Coordinated Action: PRME and UNGC Strategy

Over the past month, PRME has been invited to be part of the UN Global Compact’s Strategy Working Group. This implies that I am engaging in a number of highly informative and inspirational discussions with colleagues on how to advance the value proposition of the UN Global Compact in future activities. Of course, I see how PRME can develop into a more explicit part of the UNGC value proposition, in the same way as I see how UNGC can become a more explicit part of the PRME value proposition. The plan is, that after an intensive two-month process lead by BCG Consultants, the UN Global Compact will present the results of the strategy process in December 2020.

At the same time, we have our own strategy process in PRME. One of the main ambitions with the new PRME strategy is exactly to explore how PRME and UN Global Compact may strengthen and develop new ties. Accordingly, our strategy process unfolds hand-in-hand with UNGC’s process but at a little slower pace to provide us the advantage of leveraging on the synergies with our colleagues. Currently, we are developing a plan for how to make the PRME strategy process inclusive and transparent to be presented to the PRME Board on November 30.

If there is one little beam of light in the midst of the dire COVID-19 context, it is that we are likely to arrive on the other side of the pandemic in a society where business schools and universities together are much more inclined to explore collective and inclusive action in the new and enlarged online reality. Where only a few months ago it seemed too overwhelming and costly to take a group of business leaders, faculty, and students on a joint world tour to explore and feel for themselves true global value chain challenges related to climate change, inequality, and labor rights, from both Global North and Global South perspectives, today we have all become accustomed to engaging beyond our comfort zones with new communities, geographies, and time-zones. Let us regard these new experiences as a fertile platform for our own future joint PRME and UN Global Compact action.

Warm regards,

Mette Morsing