The United Nations and Business: Towards New Modes of Global Governance?

Abstract

In the last decade and a half there have been sustained efforts on the part of the United Nations to bring the business sector into formal arrangements for dialogue and cooperation and to codify United Nations policies vis‐à‐vis business in order to give the relationship a more structured footing. This article reviews some of the most prominent of those efforts. In particular, it evaluates the available evidence about the extent to which they are achieving the aim of mobilising the skills and resources of private business for the furtherance of the goals of the United Nations; and about some of the main concerns raised by the UN–business interface, including the possible instrumentalisation of the relationship to gain public legitimacy or as a vehicle for business to influence United Nations policies and actions. It concludes that further research is needed to address these questions in a systematic manner.

Mainstreaming Global Sustainable Development Goals through the UN Global Compact: The Case of Visegrad Countries

“…Thus, incorporating SDGs for reputational reasons cannot be rejected. This fully corresponds with the previous criticism of the implementation gap (Fortín and Jolly 2015;Pingeot 2015), and, in particular, the insufficiencies of COPs themselves (Coulmont et al 2017;Zilic et al 2019). Nevertheless, findings presented in this study go further, indicating that the expectations related to the importance of the UNGC for the implementation of the SDGs by 2030 might be strongly exaggerated.…”

“…The identified shortcomings sharply contrast with the prominent position of the UNGC, which is considered the flagship within the UN-business interface and even a new form of global governance, sometimes called inclusive multilateralism (Zemanová and Druláková 2016). Nor do they correspond with the recent belief that the UNGC could become one of the most important pillars when implementing the UN Post-2015 agenda and the SDGs (Fortín and Jolly 2015;Ayuso et al 2016;Coulmont et al 2017). Thus, the need for scholarly research on the UNGC's impacts and effectiveness persists (Jastram and Klingenberg 2018;Orzes et al 2018).…”

“…Moreover, studies on the practical impacts of the UNGC on the business operations and risk management of companies are almost non-existent (cf. Fortín and Jolly 2015;Shoji 2015).…”

“…The criticism points especially to the lack of intergovernmental legitimacy, the absence of oversight by the UN General Assembly and the blue-wash phenomenon, i.e., participation to acquire public legitimacy without any real intention to adhere to the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact. Additionally, the gap is addressed between the "say" and "do" steps in internal policies of subscribing companies, weak accountability mechanisms, the ongoing exclusion of several groups of stakeholders as well as slow progress on the integration of Ten Principles to business operations overall (Fortín and Jolly 2015;Pingeot 2015). Last but not least, the problem of inconsistent participation has been discussed, but there is little empirical evidence.…”

A reconstruction of Carroll’s pyramid of corporate social responsibility for the 21st century

“…For example, foreign direct investment as a percentage of GDP has increased four-fold since Carroll originally proposed his pyramid of CSR (UNCTAD 2015). Many scholars are increasingly uncomfortable with the increasing power and influence of MNCs over governments (Baden 2015;Crouch 2011;Keys et al 2013) and the capture of other institutions such as NGOs by business interests (Fortin & Jolly 2015;Utting 2000). Given the increased influence and power of business, for example over the use of limited resources, the environment, working conditions and government policy, the level to which the CSR construct can encourage and enable a socially responsible mind-set in business practitioners and business students is of vital importance to society.…”