Transforming Business: Aligning Profits with Human Rights

Societal expectations of business have shifted significantly in recent decades.While shareholder value remains a central driver of corporate decision-making, companies now face growing demands to account for how they generate profit - demands that are increasingly backed by law.This book argues that the most effective response is not procedural compliance but genuine business model transformation: embedding respect for human rights into the architecture of how companies operate, not as an add-on but as a way of doing business. Drawing on original field research across the extractive, agricultural, and apparel sectors, the book documents six companies that have done exactly that - generating tangible, positive outcomes for workers and communities while sustaining commercial success.Each case is examined in depth, including its strengths, limitations, and the barriers encountered along the way.Concluding chapters distil five core components of business model transformation and explore ho