Generating a Business Law Research Agenda Louie A. Divinagracia Director, MBA Program De La Salle Professional Schools

Business Law  Business law is the body of law which governs business and industry. As a branch of civil law, it deals with private and public law issues.

Business Law  Also known as Commercial Law, the practice of Business law is concerned with business contracts, employment practices, and the manufacture and sales of consumer and industrial goods and services.

Business Law  It covers issues on antitrust, contracts, legal entities (including foundations, associations, and alliances), class action, dispute resolution, labor and employment law, governance, trade law, intellectual property, cyber law, property law (including agrarian and land reforms), tax law, product liability, corrupt practices, and other related items.

Business Law Research  Scientific studies on Business law are published in peer-reviewed journals such as, the Journal of Business Law, American Business Law Journal, Journal of Corporation Law, Employee Relations Law Journal, Industrial Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, Law and Policy in International Business, International Financial Law Review, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, and Yale Law Journal, among others.

Business Law Research  Some of the business law research journals can be accessed off- campus using DLSU’s online journal subscriptions.

Business Law Research  With a broad range of research topics under its wings, research on business law can be approached from an entrepreneurship strategy perspective or through the different business functional areas.

Components  Marketing Law  Financial Law  Labor Law  Entreneurship

Marketing Law  Motivated in part by the rise in consumerism and attempts of professional marketers to understand the law in marketing, marketing and legal scholars engaged themselves in interdisciplinary studies. According to Petty (1999), research in marketing law followed 3 approaches, namely (a) study of laws that regulate marketing transactions or tactical marketing (i.e. 4Ps), and eventually relationship marketing; (b) corporate and consumer interests that are protected/governed by marketing laws; and (c) integration of the analytical process of the marketing and law disciplines on a particular marketing law concern.

Marketing Law  A special issue on Marketing Law was published by the American Business Law Journal in The first book in marketing law was published 15 years earlier in It could interest present- day scholars to see the evolution and resolution of the marketing law research debate in predatory pricing, excessive consumption behavior of buyers that are driven by promotions and advertising strategies, and global marketing competition-alliances.

Financial Law  In the advent of money laundering, off-balance sheet lending, banking scandals, insider trading, conflicts of interests between securities analysis and underwriting, and the perceived decline in the integrity of “creative” accounting and equity research reporting, investor and shareholder protection has emerged as a favorite research topic in financial law literature. The agenda was to analyze (a) the nature and damage brought about by corporate excesses, (b) legal approaches to the ‘clean up’, and (c) regulatory mechanisms to restore confidence in financial markets.

Financial Law  Recently, however, attention has caught up on “innovative securitization.” According to the November 2006 issue of the International Financial Law Review, lawyers who are working on securitization are a “victim of their own success”. The report further said that digital technology (e.g. US Securities and Exchange Commission's Edgar) has enabled almost anyone to examine how a securitization deal has been put together and in the process, reverse engineer it and create new asset classes. As companies are increasingly inserting “securitization enabling or clearing clauses” in their lending activities, the convergence of securitization with other forms of finance becomes an interesting research topic in Financial law.

Labor Relations  Job security and quality of the working environment continue to surface in labor and employee relations research literature. With the intent of governments and employers to mitigate the problems besieging unemployment and under-employment, employment targets has not been realized despite some intent towards reforms. This can be observed in developing- country labor markets, economies with very high population growth rates, and in areas that are characterized by heavy influx of migrants. The labor problem is further compounded by legal and financial costs/ commitments that are associated with hiring and regularizing employees; and the extra-legal means that companies have pursued in hiring and hiring workers (e.g. informal employment).

Enterprise Development  The entrepreneurship strategy perspective to Business law research can be viewed from the business strategy-performance paradigm. The formulation and implementation of a business strategy takes into account the politico-legal environment. At the macro level, research can focus on entrepreneurship growth and value creation across policy regimes. For example, Garrett and Wall (2006) reported that corporate income tax rates, bankruptcy law, and minimum wage legislation have significant effects on the rates of entrepreneurship in the U.S. Unlike their counterparts in the Southern states, entrepreneurship grew faster in the Western part of the country where policies are relatively friendly.