A systemic model of the relationships between companies, biodiversity, and ecosystems to manage the environmental performance
Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are major threats to humankind’s wellbeing and companies are facing increasing attention – and normative pressure – to consider their impacts on and dependencies from biodiversity and ecosystems. However, it is not easy to understand the complex relationship occurring between business activities, biodiversity, and ecosystems. Therefore, this research constructs a systemic model to comprehend such a relationship and breaks it up into simpler and manageable components. The research adopts an interventionist methodology in which the researchers undertook a literature review followed by focus groups with experts and companies to co-develop the systemic model. The final model identifies and classifies sixteen types of impacts that companies have on biodiversity grouped into five main drivers: ecosystem use change, over-exploitation, invasive alien species, pollution, and climate change. Moreover, the model identifies and classifies twenty-four ecosystem services grouped into three main categories: provisioning services, maintaining and regulating services, and immaterial and cultural services. This research contributes to management control research and practice by proposing a model that could help companies valuing, managing, monitoring, and accounting for a complex phenomenon – the relationship between companies, biodiversity, and ecosystems – by breaking it up into simpler, clearer, and more manageable components.
Keywords: Biodiversity, Ecosystem, Impact, Dependency, Interventionist Research, Systemic Model
