Global Challenges for Exxon - Mobil

Running head: RESTORING A TARNISHED IMAGE

Restoring A Tarnished Image- Global Challenges for Exxon-Mobil Case Study

What should be done to improve the image of a company whose name is synonymous with environmental disaster and bribery? Exxon-Mobil’s C.E.O. Rex Tillerson faces this challenge. As C.E.O. of the largest publicly traded oil company in the world with the highest posted record profit ever in 2006 ( $39.5 billion) and revenues in excess of #377 billion, (www.boston.com) Tillerson faces constant scrutiny from environmental groups, and high expectations for profit from shareholders. Not to mention the looming memory that he is now the head of a company that caused the single worst oil spill in United States history and almost destroyed a previously pristine environment. Rex Tillerson brings with him to this position experience in an area that his predecessors had little or no exposure to at all…global management.

The Exxon Valdez

At the center of Exxon-Mobil’s poor image are its questionable ethical performance record and a history of poor social responsibility performance, the most notable of these being the Exxon Valdez disaster. Exxon attempted to displace blame for this event on to third parties instead of accepting responsibility for the tragedy and taking immediate action to contain and clean up the spill. Exxon also wasted precious time in responding to the severity of the spill and did nothing in the first ten days following to aid in protecting the surrounding environment from being effected by the spill. Exxon-Mobil’s attempt to dodge blame for the incident and its response, or lack thereof, did not go unnoticed by the public, environmental organizations, or law makers, drawing a literal hornet’s nest of bad publicity, governmental fines, and legal action.

It is interesting to note that in the 2006 Corporate Citizenship Report available on Exxon-Mobil’s website (www.exxon-mobil.com), the company has stated that there were no marine spills in the last two years and that they have drastically reduced the amount of non marine spills as well. The company also has a ten year guideline for the reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions and a comprehensive action plan to deal with spills when they do occur.

Bribery

The most recent event to damage the ethical credibility of the company came in 2003 when its subsidiary, Mobil oil was investigated for bribing leaders in Kazakhstan and Equatorial Guinea. This, once again, brought Exxon-Mobil under scrutiny for its business practices and resulted in an even more tarnished corporate image. On of the company’s former executive officers was convicted of tax evasion and statements