Evaluate the effectiveness of Truth Resources risk management processes

What are the major challenges that the company is facing now, and will face in the future and what steps should be taken now to cope with these challenges?

Has the economic recession affected them? In what way? What are their responses to it?

Background and History of Truth Resources

Introduction

Truth Resources L.L.C. is a small company doing big things based out of Houston, Texas. It is a crude oil marketing company meaning the buy and sell oil at the well head from the producers such as Exxon or Apache, they then provide a market for it, arrange for transportation such as trucks or pipeline to refineries and then proceed to turn around and sale it to refineries. More often than not they will already have buyers lined up wanting the oil before they purchase it themselves. The marketing of oil is their main line of business but it is not the only type of work they are involved in. They have been sought after by local and international companies to consult with them on whether they should enter a certain oil field area. Top management will often write ten to twenty page reports full of charts, graphs, maps and analytical summaries that provide the research these companies did not have the capabilities to do. The advertising they use for their company is a word of mouth process. They have built a reputation for knowing the field and have accumulated a variety of contacts due to the amount of experience the managers have accumulated over the years.

Historical Background

Truth Resources was started in November of 2004 with $100,000 and has been profiting ever since, dealing with an average of 25,000 barrels a day. The name of the company; Truth, is meant to make a statement and is essentially how the company founders want to be known, truthful and honest. Both John Fetzer and Juanita Simmons are the co-founders of the company with John Fetzer as the president and Juanita as the Vice-President.

Mr. Fetzer has almost 40 years of experience in the oil industry, which started when he joined Marathon Oil Company in 1976. From 1986 to 1991 he was vice president at Enron. He managed to leave long before the Enron scandal arose and had no part in that process which is one of the reasons he was asked to leave. From 1993 to 1994 he was a private investor and consulted in oil, gas and refinery related matter. In 2002 he joined Adams Resources and Energy to become President of Gulfmark Energy, Inc. until 2004 when he left to co-found and preside as the President of Truth Resources LLC.

Juanita Simmons has a geology degree from Lamar University in 1985 and started work as an accountant for a smaller crude oil company called Ada Crude Oil, a subsidiary of Adams Resources and Energy Inc. She always believed in the idea of working for a company as if was her own and with the philosophy was able to move up in the company at a quick pace. As the company grew she became crude buyer, manager crude marketing, vice president, then president of Adams Resources and then transferred over to become Executive Vice President of Gulf Mark in 1998 and was elected as one of the Board of Directors of Adams Resources. After nineteen years of working for Adams Resources Juanita left the company in 2004 to form Truth Resources.

Truth Resources was established with the philosophy of simply being honest. Both Juanita and John has a seen a rise in mismanagement that began to mistreat its employees, manipulate its customers and be dishonest in their financials. They left the companies they had been an integral part in its success because they saw an opportunity to venture out, become their own boss and run a company with the type of honesty they believed was important for every good company. Truth Resources works hard at developing long term relationships with their customers by getting to know them more than just in the work environment, by caring about their customers interests, families and values.