Ensuring small business continuity under a changing climate: The role of adaptive capacity

© 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved. This chapter discuses the Australian Bureau of Statistics definition of Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) (ABS 2011), which includes those enterprises employing less than 200 people. This can be broken down further to medium business (20-199 employees), small business (5-19 employees) and micro business (1-4 employees). This chapter argues that scholarship on Climate adaptation within the private sector, particularly the SME sector, requires further consideration. It identifies the underlying processes and factors shaping adaptive capacity of SMEs in Australia to climate change (Kuruppu et al. 2013). Specifically, the chapter sought to determine: (1) how SMEs have considered and integrated adaptation into business planning; and (2) the key underlying processes that constrain and influence the adaptive capacity of SMEs