Drowning in oil – author of BP oil disaster book talks to Strategic Direction

May 16, 2011 - PRLog -- United Kingdom, May 2011 - On the first anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, respected author and columnist Loren C. Steffy talks to Strategic Direction about his latest book Drowning in Oil: BP and the Reckless Pursuit of Profit, and how a lack of corporate responsibility and government oversight led to the biggest offshore oil spill in US history.

The interview with Loren is freely available to read online until the 22 May 2011. Visit www.emeraldinsight.com/sd.htm and click on sample articles.

Steffy uses the example of the Deepwater Horizon disaster to highlight that within business, vigilance matters.  He explains, “When companies have complex and potentially dangerous operations, they cannot afford to get complacent.  Years of safe operations does not mean you are not moments away from disaster.  Human error is always a factor, but companies need processes that account for it”.

He goes on to discuss how the Deepwater Horizon disaster was only part of a larger pattern of cost-cutting, image-making, and winner-take-all corporate culture that compromised safety across BP's operations for years.

Loren C. Steffy is the business columnist for the Houston Chronicle and has covered BP for several years.  He has been recognized by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and the Associated Press Managing Editors.

Strategic Direction is published by Emerald Group Publishing and is an essential management information resource for today's strategic thinkers. As a unique service, the editors scan through the best 400 management journals in the world and distill the most topical management issues and relevant implications for senior managers out of the cutting-edge research. For more information, visit www.emeraldinsight.com/sd.htm

Strategic Direction is available as part of an online subscription to the Emerald Strategy Subject Collection. For more information, please email collections@emeraldinsight.com.

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