Sasol Limited is a gas station that was formed in 1979, it is a combination of an energy and chemical company. There is about 31 270 people working for Sasol in 32 different countries. Sasol has remained one of the largest investors in skills development, capital projects and technological research and development since it was established in 1950. It is listed on the JSE as well as the New York Stock Exchange in America.

The first Sasol branch was installed in 1955 it did however have various technical problems that caused an overall delay in this operation for more than a year.

For many years Sasol was known for producing synthetic fuel but by the beginning of the 1900s the company needed to expand in their artificial fuel production, they turned to the South African Government as well as other industries to provide them with the capital they needed to keep this project going, they were however unsuccessful. Due to their synthetic fuel business Sasol was struggling to stay competitive in the surfacing free market economy and by 1997 the company started focusing on creating more products that could be competitive in the global economy.

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Sasol's innovation

Since 1950 Sasol has been a probable winner in in excellence and technological innovation. They have developed and commercialized innovative energy related technologies, first with coal as a raw material then with gas and into the future with renewable energy sources. Sasol's services have changed as market needs and expectation have also changed, Sasol has to continually ensure that their research facilities and systems are up to date with the latest technology and set on the highest standard.

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The innovation that has powered Sasol extends from their technological core to other aspects involved in running a sustainable business. Sasol's innovation is to help manage their environmental footprint and other resources such as: capital, people, society etc., these are resources on which the business depends on.

Sasol's Ethics

Sasol's values were written out to reflect on ownership and actions that has helped Sasol approach their values in a manner that is as practical as possible. To offer a generic starting point people working at Sasol had to have a common understanding of their values and what they imply. The values at Sasol are put down as a guide to help individuals and the different teams on how to make the values at Sasol real enough to be followed on a daily basis.

Sasol's ethical principles and behavioral standards

Responsibility:

  • Sasol holds themselves responsible for acting responsible to all stakeholders.
  •  Sasol complies with all legal requirements.
  •  They are actively engaging with all ethical standards.
  •  Sasol participates in good government and ethical practices.
  •  They use assets and resources accordingly to ensure sustainable returns from shareholders.
  •  Sasol is committed to protecting the health and safety of the environment.
  •  They use all information and technology responsibly.

Fairness:

  •  Sasol must treat others fairly.
  •  They make fair decisions.
  •  Sasol has a fair way of competing.
  •  They provide fair opportunities to everyone.
  •  Sasol provides far wag and god working conditions.

Honesty:

  •  All people involved in Sasol honest and truthful in all hat they do.
  •  Their reports/accounts are not misleading.
  •  They are honest and transparent with sponsorships and all CSR program.
  •  Sasol does not accept inappropriate gifts.
  •  They are accountable for imports and exports internationally

Respect:

  •  They are aware and respectful of the human rights.
  •  They sustain a stable work environment that does not disobey human rights.
  •  They have respects for the work place and do not abuse any substances.
  •  Sasol's stakeholders are all treated with dignity and respect.
  • They do not tolerate aggressive behavior.
  •  Sasol protects their property and insider information.
  •  They value the right to privacy of others.

Background of Engen

Brief history of Engen

Since 1881 Engen has been an oil company, enriching lives of people for decades by identifying new opportunities, locating solutions and providing fuel to help Africa grow. Engen now has a presence in 18 countries while also exporting their products to more than 30 countries. Engen is now more committed and dedicated than ever to supplying and delivering petroleum based products and convenience stores across the continent.

Code of conduct and Ethics of Engen

Engen's code of conduct emphasizes:

  •  discipline
  •  good conduct
  •  professionalism
  •  loyalty
  •  integrity

All of these values are absolutely essential to the prosperity and well-being of the business. At Engen they strive to operate according to good business ethics and in safe and environmentally friendly way, their ethical considerations and corporate values link with all their business decisions.

Engen needs to maintain flexible in order to adapt to changing conditions that may take place in the business. They will need to equally balance risks and rewards. In different regions of the world Engen will need to look for opportunities to see where they can create value, they aspire to achieve better financial and operation results while still following the business conduct.

There are 5 core areas where Petronas recognizes responsibility:

  1. Shareholders
  2. Employees
  3. Customers
  4. Business partners
  5. Communities

Comparative study: Sasol vs Engen marketing

4p's of marketing:

  1. Product: Is a good or service that the business provides for customers to meet a specific need or want. The perks and features of the products need to be well understood, potential customers also need to be identified and understood.
  2. Price: The price covers the amount of money the product or service costs and what the customer has to pay if he/she needs or wants the product. If the product is priced higher than its perceived value it may not sell well but if the product is a need customers have no choice but to buy the product.
  3. Promotion: Promotion includes all advertisements for the business for example; sales promotions and a special offer on certain products.
  4. Place: Place ha to do with how and where the product is provided to the customer, for example where a store is located or where a specific product is distributed into a larger store for example cellphones in Makro.

Sasol's Product

Sasol has a few main products that they reproduce and sell such as; fuel, chemical and gas products. In all their main products they deliver; petrol, naphtha, diesel, kerosene, illuminating paraffin, Sulphur, crude tar acids methanol, ammonia, co-monomers, surfactants, solvents, polymers, olefins, LPG, bitumen and fuel oil. Sasol does not only produce these products but are also a supplier in many other industries such as agriculture and forestry, automotive and transportation, aviation rubber and tyres. Sasol does not only provide for our continent (Africa) but also exports to other countries around the world, they have a presence in Canada, United States, Mexico, Bermuda, Ireland, Belgium, Spain, brazil, France, united kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Austria, Nigeria, Gabon, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Botswana, Namibia, south African, Lesotho, Mozambique, Australia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, India, Qatar, China, Taiwan, Japan and Russia.

