Royal Dutch Shell: Globe Business and Ethics Paper

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GLOBLE BUSINESS AND ETHICS PAPER � PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT �1�

Royal Dutch Shell: Globe Business and Ethics Paper

Student's Name

MGT/216

February 7, 2010

Professor's Name

Globe Business and Ethics Paper

Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) is the second largest multinational petrochemical company in the world. According to Shell, "In 1833, shopkeeper Marcus Samuel decided to expand his London business. He sold antiques, but now added oriental shells. He aimed to capitalize on a fashion for using them in interior design. His instinct was right - such was the demand that Samuel quickly began importing shells from the Far East, laying the foundations for his import/export business," (The beginning, para 1.). Shell Group's ultimate goal is to uphold their core values honesty, integrity, respect for people and its business principles that are applicable anywhere it does business.

The ethical issues that became evident in the situation as a result of Shell's globalization began in 1958 when they began oil production in the Niger Delta "one of the world's most severely petroleum-impacted ecosystems" of Nigeria.

The Ogoni population living in Niger Delta 75% depends on the earth for their income and the Nigerians live on less than US$1 per day. Shell's operations led to irreversible damage and devastation to their beloved land like oil spills and deforestation. The Ogoni people formed a nonviolent movement called the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) to protest the Shell organization. From 1990-1995, Nigerian soldiers, at Shell's request and with Shell's assistance and financing, used deadly force and conducted massive, brutal raids against the Ogoni people to repress the growing movement in protest of Shell. On November 10, 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni leaders died because they opposed Shell's devastating practices in Ogoni lands," said Jennie Green, attorney at the...