55 How does the SRT vary by firm?

While stakeholder retaliation thresholds (or SRTs) vary by industry, they also vary by firm within industries. For example, the more a firm relies on price competition for its value proposition, the higher its SRT likely is, because customers frequent the business for savings and may care less about CSR / ESG issues. In contrast, if a firm’s value proposition relies on attracting customers through its CSR / ESG practices, those customers may quickly move elsewhere if CSR / ESG issues arise.

We might thus expect a grocer like Walmart, which competes heavily on price, to have a higher SRT than a grocer like Whole Foods, which competes on issues such as sustainability. If it was discovered that products at Whole Foods were violating environmental laws, Whole Foods stakeholders–particularly customers–might react very differently than Walmart customers.^[1]