Company Insights on BP, Microsoft, and Western Digital

Company Insights on BP, Microsoft, and Western Digital. On August 30, we all chose 5 stocks to evaluate before purchasing. At this time I chose BP AMOCO, Microsoft, Western Digital, Toys-R-Us, and Fortune Financial Incorporated. After a few weeks of tracking these stocks, I chose to keep BP AMOCO, Microsoft, and Western Digital, because the stocks were relatively stable and most of them were on the rise at this time. As you are aware, we were given $30,000.00 to invest in our three chosen stocks, which breaks down to $10,000.00 per stock. We also had to include a broker’s fee of $500.00 for every $10,000.00 invested. My first stock was BP AMOCO. On September 8, I purchased 167 shares at $57.06 per share, which totaled $9,523.00 and incurred a $476.15 broker’s fee, making the grand total spent $9,999.15. BP is one of Britain’s biggest companies and one of the world’s largest oil and petrochemical groups. Its origin dates back to May 1901. BP owes its origin to one man, William Knox D’Arcy, a wealthy Englishman, who obtained concession from the Muz-affaru'd-Din, Shah of Persia (1896-1907) to explore and exploit the oil resources of the country, excluding the five northern providence’s that bordered Russia. He, shortly after the turn of the century, invested time, money and labor in the belief that worthwhile deposits of oil could be found in Persia, which is now known as Iran. Having been granted the concession; D’Arcy employed an engineer, George Reynolds, to undertake the task of exploring for oil in Persia. For seven years, Mr. D'Arcy battled with severe weather, the absence of a developed infrastructure, the shortage of skilled local labor, the problems of dealing with neighboring tribes in the absence of a strong central government, difficult terrain, and an uncertain political situation. These conditions made Reynolds pioneering task an exceptionally difficult venture. Meanwhile, the costs mounted stretching D’Arcy’s resources to the point where e sought outside financial assistance. This came in 1905 from the Burmah Oil Company, which provided new funds for his venture. More exploration in Persia followed without success, until eventually, in May of 1908, Reynolds and his helpers struck oil in commercial quantities at Masjid-i-Suleiman in southwest Persia. It was the first commercial oil discovery in the Middle East, signaling the emergence of that region as an oil producing area. After the discovery had been made, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was formed in 1909 to develop the oilfield and work the concessions. At the top of Anglo-Persian’s formation, Burmah Oil Company owned 97 percent of its ordinary shares. Lord Strathcona, the company’s first chairman, owned the rest. Although D'Arcy was appointed a director and remained on the board until his death in 1917, he was not to play a major part in the new company's affairs. His role as the initial risk-taking investor was past and the daunting task of developing the oil discovery into a commercial enterprise shifted to others, amongst whom one stands out: Charles (later Sir Charles, then Lord) Greenway. Greenway was one of Anglo-Persian's founder-directors, becoming managing director in 1910 and chairman, after Strathcona, in 1914. Greenway, anxious to avoid falling under the domination of Royal Dutch-Shell, also turned to another potential source of revenue and capital: the British government. The basis of an agreement to mutual advantage lay in Greenway's desire to find new capital and an outlet for Anglo-Persian's fuel oil; and, on the government's part, in the desire by the Admiralty (then headed by Winston Churchill as First Lord) to obtain secure supplies of fuel oil, which had advantages over coal as a fuel, for the ships of the Royal Navy. After lengthy negotiations, an agreement was reached in 1914 shortly before the outbreak of World War I. Anglo-Persian contracted to supply the Admiralty with fuel oil and the government injected $2 million of new capital into the company, receiving in return a majority shareholding and the right to appoint two directors to Anglo-Persian's board. Although the government undertook not to interfere in Anglo-Persian's normal commercial operations, its shareholding introduced an unusual political dimension to the company's affairs. In later years, the government shareholding was reduced and apart from a tiny residual holding ended in 1987. Further expansion followed in the decade after World War I. New marketing methods were introduced, with curbside pumps replacing two-gallon tins for the distribution of motor spirit (or, gasoline). Anglo-Persian also marketed its products in Iran and Iraq; it established an international chain of marine bunkering stations, and in 1926 began to market aviation spirit. New refineries, much smaller than the plant at Abadan, also came on stream at Llandarcy in South Wales in 1921 and at Grangemouth in Scotland in 1924. Moreover, the company's majority-owned French associate had a refinery at Courchelettes, near Douai. On the other side of the world, in Australia, a new refinery at Laverton, near Melbourne, was commissioned in 1924. Exploration was carried out not only in the Middle East, but also in other areas, such as Canada, South America, Africa, Papua and Europe. By the time Greenway retired as