444 By Susan Ariel Aaronson and David Deese With a reaction by ...

We conclude with the observation with which we began: the international oilcompanies are behemoths. They are huge, slow, to move, and often perceived asirresponsible. As we all know, the dinosaurs had great difficulty evolving as the earthwarmed. If they don’t dramatically change their ways, the big five oil and gas behemothsmay also go the way of the dinosaur.REACTION BY EDWARD C. CHOWThe economic role of major international oil companies (IOCs) in the 21 st Centuryis an interesting topic and one that the Aaronson and Deese tackle with vigor. The authorssurmise that there is a tension, perhaps even contradiction, between IOCs’ obligation totheir shareholders and a wider responsibility to stakeholders. In common corporateparlance, “stakeholders” include shareholders, governments, customers, communities andemployees, so the concept explicitly accepts social responsibility on the part ofcompanies. However, the authors go a good deal further when they judge IOC actions inthe context of a supposed global commons and “stakeholdership” standard in the areas ofdiversity of energy supply including alternative energies and conservation, remediation ofclimate change, promotion of human rights, and elimination of resource curse andcorruption. Let’s examine whether these concepts are truly applicable.Shareholder Value and Social ResponsibilityIt is fashionable to claim that the modern American corporation’s fixation onmarket expectations on quarterly financial performance is at odds with larger societalgoals. Yet evidence is lacking. The essential function of petroleum companies is to467