Column 17 · Stakeholders and Sustainability · Era 6, Engagement and Networks (2010s)
Market-Focused Sustainability
Formulation, process · Major · Cluster VI, Context
Description
Crittenden et al. proposed a framework of market-oriented sustainability grounded in organizational DNA, stakeholders, and performance, and Hult extended market orientation to market-focused sustainability, which incorporates stakeholder and societal concerns into the orientation.
Managerial Implications
Sustainability becomes strategic when it is market-focused: when the firm understands which stakeholders and customers value which environmental and social outcomes, and builds those into its market orientation. Managers should extend market orientation to stakeholders beyond customers, identify where sustainability creates differential advantage, and avoid treating it as a compliance function, because competitors who integrate it into strategy will capture the customers who care.