of LUKoil shows, can not passively expect interconnected economic growth and demand, but, using an arsenal of active marketing, stimulate and expand demand for their products even during the economic crisis. The fact is that in many regions of Russia, in the CIS countries and even in a number of non-CIS countries, there is a partially or completely unsatisfied effective demand for a number of petroleum products. Therefore, demand constraints in the sustainable development model of an oil company are not tough and change under the influence of an active marketing strategy and expansion of sales regions.

The factor of competition for Russian oil companies is still fully valid only in foreign markets, but it is already manifesting itself in border regions and large cities. Its role in the domestic market will undoubtedly increase with the impact on demand and especially on prices.

Sustainable development strategies take into account that in the future in Russia, just like in Europe and the United States at present, high competition in the oil products sector will lead to stabilization of prices and a decrease in profit margins. Consequently, only strategies of increasing volumes and improving the quality of oil refining, as well as improving the sales network of petroleum products, will provide, with lower profitability, an increase in the mass of profits and justify investments in this sector.

It should be noted again that the factor of the dynamics of prices for oil and oil products, as well as demand, is one of the key factors for the sustainable development of oil companies. Here it is important to assess the impact on the company's strategies and financial results of various trends in world oil prices - their possible growth by 2010 to $ 25-27 per barrel and, albeit less likely, their decline to $ 15-17 per barrel. The average long-term benchmark oil price will be $ 20-22 per barrel. Accordingly, within the framework of the variants of the dynamics of world prices, the rates of convergence with them of domestic oil prices will change.

A special approach to the development of sustainable development strategies requires taking into account the dynamics of domestic prices for petroleum products. The fact is that the weighted average wholesale prices for a number of petroleum products in the domestic market of Russia in 1996-1997. have already reached the world level, and the wholesale prices for gasoline have exceeded world prices by 1.5-1.7 times. This negatively affects the economy of other sectors of the national economy and leads to the price uncompetitiveness of Russian oil products in the border regions, and for high-quality products - in large cities.

As a consequence, sustainable development strategies include not only an increase in the quality of petroleum products, but also the possibility of a comprehensive tax and price reform in the petroleum products sector. The fact is that high wholesale prices for petroleum products in Russia are mainly caused by the concentration of taxes at the level of wholesale sales. In Europe, on the contrary, wholesale taxes are minimal and concentrate on the final, retail stage of the oil business.

Therefore, one of the options perspective development takes into account the high economic effect of the long-term comprehensive tax and price reform in the oil products sector, which will reduce taxes and domestic wholesale prices by 25-30%. At the same time, the increase in taxes and prices in the retail sector will correspond to the dynamics of the growth of the purchasing power of the population in the context of a gradual increase in the scale of economic growth.

Of no less importance in developing sustainable development strategies is taking into account the dynamics of financial, especially currency conditions, affecting the access of oil companies to external investment resources.

Oil companies of Russia, as the experience of LUKoil shows, can get access to the resources of the international financial market. This presupposes the application of serious efforts to disclose information about the financial condition and development prospects of the company. One of the difficulties here is the transition to international financial accounting and reporting standards.

Since 1996, LUKoil's position in the international capital markets has strengthened and will continue to strengthen in the future. It is important that the first strategic investor came to the company on the basis of partnership with a strong American company ARCO. The created joint venture "LUKARCO" is the largest in Russia and one of the largest in the world.

The factor of scientific and technological progress tends to increase its influence on the development of the oil industry, although the latter today does not belong to the knowledge-intensive industries. At the same time, the field of high technologies in the oil industry, especially in the field of enhanced oil recovery, is constantly expanding. In addition, there is a constant technological search for environmentally friendly and cheaper fuel substitutes. This stimulates deeper refining of oil and the growth of the petrochemical sector.

It is important to emphasize that the key external condition for the sustainability of the development of oil companies is the improvement of the economic climate, primarily the tax and investment one. The Tax Code should not only simplify and stabilize legislation, but also provide for a reduction in tax rates by at least 20-30% within 3-5 years (maximum 7 years) as a condition for sustainable economic growth.