chairman in March 1927, he had realized his main strategic goal of establishing Anglo-Persian as one of the world's largest oil companies, with a substantial presence in all phases of the industry. In 1935, the company was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. During the post-war reconstruction of Europe, the high demand for oil enabled Anglo-Iranian to expand its business greatly. The company's sales, profits, capital expenditure and employment all rose to record levels in the late 1940’s. The refinery at Abadan was by this time the largest in the world. Moreover, crude oil production from the company's Iranian oilfields kept Iran at the top of the league of Middle East oil producing countries. Meanwhile, Anglo-Iranian entered the field of petrochemicals. An agreement with the Distillers Company in 1947 resulted in the formation of a joint company, later to become known as British Hydrocarbon Chemicals, which produced basic materials from naphtha at Grangemouth. A second petrochemical complex was built at Baglan Bay in South Wales in 1961. While the company was expanding its operations in the late 1940’s, it was also engaged in talks with the Iranian government about the terms of its oil concession. Long and complex negotiations failed to produce an agreement, and in 1951 the Iranian government passed legislation nationalizing the company's assets in Iran, then Britain's largest single overseas investment. The nationalization precipitated a major international crisis in which the British and US governments became deeply involved. The company's operations in Iran were brought to a halt. Only after three years of intensive negotiations was the crisis resolved by the formation of a consortium of oil companies, which, by agreement with the Iranian government, re-started the Iranian oil industry in 1954. Anglo-Iranian which was renamed The British Petroleum Company in 1954 held a 40 percent share in the consortium. One of the effects of the Iranian nationalization crisis was that the company was forced to broaden its operations to make good the loss of oil supplies from Iran, on which it had depended. Crude oil production in other countries, notably Kuwait and Iraq, was greatly increased; and new refineries were built in Europe, Australia and Aden. In another development, in 1952, the company commissioned its first lubricating oils plant at Dunkirk. Two years later, it began marketing BP Visco-Static, Europe's first multi-grade-oil. Although all of these events were important for the company, it was hydrocarbons under the North Sea and under the permafrost of Alaska that were to play the key role in transforming BP into the company it is today. Earlier, in 1959, the Dutch had discovered a giant gas field on the edge of the North Sea at Groningen. This discovery encouraged others to begin searching for hydrocarbons offshore. BP scored the first success in British waters when, in 1965, it found the West Sole gas field, which it brought on stream two years later. The search for oil spread farther north, and in 1970 BP discovered the Forties field the first major commercial find in the UK sector. Meanwhile, in Alaska, BP was rewarded for ten years' exploration effort when, in 1969, it announced a major oil discovery at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope. When it became clear that, through its large share in Prudhoe Bay, BP owned part of the biggest oilfield in the USA, the company decided that its Alaskan oil could best be handled by a well-established US refining and marketing company. Accordingly, it signed an agreement with the Standard Oil Company of Ohio in August 1969. This company, the original John D. Rockefeller Standard Oil, was the market leader in Ohio and was strongly represented in neighboring states. Under the agreement, which became effective from 1st January 1970, Standard took over BP's leases at Prudhoe Bay and some East Coast downstream assets that BP had acquired in 1968. In return, BP acquired 25 percent of Standard's equity, a stake that would rise to a majority holding in 1978 when Standard's share of Alaskan production passed 600,000 barrels a day. The 1970’s were the decade of the two great oil price shocks (1973 and 1979/80) that were to have serious effects on the world's economies. It was also a decade when the major oil companies saw a decisive change in their old concessionaire relationships. Like its major competitors, BP lost direct access to most of its supplies of OPEC oil as the OPEC countries took control of production and prices. The 1973 price explosion had a dramatic effect on demand. BP's oil sales started falling for the first time since 1952 (with the exception of 1957, the year of the Suez crisis). By 1978, sales had recovered somewhat; but then the Iranian revolution came and another major rise in the price of oil. In 1979, BP suffered further blows when its assets in Nigeria were nationalized and its supplies from Kuwait cut back. By 1980, its sales were down again. The entire oil industry was affected by the events of the 1970’s. But thanks to BP's large investment program in areas outside the Middle East, the company showed as it had done in Iran in 1951, that it could survive. As noted, of key importance were the developments of its oilfield discoveries in the North Sea and Alaska. In the autumn of 1975, BP pumped ashore