Work

Strategic Marketing Tensions in Sustainable Business Models: A Conceptual Approach Through Customer Value Propositions and Stewardship

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Sustainable business models (SBMs) inherently involve tensions, which are contradictory or misaligned demands that companies must consider simultaneously. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding the relevance and linkage of these tensions to strategic marketing considerations, including positioning, competitiveness, differentiation, and a company's interaction with customers. This study aims to identify a set of tensions that arise in the strategic marketing of SBMs and to explore how these tensions can be responded to by companies. The study adopts a conceptual methodology, applying customer value propositions (CVPs) as a structured strategic marketing lens to explore tensions. Further, stewardship is suggested as an ontological approach that shapes the strategic marketing responses to tensions for the collective good of future generations. The resulting framework outlines how companies can embrace SBM tensions, including their hierarchical intensity, make sense of complexity and address the dominance of unsustainable models through strategic marketing mechanisms.

Source: Business Strategy and the Environment

DOI: 10.1002/bse.70327

Author: Päivi Petänen

Institution: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

Language: English

Topic: Environmental Sustainability in Business

Subfield: Marketing

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,480

Funder: Teknologian Tutkimuskeskus VTT