Internet humiliation of Royal Dutch Shell Plc
How would you feel if a global arch critic of your business was intercepting your email, including job applications, business proposals and other highly sensitive and confidential communications all meant for your company? This is the embarrassing and bizarre predicament in which the oil giant Shell finds itself.
Unbelievable, but true, as the Company Secretary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Mr Michiel Brandjes would reluctantly have to confirm. All such communications are passed on to him by John Donovan, a Shell shareholder and vocal critic of Shell management. He is also the co-owner of the website www.royaldutchshellplc.com.
Despite the fact that his site displays notices making it clear that it is not affiliated with Shell, it still receives confidential communications meant for Shell (which are passed to Michiel Brandjes). Several such emails were sent to Mr Brandjes today.
According to an FT report on 19 Oct 2007, Royal Dutch Shell Plc has a market cap of $273bn and is active in more than 130 countries and territories. Shell has a significant presence on the Internet operating more than 200 websites spanning 80 countries in 25 languages.
Yet if you run an MSN Live search for "Royal Dutch Shell Plc" the first two websites listed on the first page of 629,000 results (as of today 22 October 2007) are for what Reuters has described as the "unofficial" company website - royaldutchshellplc.com. The same search carried out today on Google found the unofficial site listed at number 3 on the first page of results.
There is more media publicity about the unofficial website than any Shell site. It has been described as an open wound for Shell" and "Essential reading for anyone who covers Shell". The FT called it "an anti-Shell website that has been a long-running thorn in the company's side". The Daily Mail said Shell has been "rattled" and put on the "back foot" by the site.
The One World Trust, an independent research organisation associated with the UK legislature and the United Nations, said in a recent newsletter: "As The Royal Dutch Shell plc website shows, a gripe site can have a profound impact on global organisations" and went on to say: "The site has not only cost Shell billions of dollars in Russia "even Shell insiders unhappy with the company use it".
For the full article go to...
http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2007/10/22/the-internet-humiliation-of-royal-dutch-shell-plc/
Unbelievable, but true, as the Company Secretary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Mr Michiel Brandjes would reluctantly have to confirm. All such communications are passed on to him by John Donovan, a Shell shareholder and vocal critic of Shell management. He is also the co-owner of the website www.royaldutchshellplc.com.
Despite the fact that his site displays notices making it clear that it is not affiliated with Shell, it still receives confidential communications meant for Shell (which are passed to Michiel Brandjes). Several such emails were sent to Mr Brandjes today.
According to an FT report on 19 Oct 2007, Royal Dutch Shell Plc has a market cap of $273bn and is active in more than 130 countries and territories. Shell has a significant presence on the Internet operating more than 200 websites spanning 80 countries in 25 languages.
Yet if you run an MSN Live search for "Royal Dutch Shell Plc" the first two websites listed on the first page of 629,000 results (as of today 22 October 2007) are for what Reuters has described as the "unofficial" company website - royaldutchshellplc.com. The same search carried out today on Google found the unofficial site listed at number 3 on the first page of results.
There is more media publicity about the unofficial website than any Shell site. It has been described as an open wound for Shell" and "Essential reading for anyone who covers Shell". The FT called it "an anti-Shell website that has been a long-running thorn in the company's side". The Daily Mail said Shell has been "rattled" and put on the "back foot" by the site.
The One World Trust, an independent research organisation associated with the UK legislature and the United Nations, said in a recent newsletter: "As The Royal Dutch Shell plc website shows, a gripe site can have a profound impact on global organisations" and went on to say: "The site has not only cost Shell billions of dollars in Russia "even Shell insiders unhappy with the company use it".
For the full article go to...
http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2007/10/22/the-internet-humiliation-of-royal-dutch-shell-plc/
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