global_governance.net: The Global Compact as Learning Network

In: Global governance: a review of multilateralism and international organizations, Band 7, Heft 4, S. 371-378

Abstract

Analyzes Kofi Annan's Global Compact (GC) & points out the good that such an organization is capable of accomplishing. The GC is a voluntary initiative intended to induce corporate change through identifying & promoting good businesses practices. Some critics claim that the GC should be a legally binding regulatory arrangement. Great logistical & financial requirements for such a regulatory agency would exceed the UN's capacity & would be opposed by the business community. The GC is a learning forum, & hopefully will become a standard reference through an on-line learning bank available to all corporations seeking to increase their social responsibility. Corporations would use the GC in order to avoid public embarrassment, such as Shell received for its dealings in Nigeria. R. Larsen