Exxonmobil Corporate Social Responsibility
Communities and Shareholders: The impact of how ExxonMobil manage their interaction
Exxon-Mobil is the world’s largest privately owned multi-national oil and gas company (Skjaerseth 2003). For companies as large as ExxonMobil, which possess considerable capital resources and are able to exert considerable power and influence, society is increasingly demanding that they behave in a socially responsible manner (Diara, Alilo, and McGuire 2004). There is a growing expectation that companies will adopt a business approach that illustrates responsibility to society above and beyond the economic function and legal performance of the firm (Gibbs 2009). This expectation can be understood as an implicit social contract. One of the underlying concepts of social responsibility is stakeholder management (Davidson 2006). This involves balancing the claims of stakeholders against the decisions a corporation makes (Maloney 2009). The consequences for companies that are judged as not taking into consideration the expectations and needs of stakeholders are varied, but may include reputational damage and loss of market share (Baker n.d.; Smith 2007) as consumers switch their brand preferences on the basis of ethical considerations (Gueterbock 2004). This paper will review the social performance of ExxonMobil in terms of the way the corporation manages their relationships with two groups of stakeholders: the communities in which ExxonMobil conducts its business operations and the corporation’s shareholders. While it is recognised that there are other stakeholders in ExxonMobil’s operations these are beyond the scope of the current paper.
The most commonly accepted objective for business activities in the finance and accounting fields is to maximise profit and shareholder wealth (Cooper 2004). In doing so, a critical concern is whether or not the company has behaved in a socially acceptable manner particularly when dealing with stakeholder groups directly impacted by their
Exxon-Mobil is the world’s largest privately owned multi-national oil and gas company (Skjaerseth 2003). For companies as large as ExxonMobil, which possess considerable capital resources and are able to exert considerable power and influence, society is increasingly demanding that they behave in a socially responsible manner (Diara, Alilo, and McGuire 2004). There is a growing expectation that companies will adopt a business approach that illustrates responsibility to society above and beyond the economic function and legal performance of the firm (Gibbs 2009). This expectation can be understood as an implicit social contract. One of the underlying concepts of social responsibility is stakeholder management (Davidson 2006). This involves balancing the claims of stakeholders against the decisions a corporation makes (Maloney 2009). The consequences for companies that are judged as not taking into consideration the expectations and needs of stakeholders are varied, but may include reputational damage and loss of market share (Baker n.d.; Smith 2007) as consumers switch their brand preferences on the basis of ethical considerations (Gueterbock 2004). This paper will review the social performance of ExxonMobil in terms of the way the corporation manages their relationships with two groups of stakeholders: the communities in which ExxonMobil conducts its business operations and the corporation’s shareholders. While it is recognised that there are other stakeholders in ExxonMobil’s operations these are beyond the scope of the current paper.
The most commonly accepted objective for business activities in the finance and accounting fields is to maximise profit and shareholder wealth (Cooper 2004). In doing so, a critical concern is whether or not the company has behaved in a socially acceptable manner particularly when dealing with stakeholder groups directly impacted by their
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