Who benefits from ISDS - large or small firms?

The issue of the influence of businesses in Investor State Dispute Settlement has been an ongoing theme. How much of influence do the big businesses have on the regulatory space? Who benefits from ISDS cases? How do States get affected by ISDS claims when businesses are large and multinational.

A recent article by Weijia Rao titled "Large Corporations and Investor-State Arbitration" brings to light some new facts about who benefits from ISDS. Relying on an empirical approach the author argues that small and mid-sized firms have benefitted from ISDS, rather than large corporations.

"The finding that small- or medium-sized firms have brought more ISDS cases than large firms contradicts conventional narratives that ISDS is dominated by large firms, and reveals the unintended consequences that eliminating ISDS may have on small- or medium-sized firms. The finding aligns with other studies that posit that small firms are more frequent users of ISDS."

In conclusion:

"While it is generally believed that the financial burden of ISDS proceedings may limit the access of small- or medium-sized firms to the system, this Article shows that small- or medium-sized firms, rather than large firms, acted as claimants in most ISDS cases. With respect to damages, large firms do not appear more likely to prevail in ISDS cases. However, compared with small- or mediumsized firms, large firms have had greater success in influencing respondent countries to amend or repeal the challenged measures in ISDS cases."

Again, evidence based research can produce interesting outcomes contrary to popular perceptions.