Sustainable Business and Organisation

The Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), is now into a second phase following the completion of the initial five year programme. Work is continuing to explore visions of where people can flourish within the ecological constraints of a finite planet. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is funding the project which will see Middlesex University researchers explore the alternative business and investment models for resilience, sustainability and competitiveness. Projects are looking at issues of sustainable purpose in business, innovations to support biodiversity, circular economy, good work and democratic processes in enterprises, and the role of business in activism and driving sustainable behaviour.

Professor Fergus Lyon, Deputy Director of CUSP and theme lead of the Middlesex University research projects in CUSP said: "At a time when there is growing concern about business and the environment, this project will challenge both existing research and business practice about what it means to be both prosperous and sustainable. There is a need for greater understanding of alternative ways of doing business and alternative investment and banking."

This centre, led by University of Surrey's Professor Tim Jackson, is working in collaboration with a variety of academic and non-academic partners. The CUSP work programme is organised around five core themes: (M)eaning and moral framings of the good life; the role of the (A)rts and culture in developing visions of prosperity; (P)olitical and organisational dimensions of sustainable prosperity; (S)ocial and psychological understandings of the good life; and (S)ystems analysis to explore narratives of sustainable prosperity. Detailed information about the MAPSS-Framework can be accessed through the CUSP themes page.

Funded by Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC)

There is growing interest in how farmers can be paid for the environmental benefits they can provide with a number of businesses now creating new opportunities such as carbon capture, payment for wildlife areas or planting crops that reduce risks of flooding and pollution.  Middlesex University will be exploring these new markets for natural capital with the support of The Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) and the Prince’s Countryside Fund (PCF). This study will  explore emerging natural capital markets and understand the opportunities and risks for farmers across the UK. The project will help small and medium sized family farms, and will examine how access to natural capital markets can be broadened to include smaller, tenanted and new entrant farmers.

Commission by Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

In 2018, researchers from CEEDR, as part of a cross-university research consortium, won a grant of close to £450K from the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to investigate the role of creative entrepreneurship and design in micro and small fashion enterprises (MSEs) as a potential driver for a more sustainable fashion industry, in a project lasting 2.5 years.

The research analysed existing and novel business models and practices in the fashion sector that foster a balance between environmental, social, cultural and economic considerations. The project identified barriers and points of intervention in order to develop alternative business support mechanisms for sustainability to inform fashion businesses at both small and larger scales.

The academic team was drawn from three leading research centres and universities, whose complementary academic expertise provided a novel cross-disciplinary approach to research in fashion innovation and sustainable prosperity. Led by London College of Fashion at University of the Arts London (UAL), the project was a collaboration between UAL's Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF), Middlesex University's Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research (CEEDR) and the Open University's Department of Design

The CEEDR team working on the project consisted of Dr Andrea Werner, Prof Fergus Lyon, Dr Ian Vickers and Dr Patrick Elf.

This project web page showcases selected project outputs including a guidebook, case studies, and a policy note.

Further reading:

Lyon, F. (2021) Sustainable fashion designers inspiring policy change: how enterprises can be supported for a sustainable future. Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity

Werner, A., Elf, P., Lyon, F. (2021) The purpose of fashion: How sustainable design entrepreneurs challenge economic growth paradigms. The Cultural and Creative Industries: Pathways Beyond Economic Growth Seminar Series.

Funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Researchers at Middlesex University (lead), the University of Surrey (co-lead), Glasgow Caledonian University and Shared Assets are researching how social enterprises can bring innovations in healthy and sustainable food. The £380,000 project grant from UKRI is part of the Transforming UK Food Systems programme.

The scale of change needed to transform UK food systems for health, social justice and environment requires new ideas, organisational models and collaborative approaches that can meaningfully engage individuals and communities. Existing top-down approaches to the challenge of sustainable food provision and diet have failed to tackle the crisis of poor dietary health and sustainable food production. The research will focus on the distinctive role of social enterprises (trading with a core social and environmental purpose), exploring and enhancing their unique contribution to food systems that are more inclusive, sustainable and healthy. This will include social enterprises providing community growing spaces and distribution schemes, leisure and fitness centres, children's nurseries and other community-based services.

