Greening the Corporation

4

An Analysis of Two Corporations with a Traditional Corporate Culture

INTRODUCTION

This chapter examines two corporations with a traditional corporate culture, Atlantic Richfield Corporation Chemical Company (ARCO) and the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies (Shell), and their responses to environmental crises. For the purposes of this book, corporations with traditional cultures are mainly concerned with the traditional business activities of providing a return to their shareholders, maximizing profits, and some ‘corporate philanthropy’, which directs typically around 1 per cent of pre-tax profits towards charitable ventures. To maximize returns, ...