During uncertain times, such as a pandemic crisis, a sustainable perspective enables companies to take a responsive approach to aid their stakeholders, customers, and society, based on the belief that businesses and society are mutually interdependent. In this context, sustainable resilience can also help organizations to incorporate the principles of macro marketing system management to find holistic solutions in order to build resilience in uncertain situations. Sustainable resilience is known as the ability to maintain desired system performance while simultaneously considering the distribution of impacts and sustainability pillars (social, economic, and environmental resources). In order to achieve sustainable resilience, it is vital for managers to have access to the required information for a quick assessment of the situation, and plan mindful steps forward. Valuable information in uncertain times is not limited to industry knowledge, but may also include the firm’s situational awareness in terms of society and people, their emotions, and fears.
Despite the importance of the subject, few studies have been conducted to answer the question of which types of information/content can help firms build sustainable resilience during a crisis. Hence, the extant study aims to answer this question by presenting a framework that illustrates the content types that may empower firms to build sustainable resilience. To this end, a literature review of 24 articles appearing in publication outlets between 2010 to 2022 was conducted. As a consequence, this article pinpoints different informational needs of firms during a pandemic crisis based on the main pillars of sustainability. Furthermore, the research framework can be used as a guideline to raise the situational awareness of managers which is central to making efficient decisions, especially in times of uncertainty. This research also inspires managers to re-think the significant role of businesses in raising awareness within the industry and society; because to fight against difficult crises, every organization, business, and individual is responsible!
Sustainability; Sustainable resilience; Information; Crisis; Pandemic; Business
Gillespie‐Marthaler, L., Nelson, K., Baroud, H., & Abkowitz, M. (2019). Selecting indicators for assessing community sustainable resilience. Risk Analysis, 39(11), 2479-2498.
Lim, W. M. (2016). A blueprint for sustainability marketing: Defining its conceptual boundaries for progress. Marketing Theory. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593115609796.
Sheth, J. (2020), “Business of business is more than business: Managing during the Covid crisis”, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol.88, pp. 261-264.
Yaghtin, S. (2021). Sustainable B2B marketing during a pandemic crisis: An overview of sustainable solutions and marketing practices, (Ed), Co-creating the Post COVID-19 World: Exploring Sustainable Paths, Arab Open University, pp.50-66.
Yaghtin, S., Safarzadeh, H. & Karimi Zand, M. (2022). B2B digital content marketing in uncertain situations: a systematic review, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 37 (9), 1852-1866. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-03-2021-0174.