VERTICAL INTEGRATION AS CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP STRATEGY IN THE RENEWABLE ENERGY FIELD: OMV PETROM CASE STUDY

Environmental regulations may have been the principal factors that lead to the strategic rethinking of many conventional oil companies. In the context of higher environmental awareness, improving the public relations image or the decision to invest in a product where their competitors have already become active could also have been a reason why the black oil companies have considered a greener strategy. In order to respond to the market’s new regulations as well as new customers expectations, these companies have adopted a vertical integration strategy by acquiring or developing own projects in the renewable energy field. Such a strategy has been adopted by OMV Petrom, an oil company in South-Eastern Europe that has acquired a wind power park as part of their strategy to enter the energetic market. OMV Petrom has taken part in an academic research conducted by the authors, meant to identify a corporate entrepreneurship model in the renewable energy field. Based on the interview with the CEO of the wind power park, we present a simplified corporate entrepreneurial model for vertical integration in the renewable field. This model is based on the analysis of the triggering events that lead to corporate entrepreneurship, internal organizational factors and business strategies that fostered the entrepreneurial activity and their business.