• Understanding the paradox of how new forms of production rely on contractual boundaries to limit liability and, at the same time, utilize new technologies and ideologies of governance to extend the effects of governance beyond these boundaries and throughout the value chain.
• Gaining knowledge and skills to understand the role of law in shaping economic production.
• Learning to critically assess the effects of different legal frameworks for balancing production-related interests ranging from economic efficiency to sustainability in the form of social, environmental, cultural and economic externalities.
• Acquiring practical skills for evaluating the legal effects of different kinds of contractual governance and a toolbox for developing appropriate means of governance for diverse production related contexts and tasks.
• Understanding the how contracts operate in the transnational space between state boundaries and beyond international law.
• Gaining critical and pluralistic insight in concepts relevant to modern production, such as the global value chain.

The course focuses on the interplay of private governance mechanisms, public law and private law doctrine in creating a rapidly developing legal framework in which all forms of economic production are embedded. Hence, the course concerns the foundational role of contracts in forming, governing and regulating global value chains. 

New forms of production, such as global value chains, digital platforms, and the circular economy, have utilized new technologies and ideologies of governance to extend the governance effects of contract far beyond privity. This course introduces the development of these new forms of production and how they are be governed. It also opens up critical and pluralistic discussion over what, for example, a value chain is—should the concept for example focus on the production-side or also cover consumption, as has been proposed in recent legal material.  

The course further elaborates on how contracts can be used to control social, environmental, cultural or economic externalities associated with production. On the one hand, this opens up creative ‘safe-spaces’ for sustainability related private governance initiatives, for example modern slavery or climate change related governance initiatives, regulation, and litigation. On the other, these same mechanisms lie at the heart of developing the economic efficiency of new forms of production through for example open books accounting in production networks. 

The course provides students with knowledge on supply chain management and governance through contract from a legal perspective. It also provides students with an understanding of the shifting parameters of governance through contract and enables students to make informed decisions on the legal consequences of different modes and techniques of organizing production. 

The course is taught as a "study group" which requires a high degree of student involvement in class and between classes. The teaching, cases and reading materials provide the foundation for the one-week project. The project must provide a scholarly analysis of a relevant case in the industry. 

collection or compendium of articles, cases and other materials