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

In April 2016, the Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business of the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame with the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Office convened a group of scholars and business leaders to discuss the Encyclical Laudato Si (LS) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The articles in this special issue are from that conference; the hope is that they will provoke your thinking and lead to new action to make the world a better place.How is it that the secular United Nations and the religious Vatican have a common vision for business? At root, this common vision for business flows from a common vision for society as a whole.For business, flowing from this common vision is a common understanding of the purpose of business. Catholic social thought has always taught that the single-minded focus on making money in business can never be acceptable. The purpose of business is to create sustainable value for stakeholders and that value is not exclusively monetary value.

This book offers global perspectives on institutions and regulations promoting sustainable economic growth in the Post 2015 development agenda. It addresses sustainability issues from multidisciplinary viewpoints. This second volume, focusing on The UN Global Compact, advances perspectives on the non-compulsory alternative to market regulations.

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.

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.

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.

In recent years, a new movement has emerged within organizational psychology, transposing the established principles of the field onto arenas of more pressing humanitarian need, including the humanitarian treatment of all workers in all work settings. Humanitarian Work Psychology (HWP) stretches the parameters of the discipline to focus on regions, communities, and groups of workers that can potentially benefit most from its research and insights. Humanitarian Work Psychology and the Global Development Agenda is the first book to provide a collection of case studies of HWP in action. Edited by some of the leading scholars in the field, it benchmarks HWP against the developmental goals set out by the United Nations at the start of the century as the most pressing issues of our age, ranging from the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger and the achievement of universal primary education, to gender equality and empowerment, the reduction of child mortality, greater environmental sustainability and global partnership-building. Including findings from interventions conducted in Nigeria, India, Ghana, Hong Kong and Sierra Leone, the book examines how the latest research from organizational psychology can be used to support people working in developing economies, as well as in humanitarian work itself. The collection concludes with a section on how this exciting new field will develop in the future, particularly in reference to the forthcoming United Nations goals for global sustainable development. Humanitarian Work Psychology and the Global Development Agenda will be a fascinating read not only for all students and researchers of Organizational Psychology, but also those working and studying in the related fields of Development Studies, Environmental Sustainability, International Politics and International Economics.

This new book covers the origins purposes, trends and controversies of the United Nations' global conferences. There are 30 such conferences to compare, and many argue that they have not been worth the money spent on them. Others, however, suggest that they offer the only effective way to address global problems, like racism, sexism, overpopulation, environmental degradation, overfishing, urbanization, and the proliferation of small arms. This is the first comprehensive study of this key topic, delivering information essential to the ongoing debate on multilateralism, with examinations of: * the typical structure of a conference * description of the Global Conferences * substantive and institutional outcomes of the conferences * changes resulting from the conferences * UN Conferences as mechanisms for coping with the problems of the 21st Century This book is essential reading for students of the United Nations, international organisation and global governance, as well as practitioners from non-governmental organizations.

This book explores the challenges and opportunities presented by the formulation of a global code of conduct for transnational corporations. It assesses the current state of research on global regulations intended to enhance the social responsibility of transnational corporations, and provides a platform for future research. In particular the book examines frameworks and instruments for regulating social responsibility, reviews recent developments concerning the proposed UN Code of Conduct on Transnational Corporations, and provides insights into international civil society groups’ movements in pursuit of a code of conduct. In a separate chapter the book discusses theoretical issues in regulating transnational corporations, and investigates their legitimacy and behavioral dynamics. In closing, the book discusses alternatives to a global code of conduct, the impact of sovereign power in the era of globalization, “soft regulations,” and the feasibility and normative efficacy of enforcing regulations.

This encyclopedia is the most comprehensive and up-to-date source of reference for sustainability in business and management. It covers both traditional and emerging concepts and terms and is fully international in its scope. More than 700 contributions of internationally renowned experts provide a definitive access to the knowledge in the area of sustainable and responsible management. All actors in the field will find reliable and up to date definitions and explanations of the key terms and concepts of management in this reference work. The Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management represents all aspects of management and business conduct. It takes sustainability as a management concept that gives due credit to the complexity and diverging constraints in which businesses and corporations act today, and it emphasizes and focuses approaches that help ensure that today's management decisions and actions will be the basis for tomorrow's prosperity.