The soonest full-scale adoption of the Law on Production Sharing Agreements and amendments to the Law on Subsoil are required, which would make it possible to reissue licenses for exploration and production of oil from subsidiaries directly to oil companies.

Political stability is another key condition for the sustainable development of oil companies.

Comprehensive accounting of key marketing, financial, political and other factors allowed LUKoil to set the achievement of a level of international competitiveness, that is, world-class, as a strategic basis for sustainable development.

Another basis for the sustainability of the development of LUKoil and other oil companies is their vertically integrated structure. At the same time, the historically inherited imbalances between the upstream, downstream and marketing links of vertically integrated oil companies have determined the need for the adoption and implementation of structural growth strategies. Within the framework of such strategies, each sector of a vertically integrated company (oil, oil products, petrochemicals, transportation) grows, firstly, in accordance with the criteria of efficiency and contribution to the overall profitability of the company and, secondly, according to the criteria of complexity, taking into account its optimal location. in the structure of the company. At the same time, the proportions of the world's leading vertically integrated oil companies are used as benchmarks, while taking into account the specifics of each company and the Russian oil industry as a whole.

The most important strategies for the structural growth of oil companies include building up profitable hydrocarbon reserves, which, for sustainable development, must ensure production for at least 13-15 years. This figure has been at LUKoil for over 30 years. According to the estimates of the independent American company Miller & Lents, only LUKoil's proven reserves and in Russia alone exceeded 11 billion barrels and continue to grow. In a sustainable development model, it is important to take into account not only the size, but also the quality of reserves - the size of the fields, the flow rate of wells, their geographic location, the composition of oil and other characteristics.

In the field of oil exploration and production, strategies for sustainable structural growth of resource and production potential take into account the increasingly difficult conditions for oil production in the main oil region of Russia - Western Siberia, where the share of hard-to-recover oil has exceeded 50% and continues to grow.

As a result, LUKoil, as you know, is already practically implementing a large-scale long-term plan for the development of new fields in the Caspian region in Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and, in the near future, in a number of other regions of Russia, primarily Timan-Pechora. More abundant and cheaper oil from the Caspian and other regions of Russia and the world should partially replace the hard-to-recover oil of Siberia. The connection of Caspian oil makes it possible to remove the excessive load and reduce the exorbitant intensity of oil production in Western Siberia, to carry out the necessary large-scale renewal of funds and technologies for enhancing oil recovery here. This will create the basis for long-term stable and, most importantly, profitable oil production in Western Siberia, which is and remains the main region of activity for Russian oil companies.

Big oil is the main, but not the only basis for LUKoil's sustainable development. The complex of long-term strategies for the company's structural growth related to the prospects of oil production includes:

doubling and in the future, possibly, trebling of our own and attracted refining capacities;

multiple (at least 4-5 times) expansion of the petroleum product sales network;

diversification of the oil business with the creation of sectors of petrochemicals, transportation, gas.

Another area of ​​structural growth and a prerequisite for the company's sustainable development is the globalization of its strategies - the share of LUKoil's international operations should exceed 20, and then 30%. At the same time, the establishment of industrial cooperation and the conquest of markets in the former republics of the Soviet Union and other foreign countries with which close political and economic ties have been established is of exceptional importance.

The Sustainable Development Goals determine the need for restructuring of oil companies - the processes of their internal qualitative renewal and structural reorganization to meet the stringent requirements of a modern market economy.

The strategic systemic changes in management necessary for the sustainable development of oil companies include:

organizational and economic consolidation of the company and its subsidiaries;

allocation of auxiliary and service services;

a sharp increase in the quality of financial management, primarily in terms of the budget, accounting and control of production and sales costs;

creating powerful marketing systems;

development of a modern integrated information management system;

significant development of the human resource management system.

A serious obstacle to the sustainable development of oil companies is the lack of sources of investment financing. Own sources satisfy their needs by no more than 60-70%, and the Russian financial market is not focused on the real sector of the economy. In these conditions, equity and debt, including foreign, resources can become additional sources of investment financing. But this money is expensive for the company and requires the introduction of a special project management with the creation of a system of guaranteed efficiency of each investment dollar and ruble.

