Exxon Mobil
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By Beni Bevly
I used to subscribe quite many magazines, but nowadays there are only two of them come into my mail box frequently. They are The Week and Fortune. I consume the rest of the news from internet and CNN.

A couple days ago, I received Fortune with its the most prominent news, Fortune 500 Companies. Who can resist from reading that news? I opened it right away and found out my favorite pages. It showed that Exxon Mobil (Exxon) occupied no. 1 position in profit column. Again? I said “again” because I compared it to last year news. I really wanted to make sure that I got it right. I went over a pile of my old magazines. Yes, I was right, Exxon was there, at the same spot. Why does it matter to me? Of course it does and it also does matter to you too.

In the American society and government who are known for their “perfect” check and balance system compared to other countries, still, it shows a lot of unfair and unethical business practices. With less perfect check and balance system, Indonesia, the country where I was born, also practices this kind of business. Many Indonesia’s government officials and businesses also took advantage and conducted corruption at the largest energy company in Indonesia, PERTAMINA. Of course, I do not tolerate it.

What I would like to say is that America (the United States) is one of the countries that talks and promotes ethics, morality, humanity and democracy all the times in front of other countries, including Indonesia, but on the other hand, the United States government do not solve the Exxon’s phenomenon that took too much advantage and exploit Americans and other host countries seriously, while Americans and other people in the host countries suffer from Exxon’s operation. This negative case will be easily emulated by those corrupt people in the host countries.

Here are the points. First, Exxon is one of the companies who has influence to our life directly through its products, oil and energy. If we are talking about oil and energy, it will relate to our daily activity, from the moment we were in incubation, born and grown, and from the time we wake up, go to work, eat and sleep. All these activities relate to the use of oil and energy, the light we turn on, the car we drive, and the most important thing is the CO2 (Carbon dioxide: a heavy odorless colorless gas formed during respiration and by the decomposition of organic substances; absorbed from the air by plants in photosynthesis, dictionary.com) that we inhale every single second has been polluted. With Exxon’s enormous influence in our life, the question is do they contribute something to create a better quality of life?

If you visit their corporate web site, you will find out their very smart way to mention what they have contributed to this society with its no.1 profit. Do you feel the positive impact on us directly? I do not.

Second, there is an irony between American society and Exxon. While most Americans suffer from gas increase, Exxon is enjoying its extraordinary big amount of net profits. In 2005 Exxon’s net profit increased 42.6% and in 2006, it increased 9.3%. With these increases, Exxon made $39,500,000,000.00 net profits. This number is 32.2% from total of $122.9 billion of net profit in energy industry. If you compare to other industries, such as financial and consumer staple industries, Exxon did not only make the most money, but they also had the most profit in percentage in its industry. While the companies with no. 1 profits in financial industry, Citigroup made 8.3%, and in consumer staple industry, Altria made 15.3%.

How can Exxon keep increasing the price of gasoline and make tremendous of money, while most Americans does not experience in increasing their earnings. Most employers do not raise their employees’ salaries. They even do not adjust the salaries to inflation rate for these past years.

I know, the United States is a liberal and capitalistic country, but at the same time the United States is also a country that respects and believes in moral conscience, ethical value and people’s prosperity. I do not think that Exxon Mobil fits into these values. Therefore, my fellows in developing countries, including Indonesia, do not get trapped with this situation again. We have suffered enough. The suffering that created by small groups of corrupt people.

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*Beni Bevly holds BA in Political Science, MBA in Marketing, and is a DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) candidate. He is the founder of Overseas Think Tank for Indonesia.