Sustainable development: the UN Millennium Development Goals, the UN Global Compact, and the common good

Abstract

For business to flourish, society must flourish. In today's global economy, business serves the common good not only by producing goods and services but also by reaching out to the many who are not even in the market because they lack marketable skills and the resources to acquire them. Sustainable Development: UN Millennium Development Goals, the UN Global Compact, and the Common Good contains twenty-two essays that document the work of Western companies, working through the UN Global Compact and its Principles of Responsible Investment and the Principles for Responsible Management Education, to shape more peaceful and just societies. Seven case studies by leading businesses and private-public partnershipsincluding Microsoft, Merck, Sumitomo Chemical, Nestle, Coca-Cola, Novartis, and Levi Straussoutline their projects, especially those advancing the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) designed to alleviate dire poverty. Twelve chapters reflect on some of the conceptual issues involved with the MDGs, and the three concluding essays examine the future of the UN Global Compact, of the Millennium Development Goals, and of the role of business enterprise in society. The United Nations Global Compact is a major initiative in the worldwide effort to ensure the fair distribution of the enormous wealth generated by the globalization of corporate capitalism, an initiative of interest to all nations, corporations public and private, and the present and future citizens of the world. This volume comprises original contributions from the foremost scholars in the field. These papers are the state of the art in the scholarly examination of the international efforts on the part of private enterprise to assist in economic development and forging peace. Lisa H. Newton, Fairfield University