Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This book is not an account of what happened with the Brent Spar campaign, but a lugubrious attempt to analyse it within a vocabulary that will speak only to the author's fellow political scientists. There is no reporting in it whatsoever and even the ideas covered (or concluded?) are obscured by jargon and, well, rather poor writing.
The story itself is relevant for business analysts, activists, and interested observers. In 1996, after consultation with the British government, Royal Dutch Shell decided that it would dispose of a massive oil storage and loading platform (Brent Spar) at sea. While the method represented a new way of decommissioning such a platform, it appeared both scientifically and environmentally sound as well as cheap. What Shell managers did not count on was the campaign that GreenPeace developed against the company that was based on some dodgy conclusions: not only did the group call for a massive boycott - mostly in Germany! - but activists occupied the platform and were repelled (on TV naturally) by water cannons. The result was the worst kind of brand trashing that is imaginable for a major corporation, while GreenPeace gained huge publicity for its cause of environmentalism (and fundraising therefor). SHell may have had the science right, but the way it dealt with the crisis as GreenPeace engineered it was utterly disastrous. Eventually, Brent Spar was recycled on shore and SHell admitted activits to its panels for consultation, widening the voices heard as well as attempting to re-vamp its decisionmaking process (making it more centralized and hence less dependent on local technocrats).
Now that is pretty interesting stuff. Alas, this book is precisely the wrong place to learn about it!
Not recommended except for political scientists in the author's peer group.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Shell, Greenpeace and Brent Spar
The decision by multinational Shell not to dispose of the Brent Spar oil facility in the North Atlantic was taken after several occupations of the structure by Greenpeace, and as a result of large scale pro-Greenpeace protest in the UK, Germany and other countries. This case is often cited to show the power of single-issue groups to force big business to rethink the importance of environmental issues. However, research shows Shell changed its mind on the Brent Spar issue because of the corporate structure of the company and reluctance to bear the bad publicity. Grant Jordan considers the role of scientific advice in shaping governmental decisions on matters such as BSE, genetically modified foods, and global warming.
Click here for more information about Shell, Greenpeace and Brent Spar
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