Sasol's Pricing

Sasol's prices in their various convenience stores need to be affordable so that they are able to attracts more customers and give the consumer more buying power, however the pricing can differ depending on where the convenience store is, if it is a busier area prices will be slightly lower as there is more of a potential market compared to somewhere in a more rural or quiet area, prices can be increases slightly at quitter stores as the Sasol convenience store still needs to pay those suppliers and make a profit on what they are selling. If their products are overpriced potential customers would rather go somewhere else that isn't too far to get the products they want for a reasonable price. The pricing on the different fuels however get set by the government and the owner of the station may not increase the price otherwise they can potentially lose their branch if they get caught out.

Sasol's Promotion

In order to attract as many potential customers to their stores Sasol has many competitions and promotions to increase their target market, Sasol's convenience store goes by the name "Sasol Delight". Sasol Delight is constantly having promotions on their products within the convenience store usually on combination products for example a c packet of crisps with a cold drink, they have also taken part in competitions such as the fit bit competition, an iPhone competition where contestants that took part had a chance of winning 1 of 5 iPhone 8's 64GB smartphone, the cocoa-cola snack bowl competition or the Simba competition where people had the chance to win a share of R100 000, 00.

Sasol's Place of Distribution

Sasol's gas stations are situated in various parts of the country, in order to find a store that is near you Sasol's website has a "store locater". Their service stations have a number of operational sites and offices, Germiston has headquarters, and Sasol's office in Durban provides for the pipeline and wax operations, the Nelspruit office supports the Komatipoort Compressor Station and the Mozambican parts of the pipeline operations being provided for by the Matola Office.

Engen's Product

Engen offers a variety of different fuel products such as multipurpose oil that can be used in final drives, hydraulic systems, fluid immersed disc brakes and industrial transportation vehicles. Various types of gear oil and a few different transmission fluids that is of top quality and has been formulated for trains equipment and accessories that require lubricants to operate to their best potential. Engen also has convenience stores at most of their different braches around the country, they are known for having a Woolworth's convenience store as well as multi branded fast food takeaways, corner bakeries, coffee offerings and a quick shop.

Engen's Pricing

Engen's fuel pricing is set by the government and therefore only fluctuates when the government increases the price of fuel, in their convenience stores however their prices are set to how much the supplier charges them for example at their Woolworths convenience stores the products will be the same amount as all other Woolworth's stores, Woolworth's is more of an upmarket supermarket and they charge much higher prices compared to other grocery stores, this can lead to Engen losing out on profits as people may not want to pay such a high price for certain products that get stocked at their convenience stores. Too make things easier for customers that support Engen, Engen offers a various amount of different payment methods such as:

  •  Bank cards
  •  South African garage/fleet cards
  •  Any Visa or Mastercard
  •  eBucks

They have put these payment methods in place to make the customers experience easier and convenient.

Engen's Promotions

Engen does many promotion in their convenience stores as well as competitions, to ensure that they have a successful promotion/competition Engen teams up with big companies that can help get them noticed by the public. Engen's lasts competitions and promotions include:

  •  Big Red wallet - Engen does a giveaway of R25 000, 00 weekly
  •  Virgin Active Memberships - Win 1 of 20 Virgin active memberships at a value of R12 000, 00 each.
  •  Bite size perfection - 3 pie bites and 330ml of Appletiser for only R24, 90.
  •  Win MTN data bundles - Buy any MTN data bundles and stand a chance to win a VW polo vivo as well as R500 000.00 in cash.

Engen's Place of Distribution

Engen has offices in a total of 17 different countries and distributers in various countries as well.

  •  Storage Distribution - Engen has a various amount of storage facilities that ensure security and safety of their fuel supply, they have also put programs in place to help reduce risks that they could possibly encounter.
  •  Shipping distribution - Engen exports their products that have been produced from the refinery in Durban or they import their products into South Africa. Engen imports products from Singapore, the Arabian Gulf and SIKKA into the Durban harbor.
  •  Road distribution - This ensures that all service stations across the country have stock to power your vehicles, external distributors are used in countries that do not have any road distribution. Engen has also recently replaced their old distribution vehicles with newer ones that are more environmentally friendly.
  •  Pipeline distribution - Engen uses a pipeline to transport their petroleum products to the economic districts of South Africa (Gauteng). Engen is also in partnership with Transnet's New Multi Products Pipeline to ship their products inland.

Conclusion:

In my opinion I find that Sasol is a more successful petrol station as for me I find the staff at the Sasol petrol station a lot friendlier, the convenient store is also more affordable and more people will be able to support them which means they will generate a larger profit than Engen who has products in their convenience stores that are slightly more expensive due to who is supplying them with the products for the convenience store. Sasol also has a patent right on how they make their fuel which gives them an advantage to all other petrol stations. In a study it was also shown that Sasol had the least amount of complaints and most complaints that were made were resolved, however the complaints were never really about bad service but more about product quality and availability.

Engen should look at limiting the amount of petrol stations they have with a Woolworths convenience store, due to it being an upmarket supermarket with higher prices it will be not only difficult to expand it to other stations in lower class areas but in general the products within the store are expensive even when situated in a more up market area. To prevent them from losing out on profits I recommend that they eliminate the Woolworths quick stop in a few areas (even up market area) and replace it with products from Checkers or Pick n Pay that are slightly cheaper and more affordable to the market. If they do not want to do this they could possibly implement a promotion for example they could advertise that if a customer spends more than a certain amount of money at the Woolworths convenience store they can get a free car wash with the purchase of the products they have just made.

Updated: May 20, 2021
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Sasol Limited is a Gas Station. (2019, Nov 16). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/sasol-limited-is-a-gas-station-essay

Sasol Limited is a Gas Station essay
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