The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) has published a white paper warning that businesses must be ready to continually revise their business models as global risks gather pace and interact in unpredictable ways.
The paper, ‘Reframing Business Models for a Sustainable World’, says organisations now face a mix of overlapping pressures. These include geopolitical instability, rapid progress in AI, climate change, biodiversity loss and demographic change.
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It describes this environment as a “polycrisis”.
According to CIMA, traditional linear business models built through an inside-out, micro stewardship approach are no longer enough to deal with these conditions.
The paper argues that sustainability should no longer be treated as a separate function or a compliance task.
Instead, it says sustainability is now a core business model issue and central to how organisations respond to polycrisis.
It adds that companies that fail to connect financial performance with their impact on society and the environment risk damaging their own long-term viability.
CIMA said the white paper brings together concepts, perspectives, practical frameworks and recommendations to help organisations create long-term value in a more uncertain and interconnected world.
Among its recommendations, the paper calls on organisations to identify emerging patterns and feedback loops, and assess how these affect business, society and the biosphere.
It also sets out how a macro stewardship lens and a systemic risk management approach can be used to shape forward-looking scenarios, transition plans and business model changes.
The paper further examines how businesses can design responses that address polycrisis factors while improving long-term resilience and supporting ‘anti-fragile’ business models.
It also includes guidance for finance teams on how to turn insight into enterprise-wide action and value creation.
CIMA said the report explores a shift away from resilience alone, which is focused on risk management, towards anti-fragile thinking that enables organisations to strengthen their business models in the face of unpredictable disruption.
The white paper also looks at what a macro stewardship lens means in practice, including a focus on ethics and the public good, and the skills and mindset changes finance leaders may need to support value creation.
CIMA chief executive – management accounting Andrew Harding said: “The competencies and skill sets of management accountants, combined with the expanding mandate of the finance function, place the profession in a unique position to help reframe business models for long‑term, sustainable value creation. We have both the responsibility and the opportunity to help shape the future.”
CIMA global head of sustainability Jeremy Osborn added: “Moving away from linear‑thinking and anchoring decisions in the context of anti-fragile business models can help connect performance with purpose and create long‑term value for investors and other stakeholders.”
