Global sustainability pressures and strategic choice: The role of firms’ structures and non-market capabilities in selection and implementation of sustainability initiatives

Through the comparative analysis of sustainable development (SD) strategies of three Spanish electric utilities, we explore how differences in electricity production technologies and non-market capabilities of these companies resulted in substantial differences in the degree and nature of their SD involvement over time. This longitudinal study of SD strategies highlights the pluralism of SD commitment interpretations and reveals the non-deterministic nature of SD strategy evolution. While some differences in companies’ strategic choices could be explained by their existing production capacity constraints, the evolution of SD commitment interpretations and SD actions reflect strategic choices grounded in non-market capabilities of the firms.