the first oil from the North Sea's UK sector when it brought the Forties field on stream. This field development was financed by a bank loan of $370 million, then the largest wholly private bank advance ever arranged. At its peak, Forties produced half a million barrels a day, equivalent to one-quarter of the UK's daily oil requirement. Since the early 1980’s, BP has developed many more oil and gas fields in the North Sea. Among these have been, in the UK sector, Magnus (commissioned in 1983), the Village gas fields (1988), Miller (1992) and Bruce (1993) and, in Norwegian waters, Ula (1986) and Gyda (1990). In Alaska, meanwhile, the construction of the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline System enabled the Prudhoe Bay field to come on stream in 1977. In 1981, the Kuparuk field also started production, and towards the end of 1987 the world's first continuous commercial production from an offshore area in the Arctic was achieved when the Endicott field was commissioned. Today, BP's other oil- and gas-producing countries include Abu Dhabi, Australia, Colombia, Norway and Papua New Guinea. The upheavals of the 1970’s led BP to conclude that it should broaden its activities so that it could operate in the future with more balanced sources of income. Accordingly, from the mid-1970’s there was increased emphasis on diversification into new areas of activity. BP's entry into the nutrition business originated in the 1950’s, when the company's French researchers began to develop a process for converting oil into protein. Although the process was later discarded, BP developed other interests in nutrition. From the mid-1970’s, it became involved in animal feed, animal breeding and consumer foods and related products. As a result of the purchase in 1986 of the US Company, Purina Mills, BP Nutrition became one of the world's largest feed millers. In 1990, it also took responsibility for BP's household cleaning and personal care products successors of the old detergents business. Another industry, which BP entered in the mid-1970’s, was minerals. BP expanded its mineral interests considerably in 1980, when, in what was then the London stock market's largest-ever takeover bid, it bought Selection Trust, the British-based mining finance house. In the following year, Standard Oil acquired Kennecott, America's largest copper producer and a major force in other metals. The mid-1970’s also saw the start of the build-up of BP's coal business. By 1989, about half the group's coal operations were in the US, the remainder being in Australia, South Africa and Indonesia, with some coal trading in Europe. Meanwhile, in the 1960’s, BP had become involved in the information technology industry through its acquisition of Scicon. With a view to the effective management of this now much more diversified group, the company underwent major restructuring in 1981. The organization that resulted consisted of international business streams, national associate companies around the world, and, at the center, the supporting services and corporate head office. These elements were coordinated by a matrix system of management. Also during the early 1980’s, BP's refining, shipping and chemicals operations were suffering from the effects of industry-wide over-capacity and economic recession. Consequently, these activities were thoroughly rationalized. BP cut back its refining capacity, particularly in Europe, so that by the end of 1988 it was left with five main fuels refineries in the region, compared with 16 in 1981. In chemicals, BP had augmented its interests substantially when, at the end of 1978, it acquired European assets from Union Carbide and Monsanto. But the difficult trading environment that emerged shortly afterwards led BP to make severe cuts in its operations. Between 1980 and 1984 it closed a number of chemicals plants and withdrew from certain products. The year 1987 was dominated by three historic events in BP's development: the company's $4.7 billion offer for the 45 percent of Standard Oil it did not already own; the sale by the British government of its remaining holding in BP; and, as the year ended, the start of BP's successful bid to acquire Britoil, the UK-based oil exploration and production company. After acquiring Standard Oil outright, BP combined its existing interests in the US with Standard's operations to form a new company: BP America. The merging of Standard Oil into BP gave the group access to the full potential of the world's biggest market as well as to Standard's considerable cash flow. Today, about one-third of BP's fixed assets is in the US. When the government came to sell its remaining 31.5 percent shareholding in BP in October 1987, few could have forecast the collapse in the world's stock markets that was to occur between the opening and the closing of the offer. The outcome was naturally a disappointment to BP. But even if the hoped-for international broadening of the company's ownership did not fully materialize, the number of names on BP's share register more than doubled to around 600,000. The share sale did attract one large new investor the Kuwait Investment Office, which, by early 1988, had built up a 21.6percent stake in BP. After an investigation by the UK's Monopolies and Mergers Commission, the government endorsed the Commission's findings that the KIO's holding could