The project will work closely with six partner social enterprises: Community Transport Glasgow (tackling access to affordable food), Cultivate Powys (local growing and social prescribing), London Early Years Foundation (nursery chef initiative), Selby Trust London (food and community hub), Social Adventures Salford (therapeutic growing and local food hub), Windmill Hill City Farm Bristol (growing space and community hub).

The research findings will be used to co-design resources and toolkits to support the scaling-up or replication of successful models and innovations and the sharing of good practice across the country. This is not without its challenges and the project will examine the various barriers and constraining factors and how they can best be addressed. In addition to good practice guides for social enterprises and other organisations across the country, policy briefings will be prepared, focusing on the different levels of local, regional and national policy making.

For further information see Social enterprise as a catalyst for food system transformation (cusp.ac.uk)

Funded by the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE)

This project explores the contribution and potential of social enterprises and other purposeful businesses as pathways to strengthening rural economies and tackling the challenges faced by communities. Previous research shows that social enterprises have considerable potential to help rural economies respond to the challenges of greening the economy, Covid-19 recovery, Brexit, and community health and wellbeing needs. The project therefore responds to a core NICRE theme – how to make rural economies more resilient, as well as potentially more engaged, smart and productive. To this end, the project will draw on existing data sources and key informant interviews to:

Identify the various types of SEs found in rural areas across the UK, taking into account their diverse forms.
Longitudinally assess rural SEs in terms of: their performance as businesses; how they contribute to rural communities; their ambitions, strategies, innovation activity and collaborations; the challenges they face and their support needs.
Provide new evidence which can inform policy and practice, thereby supporting the scaling of SEs and their influence on other enterprises in ways that have potential to provide multiple economic, social and environmental benefits to rural communities.

Supporting Social Enterprises and the Low Carbon Economy

Partnership with Middlesex University (Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research) and Social Enterprise East Midlands (SEEM)

Impact highlights: Strong contribution to understanding the environmental social enterprise sector through market research with related academic outputs (publications include article in 3* ABS rated journal).  Other outcomes not fully achieved due, in part, to changes in staffing and priorities within the company partner during a period of organisational downsizing and transition.   

Objectives                 

a) To develop the market intelligence and capabilities needed to grow the social enterprise sector in the East Midlands region through the delivery of environmental support services.   
b) To secure the sustainability of SEEM by providing the evidence and the strategic intelligence needed to inform understanding of the environmental market; developing SEEM services to environmental social enterprise and increasing the rate of environmental social enterprise start-ups and growth.

Results for the Company Partner

• Social Enterprise East Midlands (SEEM) is the regional infrastructure body for social enterprise in the East Midlands, supporting and representing the work of the movement, informing regional and national policy and promoting best practice.  Services include start up/growth support, information on finance and investment, marketing and promotion, guidance on procurement and social and environmental impact measurement.
• The KTP has coincided with the ending of SEEM's 3 year core funding contract with the RDA to deliver social enterprise strategy in the East Midlands – hence the need to identify alternative sources of income to ensure continuity.  Progress on the KTP outputs was affected by ongoing changes within SEEM, including three changes of company supervisor role.
• The completion of the market research and identification of training/support opportunities was an important achievement, providing a significant volume of intelligence on environmental social enterprises in the region, the challenges they face and their support needs.  
• The KTP contributed to the Company's strategy through developing understanding of environment-related opportunities and support/training needs.  The company and its staff acquired a better understanding of the supply and demand sides of the market for environmental enterprise SEEM and knowledge and resources to inform their approach to market opportunities.
• Although the KTP has generated knowledge, changes of staff and strategic priorities within SEEM made it harder to develop products and services from the partnership.   Nevertheless, benefits and knowledge transfer embedded through the work of the Associate and input of the Knowledge Base Partner include: 

