The April 21, 1997, issue of Forbes includes an article by Toni Mack entitled

"The Tiger Is on the Prowl

Instructions
Read the article and answer the following questions.

(a) What have been the relative capital spending practices of Royal Dutch Shell versus Mobil Corp. versus Exxon?

(b) What has been "the religion" (business objective) of Exxon's headquarters since 1983?

(c) What was Exxon's capital budget in 1994 and 1995? What is Exxon's capital budget expected to swell to in 2 or 3 years?

(d) Did Exxon's capital spending strategy pay off during the past 15 years?