Headquartered in Dallas and plying its business operations across various parts in the United States, HollyFrontier Corporation experiences a number of external factors that influence its business operations (Markides, 2004). These factors include the following;
- Competition
Above all, competition is perhaps the most comprehensive external factor faced by this Company. Notably, HollyFrontier Corporation faces immense competition from its major competitors including Exxon Mobil Corporation, Western Refining Inc., as well as Valero Energy Corporation. For this purpose, HollyFrontier has to streamline its operations in order to suit the needs of its customers; hence, gain a competitive edge over the above connoted competitors (Morvay, & Gvozdenac, 2008).
- Economy (local and global)
The second external factor that affects the key operations of Holly Frontier’s operations is the economy. Both the local and global economy affects the Company’s operations in that it influences its revenue rates (Vance & Paik, 2011).
- Demand for its primary products
In addition, the demand for its core product; oil products occurs as an external factor that has an immense influence on the Company’s operations. Speaking of demand, this connotes to magnitude of desire by the Company’s customers for the Company’s products. Worth noting is the fact that customers demand for products is influenced by a number of factors (Koontz & Weihrich, 2007), particularly the supply. On a similar note, the comparative prices of Holly Frontier’s competitors have a significant influence on the demand from the target customers (Saleem, 2010). This explains the magnitude at which demand as an external factor has an influence on the operations of Holly Frontier’s Corporation.
- Government
On the other hand, the government and other forms of authorities occur as an external factor that has an influence on the operations of Holly Frontier’s Corporation. Coupled with existing and currently devised laws and regulations, the government determines the validity of the Company’s operations and may sojourn them.
- Laws and regulations
Overall, the Company’s operations are governed by stipulated government legislations (Bates, 2005), which influence its operations in one way or another. It is significant to note that the core business operations of Holly Frontier’s are aligned with exploitation of naturally occurring resources that is oil. As such, there are a number of laws and regulations stipulated to limit extensive exploitation of these resources; hence, have an influence on the Company’s operations.
- Prevailing trends
Conclusively, the operations of any business firm are often determined by the ensuing trends within it premises (Koontz, 2007). In this case, Holly Frontier’s is often required to streamline its operations to suit these trends. However, Holly Frontier’s is often faced with a challenge resulting from cases where the ensuing trends are beyond its control. This justifies the fact that trends and an external factor has a significant influence on the Holly Frontier’s operations.
- Customer base
Customer base as an external factor affects Holly Frontiers’ operations because it keeps changing over time. This can primarily be accredited to the eminent presence of its competitors, which at times prompts the customer to shift their base.
References
Bates, B. (2005). Business management: Fresh perspectives. Cape Town, South Africa: Pearson Education.
Koontz, H., & Weihrich, H. (2007). Essentials of management: An international perspective. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.
Markides, C. (2004). Fast Second: How Smart Companies Bypass Radical Innovation to Enter and Dominate New Markets. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Morvay, Z. K., & Gvozdenac, D. D. (2008). Applied industrial energy and environmental management. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K: Wiley.
Saleem, S. (2010). Business environment. New Delhi: Pearson.
Vance, C., & Paik, Y. (2011). Managing a global workforce: Challenges and opportunities in international human resource management. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe.
