ExxonMobil Chemical's corporate social responsibility initiatives and environmental management strategy

ExxonMobil Chemical Corp: CSR Plan / CSR plan for ExxonMobil

Economic Status andExxonMobil Chemical

Political Status and ExxonMobil Chemical

Civil Society and ExxonMobil Chemical

Environmental status and ExxonMobil Chemical

Media Campaign for ExxonMobil

Located in Irving, Texas the Exxon Mobil Chemical is a U.S. company specializing in the production of gas and oil. The company was formed from the merger of Exxon and Mobil in November of 1999. Both companies had been part of the Standard Oil Company formed by John D. Rockefeller. Exxon had been the branch of Standard Oil Company in New Jersey while Mobil had been the New York branch. The company serves the plastics industry by making use of the materials from its chemical plants and refineries to produce chemical building blocks (ExxonMobil, 2015d).

Company Vision and Value Statement

Part of the company vision is to be the "world's premier petrochemical company." In order to achieve this, it is dedicated to excel financially and operationally as it strives to maintain top standards in its conduct of business. This vision drives the company in the offering it makes in its business interactions (Best practices, 2013).

Progress related to three spheres and environment

The company introduced a concept of Protect Tomorrow Today, which was an acknowledgement of the impact of its activities and the possible risks that they posed to the environment as well as recognition of the needs of the community around them. Through this concept, three principles were adopted by the organization. The first principle talks about gaining a competitive advantage by performing well in the environment. In the second principle, the company aims at making their impact on the environment negligible by always striving to improve their processes. Thirdly, the company seeks to concentrate its efforts on areas that are valuable to their business so that they can be the leaders in their industry (ExxonMobil, 2015).

The organization has various ways of detecting risks in the environment. Some of these include the Environmental Aspects Assessment, and the Environmental, Socioeconomic and Health Impact Assessment. In order to manage any risks that have been identified through these, the company comes up with plans, which highlight strategies that will be used to manage them effectively. The Environmental, Socioeconomic and Health Management Plan is one such plan. Industry stakeholders are involved in this process. The company also has an Operations Integrity Management System (OIMS) to help it in managing risk in the environment as well as in its business operations. All manner of risks are addressed through this system whether they are environmental, business, health or others. Progress is also measured through this system so that as measures are put in place, their impact can be assessed (ExxonMobil, 2015).

Koenig, (2015) however states that the shareholders of the company voted against the inclusion of a climate-change expert on their board as well as against other resolutions on the environment. They however came up with goals for the company's greenhouse emissions.

Economic Status an ExxonMobil Chemical

The ExxonMobil Company has employees that reflect the region in which it operates. These employees are drawn from the top of the talent pool and are chosen and developed through various programs that the company has in place. The quality of its employees is something that the company values in all the regions and cultural environments in which it operates. The company emphasizes a down-to-earth attitude, a workforce dedicated to results, an informal environment, as well as leadership in technology (ExxonMobil, 2015b). This is the way in which the company chooses to relate with its staff throughout the world.

There are stakeholders that have been affected by the company's non-adherence to ethical behavior such as false advertising campaigns as well as negative impact on the environment. The company together with its workforce has a part to play in the negative impact caused by its operations and the crisis emanating from this (Carr, 2013).

In order to protect its future growth, ExxonMobil has made major investments in valuable projects for the coming years. In the third quarter of the year 2015, the production increased by just under 4% compared to the previous year. There is potential for the increase of production in its large facilities. However, the price of oil is the major determinant of the improvement of the company's bottom line in future (ExxonMobil, 2015c).

Risks that the company faces economically emanate from carbon issues that are an agenda in discussion around the world. Being an investor in fossil fuels opens up the company to risks of "stranded assets" due to the high carbon composition of its investment (Rosenbaum, 2013). Rosenbaum (2013) goes on to say that many pension portfolios have their investments in companies such as ExxonMobil which offer slow growth but are rich in dividends, but these portfolios run the risk because the company has to abandon what is termed as stranded assets.

Within the company's business strategy is the use of the local people in the environment of operation to supply goods and services. Through this ExxonMobil is able to make a contribution through the creation of jobs, opening up avenues for investment, encouraging the development of technical skills, good business practices and providing a market for the sale of goods and services. In addition to this, the company also contributes to the community by working together with governments and non-governmental organizations to bring about positive impact in the community. It even assists the local suppliers in remote areas (ExxonMobil, 2015d).

