Legal Challenges for Corporations in the 21st Century

This chapter is based on a transcript of the Panel Discussion on Legal Challenges for Corporations in the 21st Century, held as part of the International Economic Association (IEA) Roundtable. The three panellists for this session were Dr. Naushad Forbes (Co-Chairman, Forbes Marshall), Mr. Dhruv Sawhney (Chairman, Triveni Group, India), and Mr. Janmejaya Sinha (Chairman, Boston Consulting, India). The session covered three main issues, and this chapter provides a summary of the discussions on these issues. The first issue relates to the regulation of the big corporations, in the light of the general perception that the traditional antitrust laws are not proving to be adequate. The second question is whether there should be more effort to develop global laws and conventions, since in a globalized world the laws governing business remain balkanized and nation specific. The third issue relates to the problem of designing and pursuing suitable anti-corruption policies, since a badly designed corruption control policy can be very damaging for business and the economy. The chapter presents the views of the three corporate leaders and other participants.