The Good Corporate Citizen: Social responsibility and the foreign oil companies

Abstract

American and British oil companies emerged as the leading advocates of corporate social responsibility in Venezuela, providing public services, investing in socio-economic projects, and offering professional opportunities for all Venezuelans. However, they did not initially profess this liberal mindset. Instead, foreign corporations such as the Creole Petroleum Corporation transitioned from being unconcerned with local grievances in the 1930s to becoming exemplary models of commitment towards the social problems of the country in the 1940s. This article traces the process of corporate reinvention, analyzing how Creole and its predecessors adopted this business philosophy. Ultimately, this agenda allowed the company to avoid the economic nationalism that had led to the expropriation of foreign capital assets in other parts of the world. The last section explores the scope and reach of Creole’s policy of ‘Venezolanization,’ which aimed to promote local talent at all levels of the oil industry.