Assignment BP has had a high profile corporate social responsibility strategy over the last 10 years.

In rebranding itself as Beyond Petroleum it positioned the business as a responsible organisation seeking to use resources in a sustainable manner by exploring new sustainable technologies, and working with local communities for mutual benefit (see http://www.bp.com/). The deaths of 11 platform workers and the large scale oil leak, releasing 4.9 million barrels of oil, from the deep water drilling process in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 has resulted in wide spread criticism of BP business practice. For this assignment you are required to write a report on the oil disaster assessing whether notions of corporate responsibility and business ethics have failed to change the nature of company behaviour. In your report you should consider the following: BPs stance on Corporate Responsibility and Ethics. What environmental and other damage was caused by this accident. To what extent the accident was BPs fault, and the extent that they violated their own code of corporate responsibility. The extent of the damage to BPs reputation and their business prospectus in the short and longer term. Sources There is a wealth of information available on this issue on the web, this is good to draw upon but please make sure you use a range of different sources including journal and newspaper articles as well as organisational sites. A good starting point is the official site of US government http://www.restorethegulf.gov/ Other good sources are the sites of newspapers, campaign and community groups, US government, BP etc. Please remember when using web-based data that the information provided does not always reflect the academic rigor you require in your work. Therefore be critical, understand your information sources and contrast and compare different perspectives in your analysis. It is not sufficient to use web-based sources only you must also use academic books and journal articles since this is where you will develop the theoretical information with which to examine the case. Failure to observe these recommendations will result in loss of marks Due date 1600 hours Tuesday 8th November 2011. Submission