LAW5426 - Regulating business: Enforcement and compliance - 2019

This unit investigates how and why businesses respond to the multitude of efforts made to influence or 'regulate' their behavior for the social and economic good at the local, national, and global levels by means of government regulation, industry self-regulation and civil society voluntary codes of conduct, labeling and certification schemes. Regulating Business is a practical and interdisciplinary course. It first examines what motivates firms and business people to respond to regulation; and how the internal characteristics and capacities of business firms and people assist them in responding to regulation, including the design of compliance systems. It goes on to examine the influence of different regulatory enforcement strategies and styles on compliance and how regulation and responses to regulation emerge from regulators' and businesses' interactions with their broader social, economic and political environments.

Upon completion of this unit students will be able to:

• Apply knowledge of, and understanding of business regulation enforcement mechanisms and compliance responses with creativity and initiative to new situations in professional practice
• Investigate, analyse and synthesise complex information, problems, concepts and theories in relation to business regulation enforcement and compliance and to critically evaluate the effectiveness of different regulatory enforcement mechanisms and styles on compliance responses in their social, economic and political environment.
• Conduct research into relevant domestic and international regulatory studies scholarship on how to design and implement effective and legitimate business regulation enforcement and compliance based on knowledge of appropriate research principles and methods
• Use cognitive, technical and creative skills to generate and evaluate at an abstract level complex ideas and concepts relevant to business regulation, enforcement and compliance.

One research assignment (3,750 words): 50%

One take-home examination (3,750 words): 50%

Students enrolled in this unit will be provided with 24 contact hours of seminars per semester whether intensive, semi-intensive, or semester-long offering. Students will be expected to do reading set for class, and to undertake additional research and reading applicable to a 6 credit point unit.