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Defensive Responses to Strategic Sustainability Paradoxes: Have Your Coke and Drink It Too!

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  • Kirsti Iivonen

    (Aalto University School of Business)

Abstract

This study examines how the leading beverage company handles the strategic paradox between its core business and the social issue of obesity. A discursive analysis reveals how the organization does embrace a social goal related to obesity but not the paradoxical tension between this goal and its core business. The analysis further shows how the tension, along with the responsibility for the social goal, is projected outside the organization. This response is underpinned by the paradoxical constructions of consumers and the concept of obesity in the organization’s communication. Based on these findings, I outline a new type of process for projection, one of the defensive mechanisms recognized in the literature. The findings increase our understanding of defensive responses to organizational paradoxes and help distinguish between different kinds of strategic paradoxes. They also highlight the need to further open up the complexity and multiplicity of strategic paradoxes related to corporate sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Kirsti Iivonen, 2018. "Defensive Responses to Strategic Sustainability Paradoxes: Have Your Coke and Drink It Too!," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 309-327, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:148:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3580-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3580-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Shu, Ei (Emily), 2022. "Paradoxical framing and coping process on sustainable new product development," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
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    5. Helen Wadham & Cathy Urquhart & Richard Warren, 2019. "Living with Paradox in International Development: An Extended Case Study of an International NGO," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(5), pages 1263-1286, December.
    6. Alberto Huerta Morales, 2020. "Exploring Paradoxical Tensions in Circular Business Models—Cases from North Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-21, September.
    7. Schneckenberg, Dirk & Roth, Steffen & Velamuri, Vivek K., 2023. "Deparadoxification and value focus in sharing ventures: Concealing paradoxes in strategic decision-making," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    8. Steffen Böhm & Michal Carrington & Nelarine Cornelius & Boudewijn Bruin & Michelle Greenwood & Louise Hassan & Tanusree Jain & Charlotte Karam & Arno Kourula & Laurence Romani & Suhaib Riaz & Deirdre , 2022. "Ethics at the Centre of Global and Local Challenges: Thoughts on the Future of Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(3), pages 835-861, October.

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