The European Commission mandated a group of experts to work on new European corporate social responsibility reporting requirements. Marieke Huysentruyt, Associate Professor of Strategy and Business Policy and Academic Director of the Inclusive Economy Center at the Society & Organizations Institute of HEC Paris, was part of a group that drafted legislation on the question of equal opportunity. She describes how her working group shaped their proposals for a wide, long-lasting impact.
By Marieke Huysentruyt
Do international sanctions that are imposed with the intention to improve the human rights situation in the targeted country always lead to better human rights? No, according to Professors Armin Steinbach, Jerg Gutmann, Matthias Neuenkirch, and Florian Neumeier, who have studied empirically the legal proportionality test. Their results cast doubt on the lawfulness of many trade and financial sanctions imposed by the US, the EU and other countries – an insight that might extend to many of the sanctions in place today.
By Armin Steinbach
For the 32nd Olympic Games, one of South Africa’s modern icons, 800-meter champion Caster Semenya, will not be making the trip northwards. She has been barred from the Tokyo Olympics where she had hoped to defend a crown she won in 2012 and 2016. We discuss with Professor Matteo Winkler the legal, sociological and ethical implications of the Caster Mokgadi Semenya v. IAAF (now World Athletics) case. World Athletics’ regulations target female athletes like Semenya who are born with naturally high levels of testosterone, a characteristic that was labelled first as “hyperandrogenism” and then as “difference of sexual development”. Winkler and fellow academic, Doctor Giovanna Gilleri from the European University Institute published a 40-page study deconstructing the narratives surrounding the case and reflecting on the relationship between the law of sports, politics, gender and bodies – and the West’s sometimes uncomfortable position on femininity in the Global South.
By Matteo M. Winkler
The EU has a comprehensive legal framework to combat discrimination. But where exactly does the letter of the law lie and how can corporations make their businesses truly inclusive? HEC Paris professor Matteo Winkler suggests going above and beyond the law to make workplaces genuinely diverse.
Global warming is one of the most pressing issues of the 21st century. In order to meet this unprecedented challenge, States and sub-state entities have decided to use an original regulatory instrument: a trading system wherein pollution rights can be exchanged (i.e. a ‘carbon market’). HEC Paris Professor Van Waeyenberge explains why the collaboration between countries has not yet led to satisfying results, and what can be done about it. Given the urgency of the situation, one cannot possibly reconceive or reimagine the current system from scratch, but one can improve it by encouraging complementary measures through the coordination of the various existing initiatives. This coordination could take place via the connections and interlinkages between the different carbon markets initiatives and through the use of new technologies such as the blockchain to implement it.
By Arnaud Van Waeyenberge
In this article we share testimonials from our professors about their personal experience with online education.
To date, at least nine international banks have paid enormous sums to the US as a result of violating US economic sanctions, including the French bank BNP Paribas, which was fined nearly $9 billion in 2014. As the US increasingly employs its punitive arsenal to force non-US banks to comply, this has resulted in their Americanization, argue two HEC professors.
By David Restrepo Amariles , Matteo M. Winkler
Should whistleblowers be compensated or prosecuted? In their latest research, professors from HEC Paris Nicole Stolowy and Luc Paugam, together with Lawyer Aude Londero, shed light on the different realities faced by whistleblowers depending on jurisdictions, in France and in the United-States.
By Nicole Stolowy , Luc Paugam
The four giants collectively known as GAFA yield such power that it's easy for them to strike unfair deals with business partners and consumers. But a French commercial court has created a game-changing precedent by holding accountable a US-based online booking platform using the concept of significant imbalance. This has shaped a whole new doctrine which potentially brings more balance to transactions with GAFA. Explanation by David Restrepo Amariles, HEC Paris Professor of Law.
By David Restrepo Amariles
"How to make a better society? Turn all of us citizens into lobbyists." This is the game-changing theory put forward in Alberto Alemanno’s recent book, “Lobbying for Change: Find Your Voice to Create a Better Society” (London: Iconbooks), which was launched at the Royal Society of Arts in London, then presented in New York, Melbourne, Tokyo, San Paulo, and still presented all over Europe. Interview with the author on his recent book mixing political theory, public policy and behavioural sciences, and inspired by his own public interest work.
By Alberto Alemanno