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This study aims to provide the main contents of the revision of the 2023 OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and suggest implications for the Korean government and multinational enterprises.

Following the brief history of the revision of OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, this study reviews and evaluates major substantive and procedural revisions of the 2023 OECD Guidelines, and then suggests countermeasures for Korean government and businesses.

The most significant substantive change of the 2023 revision is that expectations for environmental due diligence and disclosure obligations, including climate change and biodiversity, for multinational enterprises have been expanded and strengthened. Regarding procedural changes, the biggest change is the introduction of a basis rule for the National Contact Points for Responsible Business Conduct (NCPs for RBC) to judge each issue and a rule that the final statement must include follow-up details and deadlines, which is expected to strengthen the effectiveness of the NCP dispute resolution mechanism.

This study is the first academic paper to introduce major substantive and procedural revisions to the 2023 OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises in Korea. This study also provides implications for the Korean government and companies following the 2023 revised OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises as follows. First, the Korean government must establish a public–private partnership to closely communicate to prevent Korean companies from being harmed by failing to meet strengthening international Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) standards. In addition, Korean government should actively participate in ESG-related international forums, including the OECD, and strive to reflect the needs and interests of Korean companies. Second, the Korean NCP should strengthen its activities to prevent potential damage by expanding education and promotions for Korean businesses on related overseas legislative trends and NCP dispute case studies so that Korean companies can effectively deal with the strengthened ESG standards. Third, Korean multinational enterprises should preemptively establish an advanced ESG management system to seize new opportunities in the global supply chain previously concentrated in China and India in the process of reorganizing global supply chains according to the trend of strengthening ESG standards and the US value alliance strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore avenues of corporate accountability in disasters, using the Samarco chemical sludge disaster, which took place in 2015 in Brazil, as case study.

The paper considers possible ways of enhancing corporate accountability in disasters, focusing on one particular international mechanism on multinational enterprises (MNEs), which addresses both human rights and environmental issues. The research is based on the location and assessment of a variety of written sources (i.e. normative instruments, academic literature, publications by practitioners, civil society organizations, and the media). The paper makes suggestions on the potential of using existent international accountability mechanisms in similar disasters.

The paper identifies key measures taken by national authorities to address the disaster. It also considers how the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Guidelines for MNEs could be used to pursue corporate accountability.

This is a desk-based research, chiefly conducted on documental analysis rather than fieldwork.

The paper might provide useful insights for organizations and communities facing similar challenges linked to multinational corporate activities that adversely affect human rights and the environment.

The study brings to attention normative standards relatively unknown to the disaster community, which may help raise interest on them, and lead to their potential use in future disaster situations. Furthermore, to date the Samarco chemical sludge has received scant attention from the academic literature.

To highlight ESG litigation risks and present an overview of the present landscape of ESG disputes in Europe – with a particular focus on England – and globally.

This article provides an overview of ESG factors, how they impact on companies, and potential claims that can arise from ESG issues. It also provides recommendations on how companies can prepare for, respond to, and ultimately resolve ESG disputes.

The number of ESG cases that are being brought (and won) by claimants in various courts around the world is rapidly increasing. There is a need for companies to prepare for, respond to, and resolve ESG disputes that they may become party to.

Companies need to take notice of the growing trend of ESG disputes and claims being brought, and in particular prepare for, respond to, and resolve them.

Expert analysis and guidance from experienced dispute resolution and environmental lawyers.

This paper investigates a case whereby the historical monopoly of a medical college was challenged by internal dissenters and also by external pressure in the form of national competition policy. The case is particularly notable in that the apparently private domain of medical training is now subject to explicit public involvement of a transparent and regulated nature. Based on in‐depth interviews and primary documents, the paper argues that in contributing to marketisation, the latent schism and tensions within Australian general practice have, consequently contributed to a decrease in professional autonomy and independence.

This paper aims to highlight the disparity between the huge global influence and reach of transnational corporations, on the one hand, and the lack of international legal infrastructure for regulating TNC activity, on the other. Existing avenues for holding TNCs accountable for breaches of international standards are woefully inadequate. After rejecting the idea of subjecting TNCs to potential criminal liability, the paper then proposes a set of principles for international TNC responsibility modelled on the 2001 Draft Articles on State Responsibility. The potential future role of regional human rights courts and the International Labour Organisation in holding TNCs accountable is also explored.

