International Business and Human Rights: A Research Agenda Review

This literature review examines the research article "International business and human rights: A research agenda" by Wettstein, Giuliani, Santangelo, and Stahl (2019), which introduces Business and Human Rights (BHR) as a crucial research area for International Business (IB) scholars. The review highlights the growing importance of BHR in the context of globalization and multinational enterprises (MNEs). It discusses the authors' arguments regarding the need for IB to address human rights issues, emphasizing the potential of IB scholarship to understand the relationship between MNEs and human rights. The review also addresses the authors' call for a research agenda, identifying gaps in current empirical studies and the need for further investigation into the roles of governments and organizations in establishing regulations for business human rights. It further explores how empirical scholars have biased opinions in the context of allowing the multinational Enterprises to have sole authority on human right discourse. The review also presents the major transformations at the political level that have taken place in last few decades and also suggests the fields to explore in order to search for resolution of such issues.

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The discussion regarding the responsibility of the companies for maintaining human rights is
gradually becoming. However, the discussion is not able to influence the outcomes regarding
Human Rights treatment in the international business field. This is the foundation of this research
article which introduces the concepts of of modern business as well as maintenance of Human
Rights in modern companies and explores the themes which interprets the two variables in its
area of research. In fact, in in related empirical findings, Sullivan and Robinson (2017), also
argues that this research area has great potential for the international business Scholars when it
comes to the context of depicting the interrelation between multinational companies and Human
Rights policies. hence, in the recent years, active work has been done by researchers regarding
this field of study and some m practice gaps that identifies the limitations of of business Human
Rights in the modern day companies have come into the open. That is why it is impossible to
ignore business human rights as a research topic in the field of international business research
anymore. In this context, researchers like Ruggie (2008), have also argued that breach of
business Human Rights is one of the major globalisation related business issues which is
predominant in the multinational Enterprises. This is why,this article provides strategy guidance
to the business Scholars who explores the theme of business human rights. Buy outlining a
properly framed research agenda this article helps the international business some of the biggest
human rights issues existing in modern companies and addresses most of the research gaps left in
the empirical studies that has been utilised in developing the research.
Major transformation at the political level has taken place in last few decades. The capitalistic
attitude has developed in the governments because of that they has diminished in power in
comparison to the large multinational corporate forces who now same to have more power than
the governments in some of their potential market places. Against this background comma this

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research work establishes that the governments are no longer exclusive addressee of human
rights. The independent and profound role played by the multinational organisations has
equipped them with the potential to establish regulations for business human rights. This implies
that human rights is now nownow emphasised by the Organisational Management only and the
government holds very less power to intervene in the regulations of policies of business human
rights (Wettstein et al. 2019).
This research discovers that the group of empirical scholars exhibits Biased opinion in the
context of allowing the multinational Enterprises to have sole authority on human right
discourse. Some argue that the first knowledge of employee handling in the multinational
organisations make them much more enabled to offer the best BHR policies (Buhmann 2016).
However many of the scholars has raised warning in recent research studies regarding the need
for stronger engagement of the management with the word places in order to identify the real
problems as well as the Grand challenges that are being faced by employees of multinational
organisations, especially in the foreign setting. This is why the research article sets some unique
themes for future research involving the BHR challenges and also suggests the fields to explore
in order to search for resolution of such issues.

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Reference List
Buhmann, K., 2016. Public regulators and CSR: the ‘social licence to operate’in recent united
nations instruments on business and human rights and the juridification of CSR. Journal of
Business Ethics, 136(4), pp.699-714.
Ruggie, J., 2008. Protect, respect and remedy: A framework for business and human rights.
Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, 3(2), pp.189-212.
Sullivan, R. and Robinson, M. eds., 2017. Business and human rights: dilemmas and solutions.
Routledge.
Wettstein, F., Giuliani, E., Santangelo, G.D. and Stahl, G.K., 2019. International business and
human rights: A research agenda. Journal of World Business, 54(1), pp.54-65.