The Phillips Petroleum Co. stockholders and the Conoco Inc. stockholders last month ratified their much-anticipated merger. The stockholders who voted appeared to like the idea of marriage, by 96% Conoco and 97% Phillips.
A lot has been printed about how the two companies make a good match. The two have been familiar with each other for many years, so it is not like one of those "arranged marriages" in some countries where the only thing one partner knows about the other before the ceremony is a name and maybe a picture. It should work well.
One of the consequences of this merger, however, is the stated intent of the Phillips top management to move the new company's flag to Houston. Phillips, the largest corporation based in Oklahoma, has long been the mainstay of Bartlesville (population about 35,000). A move of any number of jobs out of town would seriously impact the local economy.
Reaction
The belief in Bartlesville is that there would be a loss of about 400 jobs, not including the top end of the pay and buying-power scale who would move to Houston.
On the street, nobody thinks moving its headquarters staff to Houston will be good for Phillips or Bartlesville. Company management has given plausible reasons for the move, but most people aren't buying them. The fact remains, though, whoever is in charge makes the rules.
The subject has brought out a wide range of responses. The initial reaction by most Bartlesville residents, including about 2,400 employees, was disbelief. Bartlesville and Phillips have been nearly one and the same for 85 years. Phillips was Bartlesville, and Bartles- ville was Phillips.
Another response was anger—like the anger of a spouse whose partner has suddenly taken off with another person after years of wedded bliss. There are also the feelings of hurt, as in, "How could you do this to me?"
Another view
One other response, though, from a group of the non-Phillips business people, is interesting. As news of the merger spread and the idea began to get around that Phillips was moving its headquarters to Houston, a "Vision Task Force" was quickly created by local leaders to find ways to take up the slack of any loss of Phillips in the community. The task force is already promoting Bartlesville to other companies looking for a good place to settle. Backed by the Chamber of Commerce, money has been raised and companies far and wide contacted. Retired Phillips executives who still live in Bartlesville are active in and leading the task force.
They have even come up with a slogan: "Bartlesville-Unstoppable" and have put up billboards stating that. They are on every road leading into town.
A community-wide rally was held in town the day before the Conoco and Phillips stockholders voted on the merger. Speakers from all sections of the community worked hard at generating enthusiasm for the town's future. Community leaders reported that they had raised over $1 million for economic development incentives. They said that each million raised for incentives could attract about $10 million in outside investment. And $10 million in investment could equal as many as 500 jobs.
Apparently, Bartlesville has been using incentive funds to attract new employers for several years. The T. Boone Pickens Jr. scare of the 1980s made residents start thinking earlier about the continued Phillips role in town.
The tone of the rally was positive and the message clear that it was no time to panic. Everything was going to be okay. In fact, one speaker even claimed that this was the best thing to happen to Bartlesville in 20 years and that they would no longer be a "one-horse town." We'll see. That sounds more like rally euphoria at work than sound thinking.
Bartlesville is small, but it is like many cities around the country that have had to deal with the contraction of America's oil industry. How it comes to grips with it there could be a lesson other communities could learn about diversification and adjustment to changing times.
In 1996, the local newspaper, the Examiner-Enterprise, published a book commemorating the 100th anniversary of Bartlesville. Much of the coffee table book of photos, of course, has to do with Phillips and how it is a cornerstone of the town's life.
One chapter about Phillips is proudly titled, "The Company That Stayed Home."
The year 1996 was a long, long time ago.