Political status and ExxonMobil Chemical

The company has experienced problems from civil rights groups as well as agitators for the safety of the environment who have asked the Attorney General to look into the company. This has caused the New York Attorney General to look into the matter. Major personalities have also joined in the calls for the company to be investigated. These include Hillary Clinton and Bernie Saunders. These calls have arisen from the climate change debate where ExxonMobil has been accused of having misled the public all the while knowing the actual impact of their activities on the environment. The company cannot completely shoulder the blame for global warming, as there have been other contributors. Nevertheless, as Samuelson (2015), says, the company can be held accountable because it was aware of the impact of its activities on the global climate but it kept these from stakeholders such as the government and the public.

Other things affecting the company politically are the consistent government efforts to enact policies that would see a reduction in the investments in this industry. There have been proposals to greatly increase the taxes levied in this sector by $90 billion in the coming ten years. For a sector that already finances federal, state, and local governments in a major way, this seems unfair. Tax credits are virtually non-existent in this industry as well.

Regardless of all this, the ExxonMobil Chemical has made efforts to improve the investment environment for the sector. It has sought political support through funding political organizations, parties and candidate committees. According to ExxonMobil (2015d) the contributions for the year 2014 amounted to $312,900 in fifteen states in the United States' gubernatorial and legislative caucuses and candidates. This has been within legal boundaries for Canada and the U.S.A. and has also been authorized by the company's board of directors. It has limited its contributions in this form to the two countries as a rule. ExxonMobil has a goal of combating corruption and improving the government's culpability through promotion of revenue transparency and economic stability locally and abroad (ExxonMobil, 2015d).

Environmental Status and ExxonMobil Chemical

There has been a lot of damage in the environment attributed to the activities of the ExxonMobil Chemical Corporation. Some of this damage includes the destruction of wetlands, marshes, and waters making up over 1500 acres of land in New Jersey. The company settled with the state for a sum of $250 million. Legal action against the company began in the state in the year 2004 though the matter went to trial only in 2014. The damage from the company's operations was evident so that only the matter of the damages to be paid, had to be decided. Whitehead (2015), states that the reason for high damages was because the state would have to spend a lot of resources to restore what the company destroyed in many years of operations in oil and other chemicals.

Vaidyanathan and Climate Wire (2015), note that the company was culpable because there was evidence from an email in the company, which came from an in-house climate expert indicating the connection between climate change and fossil fuels many years ago. The company chose to ignore this given the potential impact that this would have on the company's profits if it was to stop its operations or incorporate carbon-cutting mechanisms. They go on to speculate that this decision especially with regard to an enormous gas field in Indonesia was the biggest source of global pollution at the time.

Lloyd and Guinyard (2015) highlight the great amount of pollution that came from the Torrance Refinery when it experienced a blast that left the community around breathing poor air, dealing with ash and the odor of gas all around. This was the case for the residents located many miles away from the refinery. Aerial visibility was also affected by this.

As the evidence of the impact on the environment is available especially through climate change, management of the problem should be a top priority. This should include ways of reducing emissions into the air and water bodies. Technology can be employed here to find new ways of reducing emissions and more clean gas substitutes. The Research and Development department of the company can work together with universities to look for better solutions than those available at present (Cohen, 2015).

Media Campaign for ExxonMobil Chemical

Advertising is a need for every business and ExxonMobil is no exception. It helps the audience to know more about the company. It can allow stakeholders to see what happens inside the company. Some of these stakeholders are students at universities who can be apprised of the "Energy Outlook" of the company. Through public relations firms such as Eber Shandwick, the company can dilute the negative reactions from high prices of gas as well as reduce support for taxes such as Windfall Profits tax. The tactic of shifting blame from itself for the high prices of gas has been working for the company. Some of this attention has been shifted to education where the underperformance of students from the U.S. is highlighted. It greatly highlights the way America has been overtaken in terms of energy, medicine, research and other areas. The company can thus use public relations campaigns to advance its claims that it is friendly to science and is a good investment for potential investors. The company's achievements in terms of reduction of emissions and efficiency improvements can also highlighted (Cohen, 2015). Such public relations campaigns would be implemented by dividing sectors into economic, political, social and others so that each area can be focused on individually. Research and development can also work on improving the company's technology (Browning, 2012). All of this would result in building a positive image of the company.

Other actions would be to include the use of advertising campaigns targeting suppliers while at the same time improving the logistics systems. Listening to customer complaints through feedback systems would also help improve the company's image. Efforts made by the company and its various initiatives can be placed in advertisements so that all its audiences can see the measures taken and progress it has made (ExxonMobil, 2015d).