A survey of existing legal texts and secondary scholarship was undertaken to determine the existing coverage of the regulatory infrastructure for holding TNCs to account, and to identify gaps in that coverage.

Significant governance gaps in the existing institutional infrastructure were identified, creating a permissive environment within which blameworthy acts by TNCs may occur without adequate sanctioning or reparation. Potential regulatory and institutional avenues for filling these gaps were identified.

The author lacks hands‐on experience of the political barriers which may exist and may make the proposed reforms unrealistic. Those in the field are encouraged to consider whether the proposed reforms are feasible/desirable.

The paper contains implications for the future of international law, the regional human rights courts and the International Labour Organisation.

The paper contains original proposals for the future evolution of international law in its application to TNCs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a general review of international efforts to hold transnational corporations (TNCs) responsible for human rights. It tracks the evolution of international conventions related to TNCs and human rights and assesses their effectiveness.

The paper describes and analyzes efforts over the last four decades by the United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development, the International Labour Organization and non‐governmental groups to provide guidelines and encourage TNCs to aspire to international standards in human rights.

The early attempts to regulate TNCs internationally lacked any form of the robust compulsion, systemic monitoring and effective enforcement mechanisms necessary to deal with the magnitude of the global investment arena. However, during the last decade, there has been explicit recognition on the part of the UN that action is necessary and the most recent convention emanating from the UN, the Norms, may evolve into a binding instrument on TNCs.

This paper, by mapping the development of global ethical conventions up to the UN Norms on the responsibilities for TNCs and other business enterprises with regards to human rights, informs corporate officers of the state of global discussions on this issue and lays the groundwork for further scholarly analysis of the Norms in the future.

This study aims to design a set of sustainability indicators that is pertinent to cooperatives longevity. The primary goal of the cooperatives is towards meeting the economic progress of members while satisfying their socio-cultural interests and protecting the environment. As a sustainable and participatory form of business, cooperatives offer an alternative business model to social enterprises.

Using an extraction process analysis, this study examined and analyzed guidelines, indices, and framework on sustainability used by the public companies. The selected materials were analyzed using Atlas.ti software, whereby common indicators were divided into themes. The indicators were further scrutinized to suit the cooperatives identity and local regulations.

The results are presented as indicators for cooperatives sustainability that could serve as strategies and performance measurement. Promotion and expansion of cooperatives could be an important instrument for more than one billion people around the world involved in cooperatives either as members/customers, employees/participants, or both.

This work extends and complements the on-going efforts in uplifting the cooperatives sector as the third engine of economic growth in Malaysia. It contributes towards enriching the knowledge of the relationship between sustainable development and sustainability and its influence towards the cooperative sector. It may also provide the building blocks for future studies that could explore the usefulness of these indicators to other business setting having a similar objective like the cooperatives.

This chapter focuses on the development of corporate human rights standards since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, better known as the Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. One of the important agendas for this Summit was human rights (apart from the climate change issue). This chapter provides a critical evaluation of institutional change in human rights guidelines and associated corporate (non) accountability in relation to human rights in line with the RIO summit. Based on a review of the media reports, archival documents and a case study, we argue that while there are a number of international organisations working towards the creation of corporate accountability in relation to human rights, there is limited real change in corporate action when faced with no government regulation. A radical (reform-based) approach, such as mandatory monitoring (compliance audit) and disclosure requirements is necessary to ensure corporate accountability in relation to human rights.

Recent years have witnessed a growing academic preoccupation with the theme of employee voice. This article seeks to examine the efficacy of non‐union forms of employee representation (NERs).

Further to an exploration of the above theme, case study research was carried out in an organisation possessing a relatively mature representative structure.

The findings broadly support the extant literature in exposing key deficiencies with respect to this mode of voice. The body under review is seen to represent a largely unavailing vehicle for the furtherance of employee interests – particularly within the arena of pay determination.

In the light of the above findings the policy implications are briefly explored. Reservations are expressed regarding the ability of the Information and Consultation Directive to extend voice into the non‐union sector.

In contrast with the earlier, predominantly descriptive studies of NERs, the theme of “voice” is ensconced within a theoretically informed analysis. This allows the paper to reach a more textured set of conclusions. The shortcomings in voice are systematically tracked to deficiencies in two principal areas – power and autonomy.