Introduction

The United Nations Global Compact was created both to close global governance gaps in commerce and as a means to set universal standards for moral behaviour, globally. The goals of the United Nations Global Compact are to encourage the adoption of the ten business principles worldwide and to promote support of broader United Nations initiatives, in particular the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at worldwide poverty reduction. Although focused on commerce, the membership of the Global Compact is wide-ranging and includes non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academic institutions and governments, as well as corporations.

There has never been a time, historically, when commerce has not faced serious ethical issues. As early as 1800 BC the Mesopotamian ruler, Hammurabi, developed a code of ethics for the conduct of trade and commerce, an obvious reaction to some questionable behaviours that occurred at that time. Regrettably, questionable behaviours in business practices continue to occur.