A/HRC/8/16 page 4 e-mail responses were received.3 On this basis, he reached the conclusion that sphere of influence concept combines too many different dimensions to serve as the basis for defining the scope of due diligence, and that influence by itself is an inappropriate basis for assigning corporate responsibility. 6. This section on sphere of influence is organized in three parts. The first summarizes the origins and current usage of the concept, acknowledging that it has been a helpful metaphor for companies to use in conceptualizing human rights responsibilities and opportunities outside the workplace. The second part notes that the field of business and human rights has advanced rapidly since the concept was first introduced, and that greater rigor is necessary today to provide companies with sufficient guidance in identifying specific actions they need to take to respect human rights. The third part briefly outlines an alternative approach to defining the scope of due diligence. A. Origins and current usage of sphere of influence 7. The United Nations Global Compact first introduced the concept of sphere of influence into corporate social responsibility discourse. It was intended to help companies “support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights” within and beyond their workplaces.4 8. The Global Compact developed a model to visualize the sphere of influence, which a number of companies then adopted. It consists of a set of concentric circles, mapping stakeholders in a company’s value chain: with employees in the innermost circle, then moving outward to suppliers, the marketplace, the community, and governments. The model made the implicit assumption that the “influence”, and thus presumably the responsibility, of a company declines as one moves outward from the centre.5 3 The article is available at: http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=5504. 4 “The concept of sphere of influence seeks to establish the scope of corporate responsibility for human rights issues based on the extent of a particular business’ influence.” Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Global Compact, E-Learning, Module 2, http://www.unssc.org/web/hrb/details.asp?mod=2&sec=2&cur=1. 5 Concerns about this model are reflected in the Special Representative’s most recent report to the Human Rights Council, A/HRC/8/5, paras. 65-72.