Establishing boundaries of corporate responsibility
Let us explore the meaning of the first Global Compact principle a little further:
- to ‘respect’ human rights means not to violate rights through direct action
- to ‘support’ human rights suggests acting in agreement with the Universal Declaration and its accompanying Covenants. (See: Module 1)
The question this poses is how far should a company go to respect and support human rights? Today’s society increasingly expects businesses to take a positive interest in things that are beyond its direct control. For example, the conditions in a suppliers’ factory or the actions of security forces protecting its facilities.
But the expectations on business cannot be unbounded. Whereas States have clear territorial boundaries within which their power and influence is effected, today’s businesses are part of a complex international web of diverse business relationships.
The concept of sphere of influence seeks to establish the scope of corporate responsibility for human rights issues based on the extent of a particular business’ influence. It is generally depicted as number of concentric circles (see diagram).
Each company has its own sphere of influence based on geographic presence, industry, size and particular business relationships.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
International covenants on human rights
Click on the image to enlarge.