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Research Paper On John D Rockefeller

1535 Words7 Pages

John D. Rockefeller
Standard oil company

Goal - Write about factors contributing to the business’s success

The entrepreneur - Rockefeller

His Life
John D. Rockefeller was born on July 8th, 1839 in Richford, New York, U.S. and he passed away on the 23rd of May, 1937 in Ormond Beach in Florida. He was one of the most famous entrepreneurs in American history. He was born into a large family, with a salesman for a father, a devout Christian for a mother and seven siblings. He worked hard from a young age and started the Standard oil company. He recognised the potential of oil production in western Pennsylvania in the early 1860s and built his first oil refinery in Cleveland in 1863. It became the biggest oil company in all of America and he …show more content…

He saved his money and in addition to a loan from his father, he started his first business, a commodities brokerage in 1859. It was relatively successful, but after a while oil was discovered in Pennsylvania and people rushed in. In 1870, Rockefeller officially transferred to the oil business along with his brother William Rockefeller, Samuel Andrews, Henry M. Flagler, and Stephen V. Harkness. The Standard Oil Company of Ohio focused on oil refining, as it was significantly less costly than oil drilling. The business became incredibly successful due to Rockefeller’s brilliant work ethic, dedication to efficiency and reduction of waste. He utilized his own finances and business mindset, taking smart risks that positioned the company as one of the most dominant dynasties in the oil industry. He would later go on to fund research for vaccines, donate to charities and helped finance the University of …show more content…

This allowed him to negotiate even lower prices with transportation businesses and gained access to other such benefits.

Competitive Advantage

Access to new or proprietary technology - Rockefeller found around 300 other uses for the by-products of oil refining. This allowed him to minimize waste and maximize his profits. Other companies initially didn’t know how he managed it, and by the time they did they were almost completely out of business and it didn’t matter anymore.

Price leadership - Rockefeller dominated the oil industry, essentially allowing him to determine the price of oil. This meant he could hike the prices up absurd amounts and people would just have to live with it, seeing as he owned 91% of all oil produced in the United States.

Access to natural resources not available to competitors - Rockefeller hired chemists to work on the impure oil in Ohio and successfully found a way to purify the majority of it. This meant he could buy his oil extremely cheaply, make a huge profit using technology and information that other oil companies didn’t have access to, and then drop his prices to the extent that other companies had to sell to him in order not to go bankrupt.

Corporate

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