Royal Dutch Shell: Company strategies for dealing with environmental issues

Business History Review

Volumn 84, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 206-226

  Sluyterman, Keetie ^a  

^a UTRECHT UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 77956430765     PISSN: 00076805     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0007680500002580     Document Type: Review

References (82)

1. Jack Doyle, Riding the Dragon: Royal Dutch Shell and the Fossil Fire (Boston, 2002).
2. Quoted in Steve Lerner, Diamond: A Struggle for Environmental Justice in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor (Cambridge, Mass., 2005), 278.
3. Lindmark and Bergquist offered this suggestion: Magnus Lindmark and Ann Kristin Bergquist, "Expansion for Pollution Reduction? Environmental Adaptation of a Swedish and a Canadian Metal Smelter, 1960-2005", Business History 50 (2008):530-46.
4. Christine Meisner Rosen and Christopher C. Sellers, "The Nature of the Firm: Towards an Ecocultural History of Business", Business History Review 73 (1999):577-600.
5. Geoffrey Jones and Jonathan Zeitlin, Oxford Handbook for Business History (New York, 2008), 5.
6. Hugh S. Gorman, Redefining Efficiency: Pollution Concerns, Regulatory Mechanisms, and Technological Change in the US. Petroleum Industry (Akron, Oh., 2001), 109.
7. Kurt Fischer and Johan Schot, "Introduction: The Greening of the Industrial Firm", in Environmental Strategies for Industry: International Perspectives on Research Needs and Policy Implications, ed. Kurt Fischer and Johan Schot (Washington, D. C., 1993), 3-33.
8. Stephen Howarth and Joost Jonker, A History of Royal Dutch Shell, vol. 2: Powering the Hydrocarbon Revolution (Oxford, 2007), 401-39.
9. E. Melanie DePuis, "Introduction", in Smoke and Mirrors: The Politics and Culture of Air Pollution, ed. E. Melanie DePuis (New York, 2004), 1-11.
10. Higher compression caused gasoline to "pre-ignite" before the piston completed its downstroke.
11. Joost Jonker and Jan Luiten van Zanden, A History of Royal Dutch Shell, vol. 1: From Challenger to Joint Industry Leader (Oxford, 2007), 340-43;
12. Kendall Beaton, Enterprise in Oil: A History of Shell in the United States (New York, 1957), 412-14.
13. Tom McCarthy, Auto Mania: Cars, Consumers, and the Environment (New Haven, Conn., 2007), 48.
14. Tom McCarthy, Auto Mania: Cars, Consumers, and the Environment (New Haven, Conn., 2007), 49.
15. Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner, Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution (Berkeley, Calif., 2003), 12-35.
16. McCarthy, Auto Mania, 49.
17. Jonker and van Zanden, History of Royal Dutch Shell, vol. 1, 343, 525n32;
18. Beaton, Enterprise in Oil, 412-14.
19. R. J. Forbes, "Technische ontwikkeling van de Koninklijke, 1914-1940" (Dec. 1944):70-81, internal report, Shell The Hague Archives, Netherlands (SHA);
20. R. J. Forbes and D. R. O'Beirne, The Technical Development of the Royal Dutch/Shell, 1890-1940 (Leiden, 1957), 397-401;
21. for more about the Asian market agreement, see Jonker and van Zanden, From Challenger to Joint Industry Leader, 443.
22. Frank Uekoetter, "The Merits of the Precautionary Principle: Controlling Automobile Exhaust in Germany and the United States before 1945", in Smoke and Mirrors: The Politics and Culture of Air Pollution, ed. E. Melanie DePuis (New York, 2004), 119-53.
23. D. J. Rove, Lead Manufacturing in Britain, a History (London, 1983), 233-35, 360-62.
24. Rachel Carson, "A Fable for Tomorrow", in Silent Spring (Boston, 1962), ch. 1.
25. Jerome O. Nriagu, "The Rise and Fall of Leaded Gasoline", The Science of the Total Environment 92 (1990):13-28, 20-23;
26. McCarthy, Auto Mania, 180-81.
27. Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, Annual Report, 1963.
28. Report by Lord Rothschild on Pollution, 5 July 1967, "Environmental Conservation, 1967-1968", Committee of Managing Directors (CMD) files, S28, Shell London Archives (hereafter SLA);
29. see also Howarth and Jonker, Powering the Hydrocarbon Revolution, 423-25.
30. Markowitz and Rosner, Deceit and Denial, 117.
31. McCarthy, Auto Mania, 178-80.
32. Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, Annual Report, 1970.
33. Joseph A. Pratt, Prelude to Merger: A History of Amoco Corporation, 1973-1998 (Houston, 2002), 74-79.
34. Report by Lord Rothschild on Pollution, 5 July 1967.
35. Shell News 4 (1979):12-16.
36. Product Safety and Environmental Conservation Report for 1975, CMD files, S74; and Product Safety and Environmental Conservation Report for 1978, CMD files S83, both SLA.
