IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v35y2026i3p3655-3671.html

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

Author

Listed:
  • Päivi Petänen

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Päivi Petänen, 2026. "Strategic Marketing Tensions in Sustainable Business Models: A Conceptual Approach Through Customer Value Propositions and Stewardship," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 3655-3671, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:35:y:2026:i:3:p:3655-3671
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.70327
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70327
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.70327?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:35:y:2026:i:3:p:3655-3671. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.