From the case study concerning the shell company, organizations need to be careful whenever developing strategies to guide their operations. This means that they should have various stakeholders in mind before coming up with any active operation agenda. This is vital because reputation of any organization to its stakeholders marks the beginning of its success. Companies should make sure that they do not engage in activities that may end up affecting the society since this adversely affects their reputation. For example, Shell Company had its reputation affected as a result of events undertaken by some of its subsidiaries. These events angered various stakeholders hence affecting shell’s business in a great way.
In fact, companies should not take anything for granted whenever making any decision since the little aspects of human life that are easily ignored may end up affecting the reputation of any company. Companies should involve members of the community in their vicinity in order to address issues that face them as a result of operations carried by the company. This means that organizations should consider social needs of people in their surrounding environments and address them accordingly. This includes creating employment for people within locations where these companies are situated. This is extremely beneficial because people appreciate what the company is doing to uplift their lives.
Companies should make sure that they minimize social and environmental costs in order to help people uplift their living standards. In addition, they should try as much as possible to run their operations independently without involving national politics. This is notable because companies produce goods for everyone in the community regardless of their political affiliations. Therefore, companies should remain neutral in order to win the trust of all individuals in any society. Shell Company was accused of having a stake in killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa due to their support for the Nigerian government. These accusations affected its operations for a long time since people felt that the company is working with the government against certain groups of individuals. When companies decide to work closely with government leaders, nongovernment organizations tend to attack them a lot. For example, if a government carries out extra judicial killings, the company is not spared in the accusations, and this affects its reputation adversely.
Companies should always consider consulting with various agencies to make sure that they adhere to the set standards whenever setting up their facilities. This helps in building strong working relationships with all stakeholders hence improving on the reputation. For example, shell was faced by a considerable challenge where environmental agencies wanted the company to scrap its deep Atlantic storages which they considered as a threat to the environment. Such issues end up bringing serious attacks from the media and non- government organizations hence affecting reputation of the company adversely. In fact, managers should be ready to work with people from all sectors that they interact with when carrying out their operations.
This is vital because when these people are involved, chances of conflicts arising in the future are remarkably minimal. Non-government organizations can decide to mobilize people against any organization that tend to threaten their interest hence tainting the company’s reputation in a great manner. Finally, companies should develop missions and vision statements that will keep them close to their stakeholders. This is the best way to safeguard their reputation since their operational goals will be inclined towards enhancing relationships between the company and its stakeholders.