ABSTRACT
In his address to the World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999, UN SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan called on global business leaders to embrace nine shared values and principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards and environmental practices.1 His well-received proposal catalysed the rapid, dynamic formation of a global network of unprecedented potential. The UN Global Compact network-consisting of several hundred companies, dozens of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), major international labour federations and several UN agencies-seeks to collaboratively contribute to a more stable, equitable and inclusive global market by making its principles an integral part of business activities everywhere (a full listing of the principles is given on page 12).2
