Corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate citizenship entails companies behaving in a socially responsible manner, and dealing with other business parties who do the same. With growing public awareness and demand for socially responsible businesses, it is little wonder that companies of today take corporate social responsibility into account when planning future socially responsible business operations.
However, when a CSR campaign goes awfully wrong and backfires on a company and the company’s actions are inconsistent with the company’s CSR policies – alone or in combination – it signals that the company is treading down the path of a failing corporate social responsibility campaign. The effects of bad corporate social responsibility can be substantially damaging to a company and include bad publicity, financial burden in fines and long-term effects on brand and reputation.
BP Plc Faces the Music for Going from Beyond Petroleum to Big Polluter
On 11 May 2010, top BP Plc executives face U.S. lawmakers who will grill BP Plc, Transocean and Halliburton on the drilling rig explosion and oil spill that threatens a socially irresponsible environmental catastrophe and a major CSR setback for BP off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. The colossal oil spill threatens numerous tourist beaches, wildlife sanctuaries and fishing grounds across four states in the United States which has forced Mr. Barack Obama to question offshore drilling activities.
Fears of a prolonged environmental and economic disaster for the Gulf of Mexico area are mounting after the corporate social responsibility CSR setback for BP Plc, which had contracted the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig from Transocean that exploded on April 20 2010. The explosion killed 11 people and triggered the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico area. BP Plc, which was once widely known as British Petroleum, and is considered a stalwart among the big oil companies of the world, has seen the British Petroleum stock take a beating since the oil spill took place. The BP stock price has lost about 15% since the start of the oil spill.
How BP Plc Went from British Petroleum to Beyond Petroleum
BP Plc has spent up to US$125 million annually on its corporate social responsibility CSR campaign to enhance its socially responsible image in its transition from British Petroleum to Beyond Petroleum since 2000. BP Plc made monumental investments in solar energy and after a string of acquisitions BP Plc even became the largest maker of solar panels in the world.
BP Plc touted itself as a celebrator of alternative energy and downplayed its prowess and dominance in the world of big oil, in its quest to have a resounding success in its corporate social responsibility campaign. Whilst the jury is still out on the success of the “Beyond Petroleum” CSR campaign, BP Plc was still hit by several CSR setbacks in the intervening years, including the following incidents:
- An explosion at a Texas City refinery in March 2005 killed 15 workers
- Price fixing in the propane gas market in 2007
- Corrosion in the Alaskan pipeline which caused a leak and shut down production in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in August 2006
Nevertheless, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Area looks to be the biggest CSR hit for BP Plc and appears to be the worst U.S. oil spill surpassing the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Prince William Sound, Alaska caused by Exxon Mobil.
How to Help the Gulf Oil Spill
- Report oiled wildlife, please call 1-866-557-1401
- Report oil spill related damage, please call 1-800-440-0858
- Report oiled shoreline, please call the BP Community Support Team Hotline at 1-866-448-5816
- Volunteer your time with societies such as National Wildlife Federation, OilSpillVolunteers.com, Save Our Seabirds and Oxfam America. Connect withThe National Audubon Society to find out about volunteering opportunities
- Donate to the cause
Jo Bilson - Jo Bilson is a management consultant with interests including venture capital and entrepreneurial finance.
