This study assesses the legal feasibility of a EU instrument that would impose mandatory human rights due diligence (“HRDD”) requirements on companies in the garment and textile sector. The proposal serves as an example of a sector-specific approach to HRDD requirements, and could be...

In recent years, a number of international and cross-sectoral initiatives have attempted to respond to the human rights impacts of corporations. Foremost among these is the United Nations’ 2008 “Protect, Respect, and Remedy” Framework and its Guiding Principles on Business and Human...

Sustainability reporting is now a mainstream activity among large, global corporations. The majority of the largest corporations in the United States now produce sustainability reports, and several European countries either mandate corporations to produce some form of sustainability reports or...

We examine how mandatory disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) impacts firm performance and social externalities. Our analysis exploits China's 2008 mandate requiring firms to disclose CSR activities, using a difference-in-differences design. Although the mandate does not require...

The government in emerging economies often moves firstly in issuing regulations to push the firms follow some social commitments. Natural resource-based firms in Indonesia are the first movers to be required for mandatory CSR disclosure. This study explores how the efficiency of those firms was...

We examine variation in mandatory CSR reporting practices based on a large sample of non-publicly listed savings banks in Germany. They do not have typical shareholders but rather are established by municipal trustees and can serve clients only in their distinct operating area. This setting...

The movement of personal data across national borders is fundamental to the Internet economy. Yet the laws that govern such data flows remain national or, at best, regional. This mismatch weakens privacy protection, increases costs and uncertainty for business, creates tension and political...

Purpose: To rethink the idea that corporate governance is about the alignment of interests of all stakeholders. To indicate this idea's main problems, in making the manager's job significantly more difficult, and in creating numerous avenues for managers seeking merely to advance their own...

In recent years, greater attention has been given to developing metrics that measure more than a country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Similarly, greater consideration has been given to more than just the financial performance of commercial enterprises; corporations are now expected to...

Under the notion of human rights due diligence (HRDD), firms are under a responsibility to account for the social and environmental impact connected to their operations across global value chains. This responsibility intersects with the sphere of operation of voluntary sustainability standards...