ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews three strategy frameworks to help managers clarify and organize conceptually their sustainability-related business risks and opportunities those are Michael Porter's Generic Strategies, Kim and Mauborgne's Blue Ocean Strategy, and Clayton Christensen's Disruptive Innovation. In Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors Porter proposes three generic strategies – cost leadership, differentiation, and market segmentation – which lead to distinct positions through which companies achieve competitive advantage. The three generic strategies are part of a larger set of frameworks including Porter's well-known Five Forces and value chain analysis. The three generic strategies are defined along two dimensions: scope and strategic strength. Nike athletic shoes and BMW cars come to mind as examples of broad-scope differentiation strategies. Sustainability performance will ultimately disappear as a source of competitive advantage, when all firms shift to clean energy and zero waste, eliminate toxic chemicals and meet other market expectations for ecologically and socially attuned business practices.
