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Coral Reef Restoration Enterprises

Graf, Ileana LU (2023) In IIIEE Master Thesis IMEM01 20231
The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
Abstract
Coral reefs are essential for providing ecosystem services to humans, including coastal protection, nutrition, and income opportunities for coastal communities. However, coral reefs worldwide have suffered severe damage due to anthropogenic factors, leading to their rapid degradation. Thus, next to preventative actions, coral reef restoration efforts are necessary to avoid complete degradation. In response, businesses have emerged that focus on coral reef restoration as their core business activity. Given that this is a new phenomenon, research on such businesses, Coral Reef Restoration Enterprises (CRRE), is scarce. Therefore, this thesis aims to address this research gap by investigating their business models, value capture
strategies,... (More)
Coral reefs are essential for providing ecosystem services to humans, including coastal protection, nutrition, and income opportunities for coastal communities. However, coral reefs worldwide have suffered severe damage due to anthropogenic factors, leading to their rapid degradation. Thus, next to preventative actions, coral reef restoration efforts are necessary to avoid complete degradation. In response, businesses have emerged that focus on coral reef restoration as their core business activity. Given that this is a new phenomenon, research on such businesses, Coral Reef Restoration Enterprises (CRRE), is scarce. Therefore, this thesis aims to address this research gap by investigating their business models, value capture
strategies, and internal and external drivers and barriers. For this, interviews with
representatives of CRRE as well as with relevant market actors and a complementary desktop research were conducted and analysed using a qualitative content analysis. The findings reveal that CRRE have identified multiple value capture strategies supported by a diverse set of value propositions in the economic, environmental, and social domain. As a result, this thesis presents a framework to describe and analyse their business model. The research also identified various internal and external factors that either aid or inhibit their work. Internally, CRRE particularly benefit from shared values within the company and are inhibited by lacking skills of workers. Externally, they mostly face barriers, especially in the political and economic
domains. However, the findings also suggest that these domains have the potential to be drivers if they are adapted to the needs of these businesses. Overall, the findings of this research offer valuable strategic insights for practitioners in the field of coral reef restoration who aim for profitability, and insights for policymakers who can support these businesses by improving the policy landscape, establishing standardised biodiversity valuation systems, and providing financial support. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Graf, Ileana LU
supervisor
organization
course
IMEM01 20231
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Coral reef restoration enterprise (CRRE), Nature-based enterprise (NBE), Coral business, Profitable coral reef restoration, Sustainable business model
publication/series
IIIEE Master Thesis
report number
2023:11
ISSN
1401-9191
language
English
id
9133233
date added to LUP
2023-08-01 12:07:58
date last changed
2023-08-01 12:07:58
@misc{9133233,
  abstract     = {{Coral reefs are essential for providing ecosystem services to humans, including coastal protection, nutrition, and income opportunities for coastal communities. However, coral reefs worldwide have suffered severe damage due to anthropogenic factors, leading to their rapid degradation. Thus, next to preventative actions, coral reef restoration efforts are necessary to avoid complete degradation. In response, businesses have emerged that focus on coral reef restoration as their core business activity. Given that this is a new phenomenon, research on such businesses, Coral Reef Restoration Enterprises (CRRE), is scarce. Therefore, this thesis aims to address this research gap by investigating their business models, value capture 
strategies, and internal and external drivers and barriers. For this, interviews with 
representatives of CRRE as well as with relevant market actors and a complementary desktop research were conducted and analysed using a qualitative content analysis. The findings reveal that CRRE have identified multiple value capture strategies supported by a diverse set of value propositions in the economic, environmental, and social domain. As a result, this thesis presents a framework to describe and analyse their business model. The research also identified various internal and external factors that either aid or inhibit their work. Internally, CRRE particularly benefit from shared values within the company and are inhibited by lacking skills of workers. Externally, they mostly face barriers, especially in the political and economic 
domains. However, the findings also suggest that these domains have the potential to be drivers if they are adapted to the needs of these businesses. Overall, the findings of this research offer valuable strategic insights for practitioners in the field of coral reef restoration who aim for profitability, and insights for policymakers who can support these businesses by improving the policy landscape, establishing standardised biodiversity valuation systems, and providing financial support.}},
  author       = {{Graf, Ileana}},
  issn         = {{1401-9191}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{IIIEE Master Thesis}},
  title        = {{Coral Reef Restoration Enterprises}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}