37. Product safety, Occupational Health and Environmental Conservation Report for 1983, CMD files, S108, SLA.
38. Geoffrey Chandler, "Shell's Reputation", Interchange 62 (Jan./Feb. 1972).
39. Minutes CMD, 10 June 1969, Environment and Public Health/Safety, 1969-75, CMD files, S63, SLA. In this role CMD nominated E. J. G. Toxopeüs, who in 1969 became chairman of the Interfunctional Contact Committee, which was renamed Environmental Conservation Committee.
40. Minutes CMD, 13 Oct. 1970, Public Affairs, 1969-1975, CMD files, S67, SLA.
41. Richard Tookey, "PA is Good Business", Interchange 19 (1988).
42. Richard Tookey, "Public Opinion in the 90s: Threat or Opportunity?" Interchange (1991).
43. Interview with Tony Braks, Shell World, Oct. 1994.
44. Keetie Sluyterman, A History of Royal Dutch Shell, vol. 3: Keeping Competitive in Turbulent Markets, 1973-2007 (Oxford, 2007), 335-41.
45. "Brent Field: A Comparison of Two Field Offtake Systems", MR 81, SLA.
46. Conference minutes, 12 July 1995, including attachments, "Shell U. K. Issues Brief: North Sea abandonment-Brent Spar disposal", Feb. 1995 and update on 1 May 1995, SLA.
47. 4l Stelios C. Zyglidopoulos, "The Social and Environmental Responsibilities of Multinationals: Evidence from the Brent Spar Case", Journal of Business Ethics 36 (2002):141-51.
48. Conference minutes, 12 July 1995, including attachments, SHA.
49. Conference minutes, 14 June 1995, SHA.
50. Zyglidopoulos, "Social and Environmental Responsibilities", 144.
51. Conference minutes, 12 July 1995, including attachments; interview by author with C. A. J. Herkströter, 14 Dec. 2004.
52. Conference minutes, 13 Sept. 1995; C. A. J. Herkströter letter, 31 July 1995, both SLA.
53. Conference minutes, 13 Sept. 1995; C. A. J. Herkströter letter, 31 July 1995, both SLA.
54. Conference minutes, 15 July 1995, SHA.
55. Financial Times, 6 Sept. 1995; Peter Melchett to Shell U. K., 4 Sept. 1995, www.archive. greenpeace.org (accessed 6 Jan. 2005).
56. "Greenpeace under Fire on Brent Spar Coverage", Nature 377 (1995):6.
57. "Brent Spar-The Wider Perspective", Shell Management Brief (Aug. 1995).
58. "Brent Spar: See and Hear the Solution", Interchange (1998):17.
59. OSPAR Decision 98/3 on the Disposal of Disused Offshore Installations, 1998, www.ospar.org.
60. Report by Lord Rothschild on Pollution, 5 July 1967.
61. Minutes CMD, 22 Aug. 1979, Environment, public health, safety, 1976-1978, CMD files, DCS, S74, SLA.
62. HSE review 1985, discussed 12 Aug. 1986, Environment, public health, and safety, 1986, CMD files, DCS, S116, SLA.
63. World Commission of Environment and Development World Commission, Our Common Future (Oxford, 1987), 43.
64. World Commission of Environment and Development World Commission, Our Common Future (Oxford, 1987), 308-43.
65. Conference minutes, 12 Feb. 1992; PA review, "Profit with Responsibility", both SHA.
66. Koos Visser, "The Test of Tomorrow", Shell Selected Papers (Sept. 1993).
67. Product Safety, Occupational Health and Environmental Conservation report for 1988, HS&E 1989/1990, CMD files, DCS, S130, SLA.
68. Ged Davies, "Global Warming: The Role of Energy Efficient Technologies", Shell Selected Papers (1989).
69. "Global Climate Change", Shell Briefing Service (SBS) (1990).
70. Shell World, Feb. 1995.
71. Statement of the Global Climate Coalition before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Hearing on S5565, the Clean Power Act, Nov. 1, 2001: http://epw. senate.gov/107th/Global-Climate-Coalition.htm.
72. Mark Moody-Stuart, "Winners and Losers-Meeting the Upstream Challenges of the 21st Century", speech given at the AAPG/SVG Congress, 9 Sept. 1996, Caracas, Venezuela.
73. Cor Herströter, "Reflections on Kyoto", 2 Feb. 1998.
74. Speech by John Browne, Royal Institute of International Affairs conference, Chatham House, London, 6 Feb. 1998.
75. Ans Kolk and David Levy, "Winds of Change: Corporate Strategy, Climate Change and Oil Multinationals", European Management Journal 19 (2001):501-9.
76. Philip Watts, "Energy and Climate-The Role of Industry", paper presented at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and Eidanren seminar, Tokyo, 5 June 2003.
77. "People, Planet & Profits: An Act of Commitment", Shell Report, 1999.
78. "Meeting the Energy Challenge", Shell Report, 2002.
79. Sluyterman, Keeping Competitive, 426-30.
80. Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It (New York, 2006).
81. Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Geneva, 2007).
82. Jeroen van der Veer, "Our Approach to Climate Change", introduction to Shell Sustainability Report, 2006 (2006).