Special topics in current developments in the field of international business.

Orthodox business specialists proclaim that it is fundamentally subversive to suggest that businesses can and should be run with “social justice” in mind. Rephrasing from Milton Friedman’s words, “telling business leaders that they can do better for society if they pursue other objectives is mistaken and undermines our system of private property and free enterprise.” Within contemporary economic globalization, is it responsible for academic institutions to frame corporate-related interests in a transnational and global social justice manner? Is it trivial or even irresponsible to devote educational time to focus on inequality and environmental justice rather than on techniques to maximize profits? Despite growing support for the idea that businesses should be run with social justice in mind, these themes are far from having global acceptance and recognition. In many ways, the coronavirus pandemic has normalized precarity and uncertainty as a way of being in the world for a larger portion of the world population than before. The implications in relation to an idea of global business framed as sensitive to the principles of human rights, are multiple. From the right to produce vaccines locally to the risk of a new global mobility apartheid, les damnés of the earth, who are already the least mobile, will face additional restrictions and human rights violations while some companies capitalize on it. This course addresses all of those concerns by taking in consideration recent developments linking business practices and human rights protection at the core of social justice issues. These matters will be covered by the analysis of several case studies ranging from the right to life, to work, and to security, but also enquire into the dignity of a person, the need to be protected by discrimination at work thus equality before the law, but also the importance of adequate standards of living and related health and social protection.