Companies´ Adaptation to Global Climate Change: Empirical Identification of Drivers and Barriers to the Implementation of Protective Measures against Natural Hazards
(A2021-94520)

AUTHORS

Simon König, TU Dortmund University; Hartmut Holzmueller, TU Dortmund University

ABSTRACT

To mitigate the growing risk of natural disasters climate change adaptation (CCA) is an essential challenge for companies worldwide. Nevertheless, the majority of firms are not well prepared for dealing with natural hazards. For governmental institutions, trade associa-tions, and investors it is an important marketing task to raise the awareness and sensitivity of boards of directors for these new risks in order to improve resilience and guarantee a stable performance of industries. Our study contributes to a better understanding of organizational mechanisms with regard to corporate reactions to natural hazards. Based on 24 case studies (29 guided in-depth interviews with managers responsible for operations) of midsized com-panies we identified the core barriers and drivers of CCA. Overall, we identified more barri-ers to CCA than drivers. The findings are used as input to suggest marketing programs, which target companies in order to stimulate protective measures against natural hazards.

REFERENCES

This study is a part of a more comprehensive interdisciplinary research project, which is financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.