Karin Buhmann

Presentation

My research and teaching focus on sustainability with a particular emphasis on social issues, especially Business Responsibilities for Human Rights, labour standards, and social aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility (including social aspects of environmental sustainability and climate change, for example living conditions, health, access to food and land).

I approach these issues from the perspective of public governance and public-private regulation, analysing how public and private organisations may work together to address global concerns related to sustainable human development and how public-private collaboration add to and result from a transnationalisation of sustainability governance and diverse forms of soft and hard law and guidance as well as specific processes, in particular social risk-based due diligence. With a background in international and public law I take a pragmatic approach to these issues, applying methods and theories from the social sciences to understand normative developments.

My recent research and teaching have addressed the evolution of the Business & Human Rights (BHR) regime, in particular the development of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the UN Global Compact from the perspectives of discourse theory and systems theory; CSR reporting as a driver for organisational change; Transnational Business Governance Interaction; and sustainable forestry in East and South East Asia between law and the market. I also work on the implementation of the normative standards I the BHR regime through pro-active measures such as social risk-based due diligence, state and non-state accountability measures such as National Contact Points under OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; EU policy and guidance on CSR and responsible sourcing; transparency and the market as drivers for responsible sourcing; certification and legality.

My research interests also include law and development and law reforms for human rights and social progress, particularly but not only focusing on China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Japan; and conflict resolution through alternative dispute resolution and mediation.

In 2012 I was appointed a member of the Danish National Contact Point under OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (in Danish ‘Mæglings- og klageinstitutionen for ansvarlig virksomhedsadfærd’) upon nomination by the Danish civil society network 92-gruppen. In 2015 the appointment was renewed.

I chair The BHRight Initiative for interdisciplinary research and teaching on Business & Human Rights, which was established at CBS in March 2014 in the context of an Explanatory Workshop funded by the European Research Foundation. 

In my research and networking I benefit from my previous work experience as an associate attorney in a law firm and as a civil servant in the Danish public administration, working with immigration issues under the Ministry of Justice and with human rights in development under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Danida.

Languages (teaching and supervision): Danish (mother tongue), English

Primary research areas

Business & Human Rights

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), governance and public-private regulation

Sustainable natural resource sourcing, governance and certification

Transnational law and sustainability governance and Transnational Business Governance

Development and law (esp. East Asia)

Courses

I am responsible for and teach at these courses:

• Introduction to Sustainable Business (anchored at the Department of Intercultural Communication and Management, CBS)
• Business & Human Rights: Governance, Leadership and Management (anchored at the Department of Intercultural Communication and Management, CBS)
• Business Responsibilities for Human Rights (anchored at the Department for Business & Politics, CBS)
• I co-teach at other courses on CSR and/sustainability, including:
  Scandinavian Sustainability & CSR (anchored at the Department of Intercultural Communication and Management, CBS, taught with Professor Jeremy Moon)

Supervision

Business & Human Rights
Social Responsibility/Corporate Social Responsibility (especially normative issues; regulatory strategies; standards and certification; private, public and public-private schemes)
Sustainable human development
Transnational sustainability governance
Transnational Business governance
Sustainable natural resource sourcing
International labour standards and working conditions