INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

International Business Case Study



International Business Case Study

Introduction

Exxon Mobil is an American company resulting of a merger from 1999 between Mobil Oil & Exxon Corporation. Exxon Mobil's field of activity focuses on oil's extraction, refining and distribution where it is one of the leaders. Exxon Mobil is also one of the largest petrochemicals producers in the world. It has 45 refineries in twenty-five countries with a distilling capacity of 6.3 million barrels of oil per day. It also has 42,000 service stations in more than 100 countries under the brand names Exxon, Esso and Mobil. The corporation has regained the No. 1 rank, in the fortune magazine, of the largest U.S. companies, dethroning Wal-Mart, the retail giant, with a turnover of 453 billion dollars.

We are going to perform an Ethical Review of Exxon Mobil. As a first step, it is important to say that when it comes to ethics and oil industry everything already seems lost in advance. Since long the image of this industry is marred by various environmental disasters (oil spill on the coasts etc…) and many business problems that suggest that oil companies have blood on their hands. Following these disturbing facts it now seems essential for Oil businesses to regain a public image for stakeholders & all others. Indeed, a lot of these events have significantly harmed the Oil Industry. We will therefore study Exxon Mobile's ethics based on its history, its ethics policy, its corporate board & key executives and finally through its ethical practice.

Discussion

Exxon Mobil is en American major actor of the Oil Industry. It is born in 1999 from the merger of two giants: Exxon Corporation & Mobil Oil. The two companies at the origin of the merger are both descendants of one of the most historically famous Oil company Standard Oil founded by John D. Rockefeller. Indeed, following mediatized events of the company's antitrust violation in 1911 Standard Oil was split into 34 companies as a judgment of a United State Supreme Court. Standard Oil used to control more than 50% of the worldwide oil production & more than 85% of the US production & distribution.

From the 34 successors companies resulting from the split some have grown & now make part of worldwide most prestigious company including Chevron & Amoco. Standard Oil of New Jersey, another successor of Standard Oil, which will become later Esso and then Exxon and Standard Oil of New York, will become Mobil.

A major event has affected the image of Exxon before the merger. Indeed 38 500 tons of crude oil spill in the Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989. It was the largest oil spill to date to the United States. This disaster has killed large numbers of aquatic animals and has cost the U.S. government $38 000 000 for cleaning it up.

It's in 1998 that Mobil & Exxon signed the agreement for the merger of the two companies. The agreement had a value of $73 000 000 000 to found Exxon Mobil Corporation, at ...