PurposeThis paper aims to narrow the gap caused by the lack of literature relating the three concepts of corporate sustainability, organizational resilience and corporate purpose in the context of corporations. A framework that explains how these three concepts are related and effectively merged for long-term corporate survival are proposed.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review is carried out. It is explained, first, initial search strategies to identify those documents that define each concept and to identify concepts with which each concept is associated. Subsequently, it is designed a search strategy combining all three concepts and their associated concepts to gather and analyze all the possible studies that have tried to connect these concepts. Finally, it is identified some gaps in the understanding of how these three concepts are related.FindingsResults indicate that corporate sustainability, organizational resilience and corporate purpose merge to achieve long-term corporate survival. There exists a two-way relationship between these three variables. Findings also present gaps and future directions that should be addressed to foster an increase in knowledge about the relationships between corporate sustainability, organizational resilience and corporate purpose.Originality/valueNowadays, some authors endeavor to explain how aspects such as corporate sustainability, organizational resilience and corporate purpose are crucial in the dynamic environment facing corporations every day. Nevertheless, there needs to be more understanding of how these three concepts are related and effectively merged for long-term corporate survival. This paper contributes to the literature by closing this gap.