operate against the public interest. The KIO was therefore required to reduce its stake to not more than 9.9percent of BP's stock. In 1989, BP purchased (and then cancelled) 790 million BP shares from the KIO, so reducing the holding. The third major event of the year was BP's bid for Britoil, whose purchase was completed in 1988. The success of the $2.8 billion acquisition meant that BP almost doubled its exploration acreage in the North Sea and reinforced its position as the largest oil and gas producer in the area. After the diversification’s of the 1970’s and early 1980’s BP found like other companies which followed a similar course that it experienced mixed success in managing its 'new' businesses. Towards the end of the decade, in a change of strategy, the company decided to concentrate on its core, hydrocarbon-based activities. To that end, it began a series of divestments. In early 1988, BP sold its subsidiary, Scicon, and so withdrew from the computing services industry. After developing its mineral interests successfully during the 1980’s, the company sold most of the business to RTZ in 1989 and disposed of the balance during the next few years. Similarly, most of BP Coal was sold in 1989 and 1990. The company did not begin to sell its nutrition interests until 1992, but by the middle of that year the divestments program was well advanced. From the early 1970’s, BP's center of gravity has shifted westwards, away from the Middle East where its origins were laid. Having diversified into other industries, the company is now focusing again on its core activities in petroleum and chemicals. In 1989, the company launched a campaign to introduce a stronger corporate identity, featuring a restyled BP shield and an emphasis on the color green. And in a complementary program that was to prove highly successful, BP started to re-image its global network of service stations in a new design and livery. At the same time, in the quest to find new sources of oil and gas, BP's explorers began to focus their skills more and more on the regions of the world that for political or technical reasons remained relatively unexplored. For example: Colombia, the republics of the Former Soviet Union, and the deep-water areas of the Gulf of Mexico. And in all its operations, BP maintained its policy of striving to be an industry leader in health, safety and environmental standards. To equip itself for the challenges of the 1990’s and beyond, the company introduced, in a program called Project 1990, major changes in its organization and way of working to improve efficiency and flexibility. To help further in the running of BP, the roles of chairman and group chief executive were split in 1992. A new management, under Lord Simon of Highbury, Peter Sutherland and later Sir John Browne, set tough targets for debt reduction, profitability and cost cutting. Four years later profits trebled, and BP had managed a turn-around - moving from the bottom of the industry into the top quarter. Then, on December 31, 1998, BP and Amoco completed a $53 billion merger after winning regulatory approval from the Federal Trade Commission. The Chicago-based Amoco was the nation's fifth-largest oil company with 9,300 gasoline stations, and the London-based BP, was the world's third-largest oil company, and sold its products through a network of 17,900 gasoline stations. Now, 97 years after William Knox D'Arcy set off to explore the Iranian desert, the company has transformed itself into BP Amoco, one of the world's largest oil producers, and Britain's largest company. The BP Amoco of today is one of the world’s leading oil companies. It is an international company that has operations in seventy countries, including the U.S., with its U.S. headquarters located at 535 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10022-4212. BP Amoco’s key strengths are in oil and gas exploration and production; the refining, marketing and supply of petroleum products; and the manufacturing and marketing of chemicals. For the first six months of this year, BP Amoco’s turnover rose 81percent to $60.87 Billion. Net income according to the U.S. GAAP, totaled $5.29 Billion, up from $1.58 Billion in 1999. As I stated earlier, I purchased 167 shares in this companies stock for $57.06 each. This stock now sells for $51.56 a share, which for me means a loss of $5.50 per share. Then with the 5 percent broker’s fee of $430.53 included, equals $8,179.99. This total subtracted from the original money spent of $9,999.15 puts me $1,819.16 in the red. The next stock I chose was Microsoft. On September 8, I purchased 136 shares at $70.16 per share, which totaled $9,523.00 and incurred a $476.15 broker’s fee, making the grand total spent $9,999.15. Microsoft Corporation develops, manufactures, licenses and supports a wide range of software products for a multitude of computing devices. Microsoft software includes operating systems for intelligent devices, personal computers and servers; server applications for client/server environments; knowledge worker productivity applications; and software development tools. The Company’s online efforts include MSN network of Internet products and services; e-commerce platforms; and alliances with companies involved with broadband access and various forms of digital inter-activity. Microsoft also licenses consumer software programs; sells