Strategy Formation as Legitimacy Creation: The Case of Sustainability

Based on an in-depth, longitudinal case study of the development of a sustainability initiative within a major diversified firm, we explore key practices managers apply to win legitimacy for embedding sustainability within the firm’s systems, processes, structure, and strategy. In particular, we investigate how managers co-align their activities with respective developments within the intra-organizational and external environment. Our study contributes towards the integration of evolutionary and institutional approaches of the strategy process and the development of strategic sustainability management.