Robert Gottliebsen, a prominent Australian business commentator has outlined the two weaknesses in BHP and how the miner has been somewhat lucky to date

Robert Gottliebsen, a prominent Australian business commentator has outlined the two weaknesses in BHP and how the miner has been somewhat lucky to date. Gottlebsen believes the first weakness was almost repeating the mistakes of the 1990s and forgetting the company's history. BHP tried to take on large projects in times of booms, such as the takeover of Rio Tinto and Potash Corp as well as monumental expansions of Port Hedland and Olympic Dam. Ultimately, the company chose only to invest in US shale, and had any of the other projects gone through, it would have saddled the company with a massive amount of debt. The second weakness in BHP remains its competitiveness not being as good as it should be. The company recognises that its cost could be lower, and although not an easy problem to fix, BHP is working on it. (VIEW LINK)