Climate change and social strain: strategic enterprise responses

Abstract

Purpose – Enterprise activities are often harmful to the natural environment or societal fabric, yet approaches that are environmentally constructive or socially responsible can be challenging and may not be rewarded by the marketplace. Enterprises that are not sufficiently financially successful perish. The purpose of this paper is to present a model and methodology referred to as sustainable enterprise excellence, resilience and robustness (SEER2) that provides enterprises with a means of balancing financial, social, and environmental considerations. These considerations form the classic elements of the triple bottom line and are central formation of enterprise responses to climate change and social strain. Design/methodology/approach – A model referred to as the Springboard to SEER2 is introduced. SEER2 explicitly considers societal and environmental performance and impacts that are driven by strategy and implemented through processes. As such criteria associated with the Springboard that address strategy, processes, performance, and impact are also introduced. Findings – Humanity is at individual, enterprise, and societal levels partially or wholly responsible for many critical and time-sensitive social and environmental challenges. Due to their vast collective resource consumption and resource base, enterprises should also contribute to solving such challenges. The presented Springboard to SEER2 model and associated criteria provide a rigorous, yet defined path for enterprises that have the determination to confront such challenges. Originality/value – This is among the first explorations of enterprise self-assessment in general and SEER2 in particular that explicitly consider strategies, processes and activities important to mitigation of climate change and social strain.