| When Robert Arthur Brown, Jr. took control of Federated Petroleums Ltd., in May, 1948, he began to pursue an aggressive growth policy based on a strategy of merger and acquisition financed mainly through borrowed funds. Within the next few years, Brown was able to successfully guide his company through an intensive expansionary period which culminated in the company's takeover of, and eventual merger with, the much larger Home Oil Company. While Brown's personal strategy played a fundamental role in determining the eventual size and function of the company, its development was also heavily influenced by a number of environmental forces that guided the company's operations into specific sectors of the Alberta Oil and Gas industry. Although it was largely indirect, the influence of the Alberta government and the major multinational oil companies affected the internal operations of the company by restricting its activities within the external competitive and regulatory environment. |
