Applying the Rhetoric of Renewal Model in a Contemporary African Context: Lessons Learned from the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Crisis in Nigeria

Abstract

\\This article applies the crisis renewal model to a multinational organizational crisis in Nigeria not only to analyze the crisis points of conflict in the multinational’s corporate rhetoric but also to examine how global relations; situated exigencies; and cultural, social, and economic tensions contextualize corporate communication strategies during crises. Rhetoric of renewal was evident as the multinational corporation responded to a prolonged crisis involving multiple state and local stakeholders. Although the renewal model itself redresses traditional Aristotelian crisis rhetoric models, the Nigerian situation calls for a significant reframing of rhetorical strategies accountable to the colonialist legacies, cultural traditions, political volatilities, and socioeconomic particularities of these contexts. Lessons learned and implications for organizational crisis rhetoric and practices in an age of increasing global interconnectedness are offered.