Training materials (slides, trainer notes, exercises etc) and a long term plan to support a sectoral cluster 

Educational (extending the knowledge, skills and expertise of individuals within the community) Environmental (land, water and air)

Impacts on the Associate

Training/personal development completed (in addition to KTP residential course):

• Attended 'International Social Innovation Research Conference' (ISIRC) and co-presented a paper
• Personal Impact course at RADA
• Ecological facilitation course at Schumacher College
• Since the KTP the Associate has volunteered at Schumacher College, has undertaken a course on biomimicry and has worked on a Lapland husky farm.

Results for the Knowledge Base Partner

• High impact on development of staff through: experience of working with social enterprise support infrastructure and development of a body of knowledge (survey data and qualitative case studies) on environmental social enterprise.
• Teaching:  medium impact through provision of very useful case study material
• Publications  and dissemination of results – high impact:
• Four conference/workshop presentations
• Three publications: article in 3* ABS ranked journal; a book chapter, one TSRC/BRASS publication

EIT Climate-KIC Climate Innovation Insights on the Circular Economy

The European Institute of Technology Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (EIT Climate-KIC) is Europe’s largest public-private-partnership dedicated to climate related innovation by business.

Climate Innovation Insights are a mix of case studies of recent innovation experiences and analytical pieces that draw lessons from diverse sources to aid the understanding of EIT Climate-KIC and its partners. Dr Geraldine Brennan, CEEDR, is currently the Series Editor for Innovation Insights related to the topic of the Circular Economy.

In 2017, the second series Accelerating the transition to sustainable production systems, was launched at the international Productronica 2017 trade fair in Germany. Series 2, comprised of nine case studies and one summative paper co-authored by Dr Brennan, and illustrated ways to nurture and sustain cross-sector collaboration in order to scale up the transition to a circular economy. The Insights explored current practice and outlined the strategies, approaches developed and deployed, as well as challenges and the lessons learnt by EIT Climate KIC partners from various sectors and European geographies.

EIT Climate-KIC Climate Innovation Insights Series 3 is in development at present.

#circulareconomy  #climatechange #SPSinsights @ClimateKIC

Client - ESRC Third Sector Research Centre

This research examined the strategies by which environmentally-motivated social enterprises were seeking to scale up their positive impacts in transitions to a more sustainable economy and society.  Case study evidence was used to explore different forms of enterprise growth and diverse contributions to economic, environmental and social value.  A typology of three distinct approaches or modes was introduced to help explain orientations and strategies that reflect both conventional conceptions of growth and alternative ways of creating social and environmental value:  Small and Beautiful niches, involving deepening impact through close engagement within specific communities/localities; Green Knowledge Economy enterprises, seeking wider impacts through developing, sharing and selling knowledge; and Green Collar Army enterprises focused on employment creation.  In each of these categories, there was a need to develop strategies that were sensitive to the tensions and challenges encountered when combining enterprise approaches with social and environmental goals.

• Vickers, I. and Lyon, F (2013) 'Beyond green niches? Growth strategies of environmentally-motivated social enterprises' International Small Business Journal, Vol. 31, pp. 1-22 or ESRC Third Sector Research Centre Working paper 108
• Vickers, I. (2013) 'Environmentally-motivated social enterprise: Origins, contributions and opportunities', in M. Anastasiadis (ed.)  ECO-WISE  Social Enterprises as Sustainable Actors, EHV Europäischer Hochschulverlag, Bremen.
• Vickers, I. (2010) Social enterprise and the environment: a review of the literature, ESRC Third Sector Research Centre, Working Paper No. 22
• Vickers,  I., Vaze P., Corr, L., Kasparova, E. and  Lyon, F.  (2009) SMEs in a low carbon economy, Enterprise Directorate, Department of Business Innovation and Skills