PC input devices; trains and certifies system integrators; and researches and develops advanced technologies for future software products. It all started with the dream of "a computer on every desk and in every home." In just 25 years, Microsoft turned this revolutionary idea into a reality, creating a new industry and transforming how we work, live, learn and play. In January 1975 a programmer brought a Popular Mechanics' advertisement for a microcomputer kit along with an idea to his friend's college dorm room. Their partnership eventually evolved into the world's most valuable company, with a market capitalization that surpassed $260 billion on Sept. 14, slightly ahead of General Electric Corp.'s valuation of $257.4 billion. The boy was Paul Allen. The friend was Bill Gates, whom he had met while they were classmates at the exclusive Lakeside School in Seattle. The school was Harvard University and the idea was to build software for the machine. The result is Microsoft Corporation, and the rest is history. Microsoft Corporation was founded as a partnership by William H. (Bill) Gates and Paul G. Allen on April 4, 1975. The word Microsoft first appeared with a hyphen between micro and soft (Micro-Soft) meaning "microcomputer software". This name was first used in a letter to Paul Allen from Bill Gates to refer to their partnership. This name has been used officially after it registered in November 1976 with the officer of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico. On June 25, 1981, Microsoft reorganized into a privately held corporation with Bill Gates as President and Chairman of the board, and Paul Allen as Executive Vice President. Microsoft became Microsoft, Inc, an incorporated business in the State of Washington. Their business objective was to develop languages for the Altair and for other microcomputers that were bound to appear soon on the market. Thus, Microsoft was the first company formed for the specific purpose of producing software for such computers. The core of Microsoft today centers around five main product lines: operating systems, languages, business software, hardware, and computer "how to" books. It all began with Bill Gates in 1975. He developed Microsoft Basic interpreter for the first microcomputer while he was an undergraduate at Harvard University in 1975. His foresight into personal computers and continuing improvement has been the essential to Microsoft. In 1975 after dropping out of Harvard University at age nineteen, Gates teamed with high school friend Paul Allen to sell a condensed version of the programming language BASIC. While Gates was at Harvard, the pair had written the language for the Altair, the first commercially available microcomputer sold by MITS, an Albuquerque-based maker of electronic kits. Gates and Allen moved to Albuquerque and set up Microsoft in a hotel room to produce the program for MITS. Although MITS folded in 1979, Microsoft continued to grow by modifying its BASIC program for other computers. Microsoft moved to Bellevue, in the Seattle area in 1977, where it developed software that enabled others to write programs. The modern PC era dawned in 1980 when Microsoft was chosen by IBM to write the critical operating system for IBM’s new PC’s. This was Microsoft’s big break. Given the complexity of the task, Microsoft bought the rights to an operating system called QDOS (quick and dirty operating system) for $50,000 from a Seattle programming, Tim Paterson, and converted it to Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS). The popularity of IBM’s PC made MS-DOS a huge success. And because other PC makers wanted to be compatible with IBM, MS-DOS was licensed to over 100 companies, making it the standard PC operating system in the 1980’s. The company then began developing databases, word processors, and other software packages that could run on its operating system. In the mid-1980’s Microsoft introduced Windows, an easier-to-use version of MS-DOS that borrowed from Apple Computer’s point and click Macintosh. Allen fell ill with Hodgkin’s disease and left Microsoft in 1983. He later started his own software company, Asymetrix. Today, Allen owns 15 percent of Microsoft’s stock and serves on its board. By 1984 Microsoft’s sales had exceeded $100 million. Microsoft went on to develop software for IBM, Apple, and Radio Shack computers. Microsoft went public in 1986. Gates retained 45 percent of the shares, making him the PC industry’s first millionaire in 1987. In 1990, Gates’ paper value surpassed $2 million. In 1992 Microsoft won a key ruling in Apple’s suit over similarities between Apple’s Macintosh interface and that of Windows. Windows’ popularity (more than 12 million copies shipped in fiscal 1992) had boosted sales of Microsoft’s business software developed for Windows. The FTC then invested claims that Microsoft engaged in unfair practices to gain dominance in the Windows market. Gates has played an important role in the technical development as well as the management of the company. His significant contribution was so highly appreciated that he was awarded on June 23, 1992. President George Bush awarded Bill Gates the National Medal of Technology for Technological Achievement, at a White House Rose Garden ceremony. In addition, Microsoft Corporation has been awarded in 1992 to 1995 for its recent achievements. Microsoft