Managing People and Creativity in Product Leader Organizations
Organizations that are product leaders do things differently. Be it the way they market the product, the way they build the value proposition to their customers or managing the internal environment and culture they practice innovative methods that gives them the edge to be the leaders. Managing innovation calls for nurturing a pool of highly […]
Sources of Data
Sources of Primary Data The sources of generating primary data are: Observation Method Survey Method Experimental Method Experimental Method There are number of experimental designs that are used in carrying out and experiment. However, Market researchers have used 4 experimental designs most frequently. These are – CRD – Completely Randomized Design RBD – Randomized Block […]
Key Metrics for Evaluating Social Media Performance
Measuring the success of social media efforts goes beyond counting likes or shares. To truly understand the impact of your strategies, it’s essential to track meaningful metrics that align with your business goals. These metrics provide valuable insights into what’s working, what’s not, and how you can adjust your approach for better results. Why Metrics […]
Multi Level Marketing vs. Pyramid Selling
Amongst the different methods of direct selling, Multi Level Marketing occupies a prime place simply because of the fact that it is growing substantially and continually all over the world. Every day people are joining the network to become distributors and thousands have become millionaires thanks to the network. If you are looking to start […]
Steps in Strategy Formulation Process
Strategy formulation refers to the process of choosing the most appropriate course of action for the realization of organizational goals and objectives and thereby achieving the organizational vision. The process of strategy formulation basically involves six main steps. Though these steps do not follow a rigid chronological order, however they are very rational and can […]
The United Nations Global Compact is a set of principles that encourage the signatories to the compact to pursue social and environmental responsibility. Unlike the UN Millennium Development Goals, the UN Global Compact has corporates as its signatories and hence, this is the first comprehensive and cohesive CSR initiative by the UN that targets the corporates directly.
There are many advantages of having the UN Global Compact, they relate to the fact that pursuing social, and environmental responsibility by corporates is easier to track and monitor.
In other words, the UN has the mandate to monitor how well the signatories to the Global Compact are actualizing CSR in their everyday operations. Having said that it must be remembered that the UN Global Compact is not legally binding meaning that there is no legal obligation on the part of the signatories to actualize the targets set under the Compact.
However, signing the UN Global Compact confers a certain responsibility on the corporates and it has been noticed over the last few years after the Compact came into existence that the corporates were indeed taking steps that would actualize the CSR objectives.
Further, signing the UN Global Compact is like a badge of honor for the corporates as the partnership with the UN lends credibility and legitimacy to their CSR efforts.
The set of principles that make up the UN Global Compact include guidelines regarding social and environmental responsibility and range from setting aside budgets for CSR activities to taking on board the indigenous communities and those affected by the operations of the corporate in various locations around the world.
In other words, the UN Global Compact specifies how all the stakeholders including the indigenous peoples, the civil society, and others must be brought on board by the corporates.
Further, the UN Global Compact enjoins the corporates to commit themselves to protecting the environment, contributing to causes that are socially and environmental responsible, reducing emissions, and following best practices in their operations that would be CSR compliant.
The key aspect about the UN Global Compact is that corporates have realized that signing it would add the much-needed legitimacy to their CSR activities and this has made many corporates especially the multinationals to become members of the compact. The case of the multinationals is particularly instructive as they operate across the world and hence, the UN Global Compact has specific provisions to regulate their operations.
Taking the cue from the UN Global Compact, many countries around the world have passed laws that specify how the CSR activities of the corporates are now legally binding.
In other words, there are many countries where it is now legally binding for the corporates to follow certain norms including allocating a percentage of their profits to CSR activities. This is the case with India where the recently passed companies’ bill explicitly sets out rules and regulations that specify how the CSR activities must be carried.
Having said that, it needs to be remembered that while national laws and regulations play an important part in actualizing CSR, agreements like the UN Global Compact are especially relevant in this globalized world where multinationals straddle the globe and hence, international agreements like the compact are very relevant to ensure some compliance with CSR.
Apart from this, there have been many suggestions that have been made by activists and NGOs to the UN to ensure that the signatories to the UN Global Compact are not indulging in Green Washing or the term used to describe commitment to CSR in words but not in action. This is the danger that any agreements like the UN Global Compact carry, as it is easy for the signatories to claim that they are pursuing CSR whereas in practice, they renege on their commitments.
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