Halting Biodiversity Loss Requires a Different Kind of Management Research
Rajat Panwar, Joseph Bull, Beatrice Crona, Ryo Kohsaka, Lisa MandleThe first business and biodiversity assessment by the Intergovernmental Science‑Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services concludes that voluntary corporate action cannot halt biodiversity loss without broader shifts in the policy, economic, financial, social, and knowledge systems that shape business behavior and environmental outcomes. Yet management research on biodiversity remains largely firm-centric, attending to what individual firms measure, disclose, and do, while often overlooking these wider systems. We propose four interrelated research priorities to reorient the field: the political economy of inaction, the limits of organizational capability, the viability of organizing beyond growth, and reconceptualizing the firm–nature relationship. Pursuing them requires research that is interdisciplinary—drawing on insights beyond management—and transdisciplinary, co‑producing decision‑relevant knowledge with the actors who shape and experience biodiversity outcomes.