New Business Models for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management Services: Action Research With a Large Environmental Sector Company

Abstract

Businesses are increasingly called upon to contribute to efforts to protect biodiversity and natural capital. Our article presents the results of an action research conducted with a major company in the environmental sector that has been experimenting with innovative services dedicated to ecosystem management. We show the specific organizational and social challenges the company faced in upscaling this strategy due to its path dependency to its historical value creation model, and to the collective action issues that characterize biodiversity management. We introduce a new interdisciplinary theoretical framework for the development of what we refer to as “business models for ecosystem management services,” defined by the very central place they give to the achievement of measurable biodiversity performances. We then propose four such new business models designed through participatory methods that combine in a unique way a corporate value creation model with an ecological value cocreation model at the ecosystem level.

Mainstreaming biodiversity in business decisions: Taking stock of tools and gaps

“…Our underlying theoretical framework (Fig. 1) is based on a company-centred intra-organisational value creation model, building on sustainable business model and entrepreneurship research, and focusing on the links between business strategy, opportunities, value propositions, primary customers, key activities, and services offered and resources and costs (Feger and Mermet, 2022). To theorise the rationale for companies to respond strategically to biodiversity risk, we start with the lens of the natural resource-based view of the firm (Hart, 1995).…”

Puppeteering as a metaphor for unpacking power in participatory action research on climate change and health

“…Tüzün et al, 2019) or business models (e.g. Feger & Mermet, 2020), parallels can also be found in the context of research on climate change and health. For instance, the puppeteer may wish to engage the community in a predefined activity (e.g.…”

Biodiversity management approaches in small and innovative businesses: insights from asystems thinkingperspective

“…Through the different case studies, a systems thinking perspective and a holistic viewpoint have been used to understand the relationships, roles, motivations and dynamics underlying the close but often not so understandable relationship between business and the ecosystem (Davila et al , 2021). The protection of biodiversity and its management represent a current challenge for any type of business activity, a situation that has been made even more urgent based on the dynamics of today’s world and the consequences that the current and more widespread relationship with nature is bringing (Blicharska et al , 2019; Feger and Mermet, 2022; Jacob et al , 2021) (Figure 1).…”

“…Recent studies have analyzed the relationship between production and the environment with respect to the implications in terms of biodiversity management (Ehrlich and Pringle, 2008;Engels et al, 2011;Feger and Mermet, 2022;Le Coeur et al, 2002;Marshall and Moonen, 2002;Paoletti, 2001;Singh and Abhilash, 2018;Tilman, 1999). Conversely, this study investigates the interconnections between the ecosystem and organizations: the interdependence of two complex and dynamic living systems.…”

“…Irrespective of the global warnings and relative interest in biodiversity by scientific disciplines, management scholars have not systematically or consistently focused on its study, particularly regarding the impact of business practices on the protection and promotion of biodiversity (Cuckston, 2018a; Feger and Mermet, 2022; Schaefer et al , 2015; Whiteman, 2013; Williams et al , 2017; Winn and Pogutz, 2013). Thus, this study aims to fill this gap in the management literature (Cuckston, 2018a; Williams et al , 2017; Winn and Pogutz, 2013) by focusing on the dynamics between organizations and ecosystems based on a systems thinking approach.…”