Final exam Question 1

1. In April 2010, the explosion on the British Petroleum (BP) Deepwater Horizon
drilling rig killed 11 workers and injured 17 others. The rig continued to gush oil into
the Gulf of Mexico until it was capped on July 15, 2010. The well was declared
effectively dead by the United States federal government on September 19, 2010.
By this time, almost 5 million barrels of crude oil leaked into the Gulf. Marine and
wildlife habitats were damaged, and tourism and fishing industries were crippled
along the Gulf Coast. Fishing grounds, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and
beaches across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida were threatened by the
spill. The economy of this region was damaged by the spill. Many businesses were
forced to close, and many people were left unemployed. The BP oil spill is
considered an example of why many businesses and organizations need better
corporate responsibility standards. Write 300-400 words on the ethical issues
surrounding the BP oil spill incident of 2010. The following questions can be used as
guidelines for your essay, but it is not required that all of these questions are
answered. You can use your textbook to support your argument, and you can write
your essay using word processing software (i.e., Microsoft Word). The use of the
internet is prohibited for this assignment. Spelling and grammar will impact your
grade. Make certain to proofread your response carefully before clicking on the
submit button.
Why is the BP oil spill considered a matter of corporate social responsibility?
Discuss the BP oil spill in relation to business ethics.
Which stakeholders were affected by the oil spill? How were these stakeholders
affected?
The natural environment is considered a stakeholder. What is BPs responsibility to
the environment?
How will this crisis affect the way businesses create their strategic plans? - See
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BP oil spill is considered a matter of corporate social responsibility. Had BP

established adequate standards of corporate social responsibility, it would have
taken safety measures that would have prevented the explosion on the drilling rig.
There are several safeguards that normally would have prevented the explosion.
However, these safeguards were neglected, in bad repair, and inadequate. This led
to the explosion. Next had BP behaved in a responsible manner, it would not have
allowed oil to gush into the Gulf of Mexico for such a long time. The explosion took
place in April 2010 but the capping of the oil well took place in July 2010. If BP can
drill for oil it must have equipment ready to cap an oil well if there is an explosion.
The oil spill is a matter of corporate social responsibility.

Countless articles, studies and commentaries have been published about The British
Petroleum explosion that occurred on a deep water drilling rig in April of 2010. This
historic event that was the cause of so much destruction. It is important to realize
that the destruction was not only on a visible, physical level. The damage that was
caused by this event was on an ethical social level as well.

Corporate social responsibility is a form of self-regulation that is integrated into a

business organization. This is a type of built in regulation system for a business.
Corporate social responsibility is important because it helps a business make sure to
comply with all legal and ethical standards associated with the business. This is
precisely why the BP oil spill is considered a mater of Corporate social responsibility.
Everything that this encompasses was in essence, broken by BP. The legal standards
came into play after the fact when BP learned exactly what their legal responsibility
was to make this disastrous event better.

The corporate social responsibility is directly related to the business ethics portion
of this even and BP. Obviously, the first course of business was to be able to cap the
well and stop the oil from gushing. The major ethical issue were how to help the
businesses, and people that were effected by this event. There were so many
coastal businesses long the coasts of the Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and
Florida that lost there means for making a living as a direct result of this explosion.
BP ultimately made amends with small businesses to compensate them for lost
wages due to their liability. This was an ethical issue.

When an event such as this occurs involving a massive corporation such as British
Petroleum, there are stakeholders that are adversely affected. The executives within
the BP corporation were directly effected. In addition, there were the indirect
stakeholders that were affected. The crew members, and workers that earn a living
from their job. There were also all of the small business along the coast of the four
effected states that lost money as a result. Lastly, there was the environment,
which includes the animals. The thousands of sea animals that were killed or
harmed because of this explosion were by products of this event. Then,take in to
account the sea food, and the water quality that was affected.

The strategic plan for the BP corporation was changed dramatically because of this
explosion. New contingencies were put into place to safeguard the equipment and
more stringent safety checks on a routine basis. Lastly, BP has made sure to include

in their update strategic plan a course of action as to how o stop the gushing oil
immediately if something such as this were to ever happen again.

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