Explicating a sustainability-based view of sustainable competitive advantage

Abstract

PurposeThis paper is a step toward a sustainability-based view of firm performance, which focuses on how companies may achieve and maintain a competitive advantage in a circular economy that is increasingly dominated by sustainability.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual research paper, which provides a coherent basis for the diverse literature about sustainability, corporate social responsibility, creating shared value, shared value innovation, sustainable design and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.FindingsThe paper complements extant reviews and dynamic frameworks, such as the natural resource-based view and the innovation-based approach, to understand how firms may profit from sustainability in their business ecosystems with multiple stakeholders concerning the triple bottom line beyond financial performance. A firm’s sustainability architecture at multiple organizational levels includes interdependent components reflecting environmental, social and economic sustainability, which enable firms to achieve more value and/or do less harm. The intertemporal renewal of this architecture and its interdependencies with non-sustainability components highlight the dynamics of sustainability transformations for understanding the sustainability–performance relationship.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to sustainability research by developing a conceptual framework, which may be a basis for integrating the variety of management-related sustainability research. It further adds to research into competitive advantage by clarifying how firms may profit from sustainability. Moreover, the conceptual framework contributes to business ecosystem research because it considers internal factors in an organization as well as external factors in a firm’s environment. Finally, this paper offers new insights into strategy dynamics because the intertemporal perspective of changing a firm’s sustainability architecture underscores the need for continuous sustainability transformations.