Abstract
The aim of the research is to conceptualize an analytical framework for analyzing and developing sustainable competitive strategies of firms. It is important as companies start to compete on sustainability and/or try to compete in a sustainable way, convincing their clients, that they are more sustainable than their rivals. As responsible consumption evolves, it can be expected that the degree of sustainability, along with price and quality, will become a critical and permanent determinant of consumer choices. There are however few analytical frameworks enabling analysis of and developing new “sustainable competitive strategies”. The research constitutes a theoretical analysis aiming at filling this gap. It first outlines the different understandings of such notions and dynamically developing emerging fields of research like sustainable markets and sustainable business models. On that basis four determinants of sustainable markets are defined, which enables the identification of four sustainable strategies. The juxtaposition of those strategies with basic traditional business model elements provides a tool that may be useful both for researchers as well as for managers for analysis and development of competitive strategies that are based on sustainability or aim to include some sustainable elements. Different and to some extent contradictory approaches to entering sustainable markets are discussed; and it is argued that different sustainable strategies built on their basis influence in different ways the main elements of the traditionally understood business model. Fair trade market and enterprises are used to exemplify the proposed theoretical framework.
Presenters
Magdalena ŚliwińskaAssistant Professor, Institute of International Business and Economics, Poznan University of Economics and Business, Poland
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Economic, Social, and Cultural Context
KEYWORDS
Sustainable Strategies, Sustainable Competitiveness, Sustainable Markets, SBM, Fair Trade
