The paper provides insights into the operations strategy definition process. While literature seeks the concept of manufacturing strategy content with competitive priorities, decision categories and manufacturing capabilities to explain strategy definition ambitions, practice shows difficulty in applying this high level concept in practical terms. Sustainability and the wide array of incorporation opportunities and policies make it difficult for companies to leap the gap towards a truly sustainably firm. Based on the methodology of axiomatic design, the study develops in a prescriptive research setting a meta-framework for supporting strategy definition in manufacturing firms.