Business Organisations and Corporate Finance Law

Description

This course introduces business organizations and corporate finance law, their functions, origins and fundamental building blocks. The course starts with a functional approach to firms and business organizations, focusing on the differences and overlaps between an economic enterprise (the firm) and its legal status (the organization). Using both a historical and an economic perspective, this course will unveil the fundamental characteristics and functional features of business organizations. It will then examine the core legal notions necessary to understand business organizations, their financing options, the relationships between the organization, the providers of capital and other actors, and the organization’s role in contracts and bankruptcy. It finally covers the impact of business organizations on societal issues, such as inequality and the provision of public services, and challenges in regulating them. Objectives: After completing this course, the student will: Have a thorough understanding of the essential features of business organizations Have developed a deep understanding and working knowledge of basic building blocks of corporate finance, such as different finance options and asset partitioning, and apply them to the relationship between organizational status and other areas of law Have developed a deep understanding of the incentives, behaviour and decision-making of the providers of capital, and evaluate their relationship with the organization and other (corporate) actors Be able to evaluate the effects of the law of business organizations from both a functional and an ethical perspective Acquiring some of the tools necessary to write a research essay in the area of business organizations and corporate finance law Be able to analyse the effects of law on different corporate constituencies (stakeholders), such as employees, consumers, contracting counteparties, tort victims, and society at large