Ranking for Good?: A Comparative Assessment of the Performance of French Corporations in Human Rights Rankings

In recent years, greater attention has been given to developing metrics that measure more than a country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Similarly, greater consideration has been given to more than just the financial performance of commercial enterprises; corporations are now expected to conduct business in ways that are responsible and sustainable, giving attention to a triple bottom line where the planet and people are prioritized along with profits. Taking French government policy and the performance of French multinational corporations as a case in point, this article explores the ways in which emerging indicators and instruments on business and human rights are relevant to the impact of business on well-being. This article examines which reporting frameworks and ranking systems best capture human rights and sustainability risks that could compromise well-being. Specifically, the article analyzes the frameworks and indicators used to measure human rights performance and the impact of rights rankings on business management. It also reviews responses by corporations to rights rankings as indicia of how measurements might be perceived as likely to result in changes in investor and consumer behavior or place brand reputation at risk

Les limites argumentatives de la Cour Constitutionnelle Colombienne à la lumière de la théorie de Toulmin: le cas du “pacs” des couples homosexuels

The struggle for rights recognition undertaken by the homosexual population in Colombia has found in the judicial power a proper arena to advance their claims. This article presents the argumentative processes that unveil the conservative position recently assumed by the Colombian Constitutional Court regarding the rights recognition of the homosexual population. First, the article lays down a general overview of the decisions made by the Court on that issue. Then, it focuses on the decision C-075/07 that denied the extension of civil effects of the “unión marital de hecho” (cohabitation-common law marriage) in the same terms that they are granted to heterosexual couples. The analysis is undertaken in the light of Toulmin´s theory of argumentation and shows the necessity of using more comprehensive models of argumentation for analyzing decisions of Constitutional Courts with strong tendency to judicial activism.La lucha por el reconocimiento de derechos de la población homosexual en Colombia ha trascendido la esfera legislativa y ha encontrado un espacio más apropiado de lucha en el poder judicial. Este artículo expone las operaciones argumentativas a través de las cuales se expresa la posición conservadora asumida por la Corte Constitucional Colombiana en materia de reconocimiento de derechos de las parejas homosexuales. Para ello se presenta una breve exposición de las decisiones de la Corte Constitucional en éstos temas y se procede a un análisis de fondo, a la luz de la teoría de la argumentación de Toulmin, de la sentencia C-075/07 sobre la extensión de los efectos civiles de la “unión marital de hecho” a la parejas homosexuales. El artículo termina por mostrar la insuficiencia del modelo de Toulmin para el análisis de las sentencias emitidas por las Corte Constitucionales que practican el llamado activismo judicial. La lutte pour la reconnaissance de droits avancée par la population homosexuelle en Colombie a dépassé le cadre législatif et trouvé, dans le pouvoir judiciaire, un champ de lutte plus approprié. Cet article présente les opérations argumentatives à travers desquelles s’exprime la position prise par la Cour Constitutionnelle colombienne en matière de reconnaissance de droits des couples homosexuels. Premièrement, cet article propose une courte ligne jurisprudentielle des décisions prises par la Cour Constitutionnelle sur les droits de la population homosexuelle en général. Ensuite, il analyse en profondeur, et sous le prisme de la théorie de l’argumentation de Toulmin, l’arrêt C-075/07 portant sur l’extension des effets civils du «pacs» aux couples homosexuels. L’article expose finalement l’insuffisance du model proposé par Toulmin pour analyser les arrêts émis par les cours constitutionnelles qui, à l’image de la colombienne, pratiquent l’activisme judiciaire

Ranking for Good?: A Comparative Assessment of the Performance of French Corporations in Human Rights Rankings

This article proceeds as follows. First, it will define well-being and discuss the ways in which a range of human rights must be protected to promote well-being. Next, it will explain the ways businesses can impact well-being, for good or for ill. This will be followed by a discussion on the relevant legal and policy frameworks in France that regulate information relevant to the social and environmental impacts of business, including the Duty of Vigilance Law and the National Action Plan of France for Implementing the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Using examples of leading French multinational corporations in the food, pharmaceuticals, energy, and information sectors, this article then examines the rankings of Danone, Sanofi, and Total on human rights performance relevant to the OECD Framework for Measuring Well-Being. In particular, it will map how the “current well-being” criteria of “health status,” “environmental quality,” “personal security,” and “future well-being” are counted in the human rights rankings that have been used to assess French corporations to date. Finally, this article will analyze corporations’ responses to rankings to show how ranking business impacts on human rights as relevant to wellbeing operates to influence constituencies of interest to corporations including investors and consumers

GPT in the Loop: Evidence from the Field.

Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPTs) are highly effective in generating content and increasing productivity, but companies have reservations about their use in a professional setting. OpenAI and policymakers suggest that disclosing the use of GPT is necessary, but there is little empirical evidence to understand its consequence. Our experiment found that managers from a leading consulting firm were unable to distinguish Human-GPT generated content when the content generation source was not disclosed and disclosing the use of GPT improved the content\u27s evaluation. We explored the effects of applying the GPT disclosure policy in the workplace. Managers prefer analysts to disclose their use of GPT, but their preferences regarding how junior analysts should use GPT may differ from that of the analysts, leading to potential conflicts over disclosure

Transformación productiva en la era de la pandemia por COVID-19 en cinco empresas del Municipio de Envigado

Con base en los desarrollos obtenidos en la investigación sobre modelos de gestión en el grupo GICE de la Facultad de Ciencias Empresariales, los cuales han dejado como productos el Modelo SISTEMA INTEGRADO DE GESTIÓN EMPRESARIAL PARA EL DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE DE LAS EMPRESAS – SIGET PROS- y un SOFTWARE SIMULADOR DE ESCENARIOS, el cual permitirá fortalecer la planeación estratégica en las empresas en que se aplique el modelo. Con la implementación de los desarrollos tecnológicos obtenidos en torno al Modelo de Gestión, el proyecto busca mantener la tendencia de continuar avanzando en los logros de desarrollo tecnológico, utilizando la escala TRL que permite identificar la madurez de los resultados, siguiendo las escalas internacionales y posicionando los resultados tecnológicos, de acuerdo con los niveles alcanzados. La mayor ventaja de la utilización de los niveles de TRL sería conocer el punto de llegada en el alcance del Modelo de Gestión SIGET PROS y el SOFTWARE SIMULADOR DE ESCENARIOS, es decir, hasta que nivel de TRL se llegaría. Esta aproximación podría ser más realista que el denominado «efecto incentivador» del Marco Comunitario de Ayudas de I+D+i. En la práctica, las empresas innovadoras realizan de una forma sistemática actividades de I+D+i, pero formalizar la realización de un nuevo proyecto requiere en realidad saber cuál es su punto de partida. En esta fase del proyecto se enfoca en validar los productos mediante la aplicación a un grupo de empresas, lo que permite elevar el nivel en la escala TRL.Based on the developments obtained in the research on management models in the GICE group of the Faculty of Business Sciences, which have left as products the INTEGRATED BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM MODEL FOR THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPANIES - SIGET PROS - and a SCENARIO SIMULATOR SOFTWARE, which will strengthen strategic planning in companies where the model is applied. With the implementation of the technological developments obtained around the Management Model, the project seeks to maintain the trend of continuing to advance in technological development achievements, using the TRL scale that allows identifying the maturity of the results, following international scales and positioning technological results, according to the levels achieved. The greatest advantage of using TRL levels would be knowing the arrival point in the scope of the SIGET PROS Management Model and the SCENARIO SIMULATOR SOFTWARE, that is, until which TRL level would be reached. This approach could be more realistic than the so-called "incentive effect" of the Community R&D&I Aid Framework. In practice, innovative companies systematically carry out R&D&i activities, but formalizing the implementation of a new project actually requires knowing what its starting point is. In this phase of the project, the focus is on validating the products by applying them to a group of companies, which allows them to raise the level on the TRL scale

Indicators, security and sovereignty during COVID-19 in the global south

This paper considers the spread of COVID-19 as a telling moment or épreuve in contests over governance in global south states. Two distinct governance modes are engaged in this crisis: 1) indicators/metrics; and 2) securitization. Indicators have been a vehicle for the government of states, particularly in the global south, through the external imposition and internal self-application of standards and benchmarks and through the comparative rankings which ensue therefrom. Securitization refers to the performative calling-into-being of emergencies in the face of existential threats. National sovereignty is at stake in both modes: limited, superintended, and redirected by indicators on the one hand; articulated as originary and untrammelled through securitizing moves on the other. Health has been a key focus for analysts of each. We may hypothesize that COVID-19 is the occasion for an as yet undecided contest between de-spatialized health governmentality and the reassertion of territorial segmentation as the frame for an autochtonously defined national interest, a retreat, it is feared, from Post-Westphalian to Westphalian governance in global health. In what follows, I first sketch an outline of each governance mode, remarking on the application of each to health promotion in the global south. The purchase of this theoretical outline is then tested briefly through a focus on Kenya, and, in particular, its response to COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic, between February and May 2020. Both modes were deployed in political and legal interventions during this period. It is clear that government ministers tended to adopt securitization language, while foreign and civil society actors drew on indicators and related benchmarks to support criticism of state action and inaction