Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

For the first time in history crude oil hit the $100 per barrel mark, amidst concerns over U.S. crude inventories dropping for the seventh week in a row, and also whether turmoil in Nigeria could disrupt the flow of oil to the U.S.

While Nigeria is the 12-largest producer of oil in the world, it is the fifth-largest as far as exporting oil to the United States goes.

One thing to keep a perspective on things, is reaching the $100 mark per barrel really only ties the past high, when taking into account adjustments for inflation. Even so, it's still high.

But the conditions leading to the high is no different than those mentioned in the past, as AAA analyst Geoff Sundstrom says, "Factors pushing the price of oil higher are many of the same ones Americans have been hearing for years now."

He's referring to the falling value of the dollar, lower U.S. oil inventories, problems in oil producing countries, and growing demand for oil - especially among emerging economies.

For business does crude reaching the $100 mark have much meaning? Probably not. More than likely it will start to drop in price, although weather, more than anything else, will be the major determining factor during the next month.

Other than the obvious increase in costs if your company has a strong reliance upon transportation or gasoline in any way, there isn't much to be too concerned about.

The only other thing that could end up being a major problem will be the psychology of customers and tightening their wallets again. That could result in the need to discount prices even further to get them spending, which would put pressure on earnings.

What could cause that to happen? OPEC refusing to increase production of oil, which would keep prices at a higher level than expected, for a longer period of time.

We can't know what direction these things will take, so it's our job to have contingency plans and strategies in place to deal with the couple scenarios that could play out.