1. This question was asked to fin out how many people actually care about the environment and want to help, these people are the community and customers from the stakeholder model.
2. This question was asked to see how strongly the person felt about the environment. If the customer would take their custom elsewhere due to Shell not accepting responsibility, then that means that they feel very strongly about the environment.
Desk Research and Results
The following diagram is the stakeholder model, it shows all the people involved in the company, including related figures such as the community.
As you can see, all the parties involved are linked, which means that every decision Shell makes could affect all these people for bad or for good.
Shell accept responsibility for the environment being damaged. Their main product which is petrol, diesel etc. is one of the main sources of greenhouse gases. Over the last 20-30 years, the greenhouse gases have had a huge effect on the environment, there have been increasing concerns about the ozone layer and the rapid change in the climate. Petrol and diesel etc. produce carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide when they combust. The quantity of these gases in the atmosphere has increased over the last few decades and shell are partly responsible for this.
Shell should accept its responsibility to improve the environment as it plays a huge role in destroying it. If shell just turned a blind eye to the environmental issues, customers and other members of the stakeholder model would see Shell as stubborn firm who just ignorantly declines to accept what it has done to the environment.
If Shell accepts its responsibility, the firm itself and the stakeholders will benefit from it. The stakeholders will benefit by having a cleaner environment to live in. The firm will be respected to helping the environment and this will attract customers. If Shell does ignores the environmental issues, it may lose some of its customers who are very concerned about the environment. A reduced number of customers will lead to a lower revenue and as cost are still the same, profit will be lower.
Shell have recently introduced a new substance into the fuel they sell. This product is a liquid which is added to the fuels, it reduces the emissions released and keeps the engines of the vehicles cleaner. The new fuel is also said to be economically beneficial. This means that the costs of the company will be lowered as less fuel at the same price will last the same time. The new fuel also has more efficient combustion as there will not be any "coke deposits."
The stakeholders are the people who are affected the most by the activities of the company. If the company does not help to protect the environment, then there may be a lack of customer however this is unlikely according to my survey, only 5% of people would take their custom elsewhere. If there was a significant drop in the number of customers, employees from the stakeholder model may lose their jobs. The community would have less money to spend as the employees will not be paid. The managers and owners will not get as much income as they did before and so the suppliers could be paid. The creditors would not be paid back as there is no money to pay them back with.
It is therefore important that Shell help to protect the environment as the stakeholders are all affected for the worse if Shell does not help. This new innovation is another chapter of Shells continuous efforts towards sustainability. It is sustainable growth as Shell are increasing there income by selling this fuel which is cheaper and more efficient and it is not damaging the environment.
Shell have also agreed to reduce their gas emissions by 5% from 1990 to 2012 under the Kyoto Protocol of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. This is another step towards helping the environment. This action will make people believe that Shell really do care about the environment, and this be the reason to chose Shell over another particular garage.
Evaluation
This assignment could have been improved with a larger time allowance. The assignment could also be more detailed in the ways in which Shell are helping to save the environment. More examples of Shells contributions of helping the environment would also have helped in giving the work more depth. The questionnaire conducted was very short but did not cover the two major points for this assignment. The answers to the questionnaire may not be accurate as some of the people asked may not have given their honest opinion on the matter as they were too polite. More questions would have helped to gain an understanding of how the public views Shell and its actions.
Bibliography
www.shell.com
www.itn.co.uk
Newspaper articles
Nuffield BP, Business Studies and Economics
