Exxonmobil: Social Responsibility in a Commodity Market Essay

3. A growing number of firms, for instance soft drink producers, the car companies, fast food restaurants, cigarette companies and so on are under pressure from the government, the media institutions, the environment, the community and society in general for encouraging harmful habits of consumer. However, in the free market economy, individual including consumer and the general public are free to choose the goods they may want to consume (within legal boundaries to emphasize). The questions are: where do you think personal responsibility end and corporate social responsibility begin? How does your personal response change across specific firms? in your own view, what is the role and responsibility federal and states government might play?

Despite the real life anecdote described above, a lot of people don't understand why and how gas prices rise and fall. There's an increase in attention to gas prices when they're higher or lower than usual because that directly concerns them as a consumer. Even when gas prices are higher, consumers keep paying because there's not really an alternative out there besides buying a new environmentally friendly car. However, there's currently a much deeper problem in the United States related to gas prices. Today, in particular, gas prices are a lot less than they have been but most Americans brush it off and wonder something along the lines of ""Who is that bad for?"". I mean, fuels costs eat up a large share of earnings in the

There has been some talk about an “oil-extraction tax.” With this tax in place, it would force companies to fork out more of the tax instead of the consumer. If higher taxes are put in place for the producer ultimately they are not the ones paying the higher price the consumer is. Either way producers will receive revenue and in order to do that they will just raise their prices. The demand for fuel is based on necessity forcing consumers to pay outrageous prices because they need it. In addition to the tax, oil companies would have to disclose more information about their supplies and prices. Since the companies have market power, some believe with the tax in place it would reduce the price of the good.

Senator Everett Dirksen once noted “The oilcan is mightier than the sword”. In today’s world, it is easy to see why oil can be considered the most important resource to hold. Without oil, many of the common day occurrences we take for granted would be impossible. Oil is used for almost everything; from the fuel used to drive our vehicles, to the plastics used in every facet of life, and providing the heat needed to live through the winter. In fact, the United States depends so much on oil that as a nation it uses over 20 million barrels a day. Importing oil increases the total costs because of the need to transport it from around the world. It is estimated

Competition in the oil industry is separated by about 10 cents here in the US. The difference between ARCCO, Shell, Mobil, and Chevron, is between 1 and 10 cents. Oil companies don’t compete with each other. With gas prices constantly fluctuating towards the $3 mark, there is little room to raise prices. Consumers will not pay 25 cents more for a gallon of gas. Although Chevron Texaco and ExxonMobil make have a slight difference in price at the pump, the will not try to do anything to rock the boat.

The price of gas has gone up for the 30th day in a row, and with it tempers are rising. Increased demand for public transportation is expected to continue into the spring [1]. The impact of high oil

If the government decides to continue with the drilling of new sites or expand the Keystone XL Pipeline there are environmental dangers and concerns to follow and still not enough oil production to fuel the countries demand. The importing of oil from foreign countries would still be a necessity. For now the prices of gasoline are still on the rise and with use of the oil money future tool prices are sure to continue rising. As it seems in this current economic crisis, consumers need to make their voice heard with the government and hope something will change with the way oil is produced and imported to lower the cost for everyone.

The following article is regarding what is most important to everyone around us regarding the pricing for gasoline at the pumps. This is a topic that concerns most people on this planet, why are the prices for gasoline so high and is it regarding the greed of oil producing companies to continue to keep rising the gasoline prices as high as possible. We will discuss the many reasons why these fluctuating pricing keeps occurring within our world market. We will use the retail gasoline pricing between the

The demand of gasoline has increased steadily over the last twenty years. In 1981 the U.S. averaged 6.5 million barrels of gasoline consumption per day. By comparison, in 2004 the U.S. averaged 9.2 million barrels of gasoline consumption per day. For most of this time period, gas prices stayed relatively the same. This is because the U.S. refineries increased their production to meet the demand and maintain the equilibrium price. Also during this same time period worldwide demand for crude oil increased 27%. Crude oil producers also increased their production to meet the demand keeping prices the same.

Over the past two years, oil prices have increased very rapidly. “With OPEC production cuts and a growth in crude oil demand,” oil prices went from a 25-year low of $11 per barrel in February 1999 to a peak of close to $36 per barrel in December 2003 (Jablon 1). “Some analyst, however, said the cut could soon push crude prices above the psychologically important threshold of $40 per barrel and worsen the pain for U.S. motorists” (“Rising Prices Fuel Gas Clash” 1). During this winter, the price of natural gas has gone through the roof. This brings many questions to mind. Are the companies just raising prices? Is there actually a shortage that is causing the raise in price?

Exxon and Chevron are no doubt some of the leading incorporated oil companies on the globe. Exxon Corp. is the second largest oil firm after Royal Dutch Shell, it is respected for getting the biggest revenue return in 2008 which no company in the U.S. have ever reported before. According to Wilson (2009) Chevron has managed to show a lot of profitability in the market despite the decease in its oil production. It graded as one of firms which made a billion dollars profit within a week in the period of July to September 2008. Regardless of profitability trends set by the two oil firms in the U.S. market, they have been facing financial decline like the rest of the companies in other industries. The two firms are like two sailing ships which are taking longer time to sink. In the last few years, the production capacity of Chevron and Exxon has decreased and their listings on the stock market have become weak. The continuation of construction and drilling which requires billions of dollars in expense of oil production might make them experience a bigger financial crisis (Wilson, 2009).

I personally think ExxonMobil is acting responsibly with respect to pricing its product. With all the information that was presented in the case with the demand and supply of gasoline I believe they are charging a price that they think seems fair. Demand is so high for gasoline it’s hard to not see a huge profit in the end. Gasoline is a product that is used every day by everyone. If the market price is increasing it would not be a good business practice to lower the prices so at the least they could keep them stable. But even if for some reason, which I find highly unlikely, they decide to lower prices they would most likely still make a profit in the end. If for some reason ExxonMobil get some bad press it might be a good idea to lower prices to show the public some goodwill, other than that I don’t think it would be a good business practice to lower prices.

The economic question I plan to provide insight on is: “how do gas prices affect road accidents and fatalities in the United States?”

The US consumed 142 billion gallons of gasoline in 2007 and the tax applied on it is 18. 4 cents on one gallon. All around the US, there are around 162,000 retail gasoline outlets. With the price of crude oil hovering around $100 a barrel, it is no wonder that concern is growing about the gas prices being so high. After all, modern economies are kept moving by this lifeblood. For instance, in the United States alone personal vehicles consume more than 140 billion gallons of diesel fuel and gasoline per year.However, there are several factors that contribute to the gas prices being so high. Given below are a few of them. Increasing Demand for Oil One of the main catalysts for the incessant rise in gas prices has been one of the most

Three hundred million, five-hundred thousand dollars would pay for the tuition of around 5,207 students at Texas Christian University. That is around half of TCU's estimated 10,000 student population. ("Schools and Colleges"). The major oil company, Exxon Mobil, will use that much money in response to their factory pollution. Exxon Mobil is one of the big firms that dominates the gasoline industry in the United States. Further, the gasoline industry is an example of an oligopoly, a market with the presence of few dominant firms. This essay will explain Exxon Mobil's pollution case with the United States, Exxon's response to the setback of the recent hurricane in Texas, and how both of these current events connect to the topics covered in the Microeconomics course.