Reputational Damage Sustained by BP

¶ … Reputational Damage Sustained by BP Over the Gulf of Mexico spill

Firms in the oil industry must often face the negative reputational consequences of their environmental impact. As part of the opportunity cost within the energy business, oil companies have often attempted to balance the frequently ecologically destructive dimensions of their work with the management of a reasonably positive public image. For British Petroleum (BP), the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and subsequent spillage into the Gulf of Mexico would cause untold devastation both to the natural environment and to the company's public image.

The primary aim of this research is to assess the degree of damage sustained by BP as a consequence of the spill and the manner in which it handled said spill. In order to achieve this overarching aim, the following objectives must be met:

Objectives

To determine how BP's record on the environment is perceived by members of the public

To determine how members of BP's internal staff view the company's environmental record

3. To determine to what extent efforts at cleanup and image-management have or have not succeeded for BP

Methods of Data Collection and Analysis:

The initial phase of data collection will be the gathering of secondary data. This will involve establishing a comprehensive understanding of BP's environmental record before the Deepwater Horizon disaster; the implications of the disaster; the revelations regarding infractions and irresponsibility on the part of the company; and the aftermath of the disaster in terms of BP's cleanup efforts, the fallout with the general public and the inquiries and penalties levied by authorities. This will be accomplished through desk research taking the form of a literature review. The literature review will be largely conducted online as well as through the review of primary legal documents reviewing the case in its aftermath.

This would be followed by the primary data-gathering process, which would include a single survey to be distributed to two distinct populations. Randomly selected members of the general public living outside of the region impacted by the disaster and randomly selected non-managerial members of the BP organization would be tapped to complete the survey. The survey would pose 20 statements to respondents, asking them to state their level of agreement with each item using a Likert Scale-based ranking for responses.