Rio Tinto and Juukan Gorge (B)

Name: Rio Tinto and Juukan Gorge (B) (English version)
SKU: IN-1887

Petriglieri, Gianpiero; Lockhart, Jordan

Product #:IN-1887

Supplier:INSEAD

Discipline:Strategy

Details:Supplemental Case (PDF) • 6 pages • 2023-01-15

Subjects:

Strategy Business ethics Corporate governance Corporate social responsibility Globalization Leadership

Industries:

Fabrication and manufacturing

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$4.62

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Case Supplement for Case IN1886

Learning Objectives

The case highlights the importance of combining strategic calculations with moral considerations when making business decisions, and the danger of not doing so. It can be used with MBA and executive audiences in modules on Leadership, Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Power and Psychology, or Organisational Behaviour. The purpose is not to debate whether Rio Tinto was right or wrong. Most students will agree that the blast should never have happened, yet are not surprised that it did. Rather, the question is why individual and systemic 'lapses of judgment' are so common and how they can be prevented. The case goes below the surface to explore the complex issues surrounding the crisis, including power relations, personal accountability, value creation, and how corporate values are upheld. Students reflect on how to put 'values-based business' into practice and the risks to a multinational when its leaders become estranged from local operational settings. The Juukan Gorge blast was the outcome of a process that was as meticulous as it was insensitive. Debating why the process failed and how the resulting breach of trust should be repaired should persuade students that a leader's morality must be firmly rooted not only in corporate values but in a relationship with key stakeholders.