John Ruggie’s mandate from the UN calls on him to “clarify” the concept of corporate “sphere of influence”.

The concept was introduced by the UN Global Compact. The compact stipulates that companies have moral obligations to “support and respect” human rights within their spheres of influence. The concept was intended to help companies identify where and when they had responsibilities to address human rights issues.

The UN and companies subsequently developed a well-known model depicting concentric circles of stakeholders in a company’s value chain. These radiate out from employees to suppliers, communities, consumers and governments.

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