ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the advent of values and values-based standards in corporate governance discourse and their influence in informal and institutionalised change, and in both internalised and shared notions of corporate governance, standards of conduct and responsibility. There are numerous articulations of what constitutes good governance, prudent oversight and responsible business conduct, and of what comprises the nature and scope of corporate responsibility. Companies are confronted with a confusing array of corporate responsibility standards that are designed by parties, applied across multiple sectors and, in practice, can obscure rather than advance the underlying principles and objectives that inform them. The UN Global Compact is the world’s largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative. Yet even with a vast catalogue of ingredients, steps and procedures for implementing corporate governance, the core of what constitutes good governance remains elusive—far easier to diagnose in its absence or failure.