and IBM teamed again in the late 1980’s to develop the OS/2 operating system. That effort’s failure resulted in Gates’ commitment to Windows NT (short for New Technology), as an alternative to the Unix operating system popular on high performance computers. Windows NT was introduced in 1993. In the early 1990’s Microsoft first heard charges of “monopoly!” from both inside and outside the industry. In 1995 antitrust concerns scotched Microsoft’s $1.5 billion deal to buy personal finance software maker, Intuit, so the company set its sights on startup companies and the leading-edge technologies they possessed. By adding heavy development dollars, and selling the resulting products cheaper than its foes, the company expanded its reach. When the rise of the Internet began to transform the way companies did business, Gates at last embraced the medium. In 1996, Microsoft licensed the Java Web programming language from Sun and introduced [...]... resolve to withstand the vicissitudes of the market and an economy in recession Western Digital now had to pay the price for the rapid demise of the stand-alone storage controller and the transition to IDE drives, a new standard, which Western Digital had pioneered In 1991 and 1992 the Company weathered record losses which forced it to lay off employees, endure substantial write-offs and restructure... as Western Digital s President and CEO, he regarded his position as Chairman and visionary as his primary function By 1980, the year of the Phoenix, Western Digital turned the corner and revenues doubled to $20.6 million Missler's financial acumen and unusual Product Sponsorship Program, a tax-sheltered investment partnership to obtain funds for much needed research and development, put Western Digital. .. refocus on efficiency, strategy, and recruitment of top talent It was at this time that Western Digital began working on the concept of IDE disk drives The fact that drive companies were somewhat contemptuous of controller companies and unwilling to partner the development of an IDE drive forced Western Digital to a momentous decision With the purchase of the disk drive assets of Tandon Corporation in... Western Digital s largest customer, Bowmar Instruments, went bankrupt and the market for calculator chips slumped due to excess inventory and severe price competition Gillette Company backed out of an ambitious calculator program Between 1975 and 1976 Western Digital s founder resigned and the Company lost key customers The staid Emerson Electric Company had little appreciation for Western Digital s... asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) to provide more affordable data communications Given the Rockwell connection and extensive semiconductor experience of both Alvin Phillips and Joe Baia, it is not surprising that Western Digital began as a specialized semiconductor manufacturer And like Rockwell, Western Digital became heavily involved in calculator chips In those early years, 80 percent of Western. .. for portable applications Revenue has grown to a $2 billion annualized run rate and Company operations are worldwide with more than half of its 7000 people employed outside of the United States Once more, Western Digital has risen from the ashes to become a stronger, more mature company, fiercely rededicated to its goals and even more competitive Western Digital has traveled a long distance from the... Johnson became President and Chief Operating Officer His critical contribution to Western Digital was to provide the business structure and focus for a young company of engineers and mavericks He recognized the importance of cultivating business relationships with major OEMs While they had failed to be on time with an XT hard drive controller, they were ready for the IBM PC/AT in 1983 In 14 days Western. .. shareholders will receive one additional share for every share held on the record date of November 22, 1996 On October 31, 1996 there were about 600 million Microsoft shares outstanding and after the split there will be 1.2 billion shares outstanding For the first six months of 2000, revenue rose 16 percent to $22.96 billion Net income applicable to Common rose 21 percent to $9.42 billion As I told you earlier,... money spent of $9,999.15 puts me $882.80 in the red The last stock I chose was Western Digital On September 8, I purchased 1638 shares at $5.81 per share, which totaled $9,523.00 and incurred a $476.15 broker’s fee, making the grand total spent $9,999.15 Western Digital Corporation is a manufacturer of hard drives used for information storage in desktop computers and home electronic products The Company s... Digital s return to profitability and facilitated its transition to a large corporation by establishing controls and disciplines that re-enforced the Company' s commitment to quality products and superior customer service To maintain focus on this commitment, the Company introduced a guiding set of values with emphasis on quality, customer satisfaction and integrity The Company has established technology . oil concession. Long and complex negotiations failed to produce an agreement, and in 1951 the Iranian government passed legislation nationalizing the company& apos;s. of a strong central government, difficult terrain, and an uncertain political situation. These conditions made Reynolds pioneering task an exceptionally difficult