New book promotes corporate social responsibility

A new book edited by Rev. Oliver F. Williams, C.S.C., associate professor of management and director of the Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business at the University of Notre Dame, addresses the global corporate role in promoting more peaceful societies.

“Peace through Commerce: Responsible Corporate Citizenship and the Ideals of the United Nations Global Compact” includes essays by major business leaders and scholars who discuss the issues presented by the United Nations Global Compact, including the impact of commerce in promoting peace and the benefits of global economic development through voluntary corporate policies and actions.

Launched in 2000 with more than 5,000 worldwide businesses participating, the United Nations Global Compact serves as a forum in which multinational businesses work to promote human rights, prevent violent conflict and contribute to peace, and is the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship organization.

Published by Notre Dame Press, the book contains case studies documenting the efforts of individual businesses – including IBM, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, General Electric, Nestle and Ford – to successfully serve society’s interests as well as their own. 

Though the relationship between economic development and peace has been explored before, the book’s practical look at specific corporate strategies designed to foster peace is new. 

Specializing in the areas of business ethics, corporate governance and Catholic social teaching, Williams is the editor or author of 14 books as well as numerous journal articles on business ethics. He has been a member of the board of directors of the United
Nations Global Compact Foundation since 2006.

More information about Notre Dame’s Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business is available at http://www.nd.edu/~ethics/.

Contact: Oliver Williams, C.S.C., 574-631-5761 or Williams.80@nd.edu.

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