The article in the url link below exposes the extent to which politics and international business are inter-twined, and how the resulting compromises encroach on the pristine social responsibility brand image firms seek to craft (Issues: Advertising, p151; Brands, p153):
“Libya has ratified a contract with BP after the UK government drafted a prisoner transfer agreement that could include the man serving a life sentence in Scotland for the Lockerbie bombing. The Dollars 900m (Euros 600m, Pounds 450m) exploration contract was part of a package of agreements arranged by Tony Blair, former UK prime minister, on a state visit to Libya last year.”
In a similar fashion to the rising safety concerns in its North American operations and its involvement in tar sands oil extraction in Canada, this deal by BP demonstrates the fine line corporations walk in trying to satisfy the claims made on them by their various stakeholder groups:
“BP denied there were political reasons for the ratification of the deal being delayed. But the company has been involved in political negotiations with Tripoli before, dispatching one of its in-house advisers who was a former UK intelligence officer to negotiate the release last year of Bulgarian nurses detained in Libya.”
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
Libya jail swap deal clears way for BP project.
By ANDREW BOLGER and DINO MAHTANI
484 words
31 January 2008
Financial Times
London Ed1
Page 10
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c19e2ae6-cf9f-11dc-854a-0000779fd2ac.html
