The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) undertook research with support from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to define the "business as usual" of the future, whereby resilience is employed to ensure sustainability in the face of modern day global challenges facing businesses.

In light of this, the CSIR and PwC define seven principles that assist in embedding a broader resilience approach into key processes such as business strategy, management, and reporting. The seven principles, systems; risk and adaptation; decoupling; restoration; wellbeing; collaborative governance; and innovation and foresight, ensure that social ecological systems are better equipped to continue functioning optimally so that the businesses within them can continue creating value in the short and long term as well as responding to opportunities arising from change. The principles were developed in a series of workshops with a multidisciplinary team comprising specialists from various backgrounds including auditing and reporting, ecology, social science, business management, and resource economics. Interviews were also conducted with 10 companies from a range of different industries considered leaders in terms of integrated reporting.

The principles are underpinned by the goals of sustainable development, the green economy, and best practice corporate citizenship. Their application is enabled through the use of a series of worksheets allowing businesses to assess the extent to which they are currently addressing resilience. "Our 'business as usual' of the future will not only focus on the wellbeing and success of an individual company, but also on the system within which it operates," said CSIR sustainability expert, Dr Lorren Haywood. The CSIR and PwC recognise that embedding resilience of this nature into a business will take time.

"As a starting point, the worksheets allow an organisation to assess the extent to which their business is currently addressing broader resilience. The worksheets expand on each principle, providing indicators that will enable management teams to define the state of their organisation as well as decide what future state they would like to achieve," said Haywood.

Applying the concept of resilience to business management will enable an organisation to withstand, recover and reorganise in response to a shock. However, less attention is focussed on ensuring that the social ecological system within which business operations exist are also resilient to shocks and changes. "The more a social ecological system's resilience is compromised through approaching critical thresholds," warns Haywood, "the less able it is to support thriving businesses. The system may shift to a state that is no longer able to sustain value creation". To respond effectively, CSIR and PwC has found, businesses also need to build and maintain resilient social ecological systems as part of their integrated management, which would enable them to withstand, adapt and recover from undesirable or unstable conditions.

A recent CSIR study found that Africa is projected to experience higher temperatures by the end of this century. This threatens the sustainability of businesses from a wide variety of sectors directly and indirectly dependent on natural and social resources.

Moreover, transparency and trust have become central to the success of businesses in the long term, and engagement with stakeholders is taking on a new meaning. "With new and emerging risks on the horizon, it is imperative for organisations to be resilient thereby enabling an adaptive and responsive business environment to global change and emerging risks," said Haywood.

Ends 

For more information, please contact: Mr Tendani Tsedu, CSIR Media Relations Manager at 082 945 1980 or 012 841 3417 or mtsedu@csir.co.za

About PwC:

PwC has offices in 157 countries and more than 208,000 people. They also assist organisations and individuals to create the value they're looking for, by delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services. For more info, visit www.pwc.com

About the CSIR:

The CSIR is one of the leading scientific and technology research, development and implementation organisations in Africa. Constituted by an Act of Parliament in 1945 as a science council, the CSIR undertakes directed and multidisciplinary research, technological innovation, as well as industrial and scientific development to improve the quality of life of all South Africans. For more info visit www.csir.co.za