This document reports the foundations, the process followed and the final results of a research carried out in order to contribute to the increase of the current level of understanding about the processes of strategic change in the oil industry. This, within the framework of the new circumstances this industry is facing. A detailed, systematic, and in-depth study of a unique case focused on the Royal Dutch Shell was conducted. This company is one of the world leaders in the industry and of its main transformations throughout its history. The work carried out over a year and a half, from an interpretative epistemological approach and a qualitative methodology, allowed us to produce a wide amount of truly fundamental empirical material. This was analyzed thematically in a detailed, systematic, and rigorous way. The results highlight the existence of three essential themes that define Shell’s strategic change: 1) enaction, 2) dialectics, and 3) moral leadership focused on shared value. Each one of these is articulated, respectively, with three tensions and analogous concepts typical of the world of oil: 1) “determinism-voluntarism” and “natural resource”, 2) “particular interest-general interest” and “refining”, and 3) “tradition-renewal” and “fuel”. These findings allow us to propose a graphic representation of the conceptual model or understanding that also results from the theorization made about the studied phenomenon.
