This course explores how regulatory frameworks—such as labor and sustainability standards, human rights obligations, and ESG instruments—shape corporate innovation, labor conditions, and human resource management. The course focuses on the labor and sustainability challenges of different types of innovative work settings: global value chains, platform works, and start-ups. Special attention is paid to the regulatory challenges of global value chains and existing regulatory frameworks, both in terms of labor and sustainability protection. The course will examine how companies respond to labor laws across jurisdictions, engage with transnational regulation, and navigate emerging due diligence duties related to climate, human rights, and governance. The course considers a range of business contexts, including start-ups, traditional firms, and global value chains. This course offers tools to understand regulatory risks, evaluate compliance obligations, and assess the effectiveness of legal standards in driving sustainable and responsible corporate practices.

• Understand the legal and normative foundations of business and human rights in the context of sustainability and labor. • Identify the key labor and sustainability challenges posed by global value chains. • Understand the key labor regulations applicable to innovative and transnational corporations. • Identify the structural labor problems of platform work and gig economy models. • Evaluate the benefits and limitations of algorithmic management and its impact on human resources. • Understand what ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) entails and how it differs from traditional corporate social responsibility (CSR). • Analyze how ESG frameworks shape corporate behavior and decision-making. • Critically assess the effectiveness and limitations of ESG in addressing environmental, labor, and human rights issues. • Evaluate the risks of greenwashing and social-washing within ESG reporting and ratings systems. • Analyze how financial regulation can incentivize or constrain innovation and sustainable business practices. • Evaluate the role of investors, regulators, and multilateral institutions in enforcing environmental, labor, and human rights standards across global markets. • Apply human rights principles to real-world business dilemmas, particularly those arising in global value chains and platform economies.

Transnational regulation on labor and sustainability standards; Global value chain regulation; Standards and certifications; ESG; Corporate Social Responsibility; Platform Work; Startups and labor conditions; Green finance and corporate responsibility. Case studies on transnational cases of global value chains, CSR, ESG reporting.

All materials will be uploaded on Luiss Learn

Interactive discussion, problem-based learning

10% Class participation 50% Group presentation and paper on case study (weeks 10-11); 40% Oral exam

N/A