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Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Business & Society

The United Nations Global Compact –
Retrospect and Prospect

Guest Editors: Andreas Rasche, Malcolm McIntosh, Sandra Waddock

The United Nations Global Compact now has nearly
7,000 business and non-business participants, and
has in its first ten years of life become the
world’s largest corporate citizenship initiative.
Established by former United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000, the
initiative will celebrate its 10th anniversary in
2010. As a central actor on the world stage of
corporate responsibility and citizenship, the
Global Compact has played a central role in
raising the aspirations of companies, NGOs, and
other actors around the implementation of its ten
principles, in the areas of human rights, labour
standards, the environment, and anti-corruption
(for details about the UN Global Compact and its
principles, see
<http://www.unglobalcompact.org/>www.unglobalcompact.org).
Indeed, some have argued that the Global Compact
has put corporate responsibility issues,
particularly those related to the principles,
onto the agenda of many companies.

Although global in reach and intent (with over
half of all participants coming from developing
economies), the Global Compact also established a
strong presence in local economies through its
local networks and regional clusters. Driven by
constant innovation and improvement (e.g. the
addition of the tenth principle in 2004 and the
introduction of the Communication on Progress
policy in 2003), and a sense of learning about
how to build a better world through enterprise,
the Global Compact has undergone a variety of
changes over its existence. It is now poised to
potentially help its signatories effect
significant positive change in the future.
Although the initiative has attracted the
interest of many businesses and civil society
organizations, it also faces a lot of critique,
mostly focusing on the absence of any clear
compliance standards and the fact that many
companies appear to sign the Compact without
making significant changes in their strategies or practice.

To explore the possibilities, potentials, and
gaps that exist in the Global Compact, this
Special Issue invites interested researchers to:
(a) critically assess the last ten years of the
Global Compact and identify both its achievements
and the gaps that currently exist and (b) to
reflect on the future of the initiative by
discussing remaining challenges and exploring
future paths of development. We call for papers
that deal with all aspects and dynamics of the
Global Compact, ranging from comparative case
studies, qualitative and quantitative work
assessing the Compact’s performance to date, as
well as thoughtful essays about the Compact and
its past, present, or future. We are interested
in both conceptual and empirical studies that
draw on a variety of theoretical perspectives
(e.g. institutional theory, social movement
theory, network theory), and in quantitative as
well as qualitative methodological approaches
that can flesh out our understanding of the
Compact, particularly efforts to assess the
Compact’s second ten years in light of the
achievements and problems of the first ten years.

Possible topics for contributions include, but
are not limited to, the following issues:

· Analyses of existing achievements and
remaining challenges with regard to the
implementation of the ten Global Compact
principles, and the Compact’s other initiatives, partnerships, and alliances.
· The relation of the Global Compact to
other existing and emerging corporate
responsibility initiatives (e.g., the Global
Reporting Initiative, Social Accountability 8000, and ISO 26000).
· The Global Compact’s Communication on
Progress (COP) policy and integrity measures.
· The development of the Global Compact as
a network-based corporate responsibility
initiative combining global issues with local concerns.
· The Global Compact’s role and relationship to global governance.
· The development of local networks
throughout the world and the contribution of
these networks to implementing the ten principles.
· The role and impact of specialized
stakeholders (e.g., academia, unions, NGOs) in
the development of the Global Compact.
· The development and impact of Global
Compact issue platforms such as the Principles
for Responsible Investment (PRI), the Principles
for Responsible Management Education (PRME), the
Caring for Climate leadership initiative and the CEO Water Mandate.
· The role of the Global Compact as a
“norm entrepreneur” in a world of diffuse power
and great instability where social networks are
increasingly supplementing international negotiating regimes.

Submission Instructions
The format of the papers must follow Business &
Society contribution guidelines. Business &
Society uses the American Psychological
association citation and reference system (please
see any recent copy of the journal for a sample):
<http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdManSub.nav?prodId=Journal200878>http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdManSub.nav?prodId=Journal200878.


Papers should include a 100-150 word abstract
followed by 3 to 5 key-words. The paper itself
should contain no indications of authorship. A
title page containing full author contact
information should be sent as a separate document
to the coeditors. The citations and references
should be APA compliant (see BAS guidelines).

Questions about the Special Issue should be
addressed to guest editor Andreas Rasche
(<mailto:andreas.rasche@wbs.ac.uk>andreas.rasche@wbs.ac.uk).

Dates and Timetable
The tentative timetable for the special issue is as follows:

· April 1, 2010 Paper submitted electronically to coeditors
· August 1, 2010 authors invited to resubmit revised papers
· October 30, 2010 Revised papers due
(incorporating editors’ and external reviewers’ comments)
· January 30, 2011 authors notified if paper selected for special issue
· March 31, 2011 Delivery of full set of papers
and guest editors’ introductory paper


Duane Windsor, Ph.D., BAS Editor
The Lynette S. Autrey Professor of Management
The Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business
Rice University

Regular Mail:
MS-531 P.O. Box 2932
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McNair Hall 227 (Jones School Building)
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Houston, TX 77005

Voice 713-348-5372
Fax 713-348-6296
Email <odw@rice.edu>

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