United Nations Global Compact Annual Review

The Annual Review 2010 is organized following the three dimensions of the Global Compact Blueprint for Corporate Sustainability Leadership, a model for achieving higher levels of sustainability performance. This review assesses how - and to what extent - participating companies are implementing the ten principles; taking action in support of broader UN goals and issues; and engaging with the Global Compact locally and globally. At the center of the review are the findings from the 2010 Global Compact Implementation Survey completed by 1,251 companies from 103 countries, assessing corporate sustainability policies and actions being taken from the boardroom through the supply chain

The UN Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. By doing so, business, as a primary driver of globalisation, can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere. Endorsed by chief executives, the Global Compact is a practical framework for the development, implementation, and disclosure of sustainability policies and practices, offering participants a wide spectrum of workstreams, management tools and resources - all designed to help advance sustainable business models and markets. The UN Global Compact Annual Review is a comprehensive annual study that assesses how - and to what extent - companies worldwide are implementing the ten principles; taking action in support of broader UN goals and issues; and engaging with the Global Compact locally and globally. At the centre of the review are the findings from the Annual Global Compact Implementation Survey, an annual, anonymous online survey of Global Compact participants worldwide, conducted to take stock of environmental and social performance and identify trends and developments related to corporate sustainability issues.

A review of the first ten years of the world's largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative.

In a context of neoliberal globalization, have the processes of elaboration and implementation of foreign investors' responsibilities by intergovernmental organizations reached the realm of legality? Using an analytical framework and a methodology that combines international law with international relations, this book provides a twofold answer to this question. First, it demonstrates that the normative integration of foreign investors' responsibilities in international investment law is fragmented and consistent with the interests of the most powerful actors. Second, while using the interactional theory of international law to assess the normative character of several international instruments elaborated and implemented by intergovernmental organizations, it highlights the sense of obligation that each instrument generates. The analysis demonstrates that such a codification process is marked by relations of power and has resulted in several social norms, with relatively few legal norms.

Since the launch of the UN Global Compact, over 12,000 organisations worldwide have voluntarily adopted and promoted its values and Ten Principles. This edited volume brings together international contributions that explore specific implications for business from managerial, legal, behavioural and sociological perspectives.

Since the 2008 global economic crisis, East Asian economies have faced a number of macroeconomic issues including China’s new growth model, the middle-income trap in developing East Asian countries, and the growing natural fibre market and its socio-economic implications. This book addresses these key topical issues which East Asian economies are facing today. Written by international experts in the area of Asian economics and business, it presents the most recent macroeconomic outlook in the region and then goes on to analyse a number of business corporations and industry-related cases, focussing on the theme of firms’ strategies. Examining the links between environmental and financial performance, corporate social responsibility and the transfer of environmental management, financial accounting standards, the relationship between corporate sustainability activities and corporate profit, and the different cultural approaches towards business ethics, this book provides both practical strategies and new theoretical insights. As such it will appeal to students, scholars and practitioners interested in Asian business and economics.

In recent decades, claims have increasingly been made on transnational corporations to take responsibility for the promotion and protection of human and labour rights in countries where they operate. This behavioural obligation results from the persistent advocacy of non-governmental organizations and is commonly known as corporate social responsibility (CSR). Driven by the theory of the 'norm life cycle model', the book uses an interesting range of case studies, including Nike and the anti-apartheid movement, to trace the development of CSR as an international norm. The development is examined through five selected non-governmental organizations: Clean Clothes Campaign, Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, Global Exchange, International Business Leaders Forum and the International Labor Rights Fund. The book makes a lucid contribution to an emerging scholarship, and will interest researchers and practitioners involved in issues of global governance and global civil society.