Kish Parella

Contractual Stakeholderism

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Individually or collectively, corporate leaders are promising stakeholders to improve corporate practices on a range of issues. In a new article, I argue that they can demonstrate their commitment to stakeholders by designing contracts differently.

We are already attentive to the ways that stakeholders are harmed by the contracts they enter into directly with corporations.  This awareness has raised concerns over contracting practices and bargaining power, information asymmetries, and informed consent.  In my article, I focus on contracts to which stakeholders are not parties, and how those contracts can nonetheless harm stakeholders as third parties.[1]  For example, contracts … Read more

A New Case for Human Rights Due Diligence in Supply Chains

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In a new paper, “Protecting Contract’s Hidden Parties,” I argue that harm to third parties from supply chains offers a compelling reason for requiring human rights due diligence in supply chains. Many scholars have turned to fiduciary duties or negligence theories to create incentives for companies to consider non-shareholder interests.  My article shares this objective but takes a different path by examining a corporation’s duties to others in its role as a contracting party.  This analysis can help to address human rights violations in supply chains and may also have implications for third-party harms arising in other types of contracts.… Read more