In conclusion, it should be emphasized that the concept of sustainable development of oil companies is also in development. It is constantly enriched by the practical experience of companies, improving the computer programs for multivariate calculations.

Of course, model calculations of the future of oil companies do not exclude reliance on managerial and engineering experience, because practice is always richer than its electronic counterparts, and life is full of political and economic surprises. It is simply impossible to know them in advance.

Yet modeling the sustainable development of oil companies makes it possible to largely anticipate many threats and opportunities. This means that we can prepare in a timely manner to meet with them.

Thus, the stable positive dynamics of the indicators of oil companies already now, and even more so in the future, is directly determined by the development and management strategies implemented by the companies. And the more such strategies are justified, promising and global, the higher the result will be.

Conclusion

The operating conditions of oil companies in Russia are characterized by instability and abrupt changes in the parameters of the general economic situation - inflation rates, exchange rate dynamics, changes in inter-sectoral price ratios, real incomes of the population, and a decline in production in large sectors.

Therefore, foreign experience in managing the oil industry in the form of vertically integrated companies is extremely important for Russia at the current stage of its economy's transition to the market. In the former USSR, there was perhaps the most integrated oil and gas complex management system in the world, although individual links in the technological chain belonged to different departments. All threads converged in the former State Planning Committee, where planned balances of production, processing and distribution of oil and oil products were developed at prices set from above, which ensured the integration of the entire system - from a well to a gas station. However, this was not economic integration based on the interests of equal partners, but administrative-command, based on non-economic management methods. Not only in the conditions of the market, but also in the transition to it, such a system could not be maintained, because it contradicted the logic of reforms. The collapse of the planning and distribution system in the oil and gas complex turned out to be extremely painful, when, as a result of the liquidation of the USSR, individual links of a single technological chain ended up in different independent states, and long-term ties were broken. At present, some ties have been restored, and it is obvious that they need to be restored in full, but on different, mutually beneficial grounds. The formation of vertically integrated oil companies and the implementation of the potential inherent in their structure should play a significant role in this integration process not only within the Russian Federation, but also on the economic territory of the entire CIS.

In conditions of high uncertainty and instability of the economic situation, vertically integrated companies have significant advantages over independent manufacturing and intermediary firms both in terms of the survival of their subdivisions and in terms of normalizing the general economic situation in the country. Integration makes it possible to increase the efficiency of the company and its survival in the competitive struggle. The advantage of an integrated company is the balance of sales. When the price of oil falls, upstream profits decrease, but refining and petrochemicals increase profits, since the decline in the cost of raw materials tends to be greater than the decrease in the cost of the product, so the loss of one is offset by acquisitions from the other.

In general, as practice shows, the vertical integration of companies engaged in the oil business has a competitive advantage over specialized enterprises and firms.

By implementing their strategies, domestic oil and gas companies can compete in the future with similar foreign companies not only due to the presence of the richest oil and gas reserves and cheap labor (i.e., natural, raw material qualities, which is undoubtedly a great plus and reserve), but also with their developed qualities, obtained as a result of the implementation of their own original management decisions and approaches, knowledge and ideas.

The conditions for the functioning of domestic energy companies that have been radically changing in recent years are characterized by the need to work in an unstable and uncertain external environment. This situation imposes new requirements on managers associated with an increase in the ability to independently "strategic" thinking, the availability of access to operational information about the external environment, reflecting a variety of points of view.

The largest oil companies, while realizing their long-term sustainable development goals, must clearly define the global business outlook, focusing on new technologies and partnerships with other business entities in order to increase the company's value.

Taking advantage of a unified management strategy and focusing on the key factors of the company's success require the consolidation of the financial results of subsidiaries, as well as the introduction of the principles of consolidated taxation. The oil industry attaches particular importance to flexible tax legislation that ensures optimal mode activities of the fuel and energy complex and the balance of interests of various participants.

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For the preparation of this work were used materials from the site ef.ww4.com/