Paper short abstract:

The paper show that that, while TNCs prefer consistent policies to reduce transaction costs and manage risks, Indigenous movements and associations, governments, and other corporate actors, all play important roles in adapting corporate policies based on global standards to specific localities.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines how a TNC translates global standards and corporate policies into programs at sites of extraction. This question is explored through a comparative analysis of ExxonMobil's operations in two different political and economic contexts: the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia and the Point Thomson project on the North Slope of Alaska. Evidence was gathered during field work carried out in Sakhalin Island in 2013-2015, and in Alaska in 2015-2018. Theoretically, we meld Governance Generating Network (GGN) and institutionalist approaches to analyze similarities and differences in benefit-sharing and environmental monitoring in both localities. We show that while global commitments and corporate principles contribute to a standardized approach to community engagement, Indigenous movements and associations, the government, and other corporate actors may play important roles in influencing how corporate policies and global standards are implemented at sites of extraction. Adaptation of community engagement, benefit-sharing, and environmental monitoring in one location then may shape how the company's strategies are implemented in other sites of extraction.