July
9, 2012
My dad has been working under the
petroleum industry ever since he graduated college. First, he worked for Shell and eventually
moved to Total Philippines. As of today,
he has already retired from his job but he now manages a gas station for
Total. With that, I grew up usually
hearing about the price increase and the price fixing of gasoline. My parents were able to emphasize to me that
these changes significantly affects our daily living. Thus, during our COSORES class for July 9, I
was engrossed with the topic of monopoly and oligopoly because I can somehow
relate to some parts of it, particularly in terms of the price fixing. Every time we travel, my dad constantly
compares the prices of gasoline (unleaded, diesel, and the like) and checks
whether each company follows through with the price fixed for the day. Honestly speaking, there are some companies,
who do not abide by this, which I believe can be quite unethical because it
becomes unfair for other gas stations.
The petroleum industry is, indeed, a
crowded and mature market. My
familiarity with Total, Shell, and Chevron (the company that I interned last
term) made me realize that this industry still has several unethical
practices. Fortunately, they do conduct
Corporate Social Responsibility Actions; however, all of them must be strict
when it comes to following price fixing.
This dilemma revolves around ethics and therefore, it is really up to the
owner of the respective gas station whether to follow or not. In my opinion, the area head for the company
must be alert at all times and make sure that each retailer is observing proper
ethical courses of actions.
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