Sustainable enterprises: Addressing management challenges in the 21st Century

Our world in the 21st Century is one of a “crisis society”. That is, we have reached a state where most of our major systems – economic, environmental, social – in are crisis and in need of restructuring. We can see this play out in the global financial, climate, social and identity crises we face. The underlying causes of these crises are our current systems of production and consumption. We suggest the solution lies in moving beyond addressing the crises individually and symptomatically towards developing sustainable enterprises, sustainable communities and sustainable lifestyles. From these perspectives, we can begin understand better the interrelationships creating this crisis society and more holistically address and repair the damage we done to the Earth and ourselves. We conclude by identifying areas of future research needed to facilitate this movement towards a sustainable society

Organizational dynamics in industrial ecosystems: Insights from organizational theory

This chapter presents three important and inter-related perspectives in organizational theory - institutional theory, field theory, and social network theory – that together shed light on the organizational dynamics inherent in and critical to the development of industrial ecosystems. Within the social science literature, these theories provide a language and set of conceptual tools for holistically analyzing the formal and informal influences of the broader social environment on a company, its possible actions within this environment, and associated outcomes. Such an understanding also sheds light on the constraints and opportunities that individual decision makers face and enables a better understanding of agents’ behavior, whether that of individuals or organizations, in bringing about the changes that industrial ecology demands

Facilitating regional industrial symbiosis: Network growth in the UK’s National Industrial Symbiosis Programme

In the years since the discovery of Kalundborg’s long-lived network of resource exchanges, industrial symbiosis, and its potential for reducing the environmental impact of industrial activity on a local or regional scale, has been the subject of intense interest. Industrial symbiosis is defined as the enlistment of geographically proximate facilities in the “physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and by-products” (Chertow, 2000: 314). While some industrial symbiosis occurs between firms that are closely co-located, such as those in the same industrial park (see Chapters 4 and 6), other efforts to develop industrial symbiosis are undertaken on regional geographic scales. This chapter considers regional-scale industrial symbiosis, and, in particular, the development of a network of industrial symbiosis facilitated by a single brokering organization

The Evolution of Facilitated Industrial Symbiosis

While much work has been done on the conditions surrounding the emergence and establishment of industrial symbiosis, new attention is being paid to understanding the evolution of industrial symbiosis over time. We demonstrate empirically how a new facilitated industrial symbiosis initiative developed and evolved over an eight‐year period. We explore its network evolution by considering how the facilitator’s actions enabled and precluded two fundamental network processes – serendipitous and goal‐directed processes. We discuss implications for a more generalized theory of industrial symbiosis development by exploring why and how different evolutionary trajectories may unfold

The Engagement of Firms in Environmental Collaborations: Existing Contributions and Future Directions

The engagement of firms in environmental collaborations has become a ubiquitous phenomenon in today’s business landscape. Yet much of the research to date is fragmented across multiple disciplines and lacks a clear framework to support future study. We consolidate and synthesize existing contributions into a conceptual map comprised of antecedents, consequences, and contingencies to better understand environmental collaborations. This map offers a perspective on how firms develop strategies, structures, and capabilities to manage and balance environmental and economic performance and increasing demands for environmental sustainability from multiple stakeholders and society. We then highlight existing gaps in the extant literature and outline a future research agenda including key questions and issues needing additional study

Using cumulative carbon budgets and corporate carbon disclosure to inform ambitious corporate emissions targets and long‐term mitigation pathways

With increasing pressure for climate action, commitments to setting scientifically supported emissions targets have become more common among firms. The target-setting methods currently endorsed by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) use emission pathways that are aligned with 1.5°C and well-below 2°C long-term temperature goals to inform near-term corporate targets. However, most of these scenarios lead to a temperature overshoot, followed by a return to the temperature goal achieved via net-negative emissions in the second half of this century. When used to inform near-term (e.g., 2030) corporate targets, the result is a set of targets that are aligned with an overshoot of a temperature target, with no explicit long-term commitment to using negative emissions technologies to reverse this. To decrease the risk of this misalignment with the long-term temperature goal, we propose an alternative approach that derives corporate targets directly from the remaining global cumulative carbon budget. We illustrate this approach using global Scope 1 emissions disclosed by public firms in 2019 to estimate corporate carbon budgets and construct idealized emissions-reduction pathways that are consistent with the remaining global carbon budget for 1.5°C and well-below 2°C. While firms, or their sectors, may choose varying mitigation pathways aligned with either global temperature limit, consistency with remaining carbon budgets requires that any delayed mitigation action in the near term is followed by more rapid emissions reductions in subsequent years. This study emphasizes the need for a more precautionary and robust approach to corporate target setting

A SARS-CoV-2 Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle Vaccine Is Protective and Promotes a Strong Immunological Response in the Cynomolgus Macaque Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Model

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a staggering impact on social, economic, and public health systems worldwide. Vaccine development and mobilization against SARS-CoV-2 (the etiologic agent of COVID-19) has been rapid. However, novel strategies are still necessary to slow the pandemic, and this includes new approaches to vaccine development and/or delivery that will improve vaccination compliance and demonstrate efficacy against emerging variants. Here, we report on the immunogenicity and efficacy of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine comprising stabilized, pre-fusion spike protein trimers displayed on a ferritin nanoparticle (SpFN) adjuvanted with either conventional aluminum hydroxide or the Army Liposomal Formulation QS-21 (ALFQ) in a cynomolgus macaque COVID-19 model. Vaccination resulted in robust cell-mediated and humoral responses and a significant reduction in lung lesions following SARS-CoV-2 infection. The strength of the immune response suggests that dose sparing through reduced or single dosing in primates may be possible with this vaccine. Overall, the data support further evaluation of SpFN as a SARS-CoV-2 protein-based vaccine candidate with attention to fractional dosing and schedule optimization