Nature Protection as a Strategy? Strategic Objectives and Dynamic Capabilities in Corporate Biodiversity Management

ABSTRACT This study examines why and how firms address biodiversity loss. Using a multiple case study of 10 large food and agriculture firms, we analyze 35 interviews and secondary data to show that firms pursue strategic objectives through biodiversity management beyond compliance or philanthropy. Drawing on the extant literature, we conceptualize dynamic capabilities as a firm's ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure competencies in uncertain and changing environments. We distinguish biodiversity activities from biodiversity measures, clarifying two interrelated dimensions of corporate biodiversity management. Our findings reveal that firms extend internal capabilities and develop new ones through external collaboration to tackle biodiversity loss. Linking strategic objectives with dynamic capabilities, we identify six corporate biodiversity strategies that align biodiversity engagement with value creation and competitive advantage. This study advances business strategy and environmental management research by showing how biodiversity strategies emerge from strategic objectives and are enacted via dynamic capabilities under high uncertainty and complexity.