Business Law is International Law

My grandfather had a shoe store in a small town in Granada. He bought his shoes from a manufacturer in Granada, employed his workers from Granada, and his clients were all from Granada. That scenario of a purely domestic economic enterprise is virtually impossible to envision today.

Today very few businesses are purely domestic.  In my law practice I see corporations which might have been incorporated in Andorra, conduct online sales in the United States and Spain, employ phone operators in Colombia, Argentina, and Pakistan, and source their goods from countries all over the world. In this international market, the smallest firms are affected by global competition and events around the World.

It is vital, therefore, for anyone involved in business, whether as an executive, a consultant, an attorney, an economist, etc., to understand how critical it is to have an understanding of international law and the global economy in order to be effective in the economic marketplace.

For those of us who work with corporate clients, the impact of economic interdependence makes it indispensable to learn and have an understanding about international markets, international laws, and the cultural differences among countries that make it different, for example, to conduct business in Mexico as opposed to Japan.

Given that international laws will impact our lives and economic endeavors in ever more ways, it is in the best interest of all citizens to be informed about the operation of international law. In the commercial context international law must be understood as a body of norms that affect business behavior just like domestic laws, but with an impact that extends beyond national borders.

Is it possible to create a set of international laws by which all businesses are bound?

How would these laws be enforced?