The Evolution of the Concept of Sustainable Marketing - Essay Example

? Sustainable Marketing Table of Contents Introduction 3 Critical review of key literature 4 Illustrative examples 10 Implications for practice 12 References 14 Bibliography 16 Introduction Sustainability is one of the main challenges of marketing in the 21st century. By the integration of the social an ecological aspects, marketing can make some real valuable contribution towards sustainable development. Social and ecological issues are the important trends of the 21st century. Taking the growth of the global population into account, it is safe to say that such challenges are not likely to disappear in near future. On the other side marketing can contribute in the development and diffusion of sustainable innovations in the form of use of solar energy, organic food, use of renewable energy resources and energy conservation. The main issue related to sustainability marketing is the way by which an organization can develop sustainable products and market those products or services in such a way which would improve the consumer perception as well as well being (Ottman, 1992, p. 301). The present study has been conducted in lieu to analyze the evolution of the concept of "sustainability marketing". The study includes evaluation of the importance of sustainable marketing practices in the modern day business environment. Over the course of study various contemporary researches related the topic of sustainable marketing has been analyzed. Also some of the most popular sustainable marketing practices of some of the modern day companies have been analyzed. The study also looks to explore the implication of the research in the area of sustainable marketing practices. This study is of great significance keeping in mind that there is a paradigm of shift in the consumer behaviour along with the environmental issues such as global warming as presently the customers seem to prefer to be with companies that are providing environment friendly products (Kotler, 2009, p.191). Critical review of key literature Sustainability marketing supports the idea of sustainable development that meets the requirements of the present without harming the capabilities of the future to the meet the own future requirements. Meeting the demand of the present refers to the intra-generational equity. Therefore sustainability marketing is a continuous process, as sustainability marketing takes the demands of the future generation into account. Sustainability marketing has three main components such as the social, environmental and economic. There has been a lot of talk about the “win-win-win” situation which mainly focuses on the overlapping area of economic social and environmental goals. Sustainable marketing focuses on striking the right balance social, environmental and economic goals. Marketing is defined as a developing long lasting and profitable customer relationship. Modern marketing looks to analyze the demands of the customers by provide offering as per the demands. But, sustainability marketing goes beyond conventional marketing thought process (Coddington, 1993, p. 229). Figure 1 Conventional and Sustainability Marketing If marketing is about meeting the demands of the customers and developing profitable relationships with the end users, then sustainability marketing could be defined as developing and maintaining sustainable relationships with the customers as well as with the elements of the social and natural environment. By developing environmental and social values sustainability marketing looks to create value proposition for the customers. In this way sustainability marketing looks to meet the “triple bottom line” by creating customers, social and environmental values (Ottman, 1998, p. 291). Figure 2 Different elements of sustainable marketing Sustainability Marketing looks to integrate ecological and social criteria into the total process of marketing. From managerial perspective six steps are mainly involved in the conception of the sustainability marketing Figure 3 Conception of Sustainable Marketing The first step involves the analysis of the ecological and social problems specifically with reference to the products that satisfies the customer needs and demands. The next step involves the analysis of the consumer behaviour. In this case special preference is given to the social and ecological concerns. The third step involves the corporate commitments to the sustainable development in the form of the mission statement development, creation of sustainable visions, developing socio eco-logical marketing objectives, formulation of sustainable business principles and guidelines. The next phase includes the sustainable segmentation, targeting and positioning. This stage also involves the timing of market entry. The fifth step involves the integration of ecological and social criteria in to the overall marketing mix of the company. The last phase includes the participation of the company in the political and public change process, which guides the organization towards sustainability (Ottman, 2011, p. 351). Green marketing is a concept which is quite closely related to the sustainability marketing. The concept of green marketing was developed during the 1990’s. Green marketing is mainly concerned with the integration of marketing thinking with ecological aspects. Green marketing though has not lived up to the expectations of the managers and activists. However, various consumer research findings have actually shown that the consumers prefer to choose products that are environment friendly as opposed to the others. But such findings are visible when certain other things are equal. But, in practice these other things are rarely equal. For example, when consumers have to choose between product attributes and environment; environment very rarely wins (Shaw, 2007, p.223). However, it is quite evident that many companies have looked to become socially responsible. Today almost every company website contains a section for corporate social responsibility or CSR. Companies belonging to various industries have begun to integrate environmental concerns in to the overall marketing strategy. One of the main reasons for this has been the fact that the public scrutiny for organizations have increased over the last few decades. Business organizations have understood that the companies must be prepared to deliver the customers information regarding the environmental impact of the products and manufacturing process. There is very little doubt over the fact that companies would continue to take initiatives in becoming good or better corporate citizens. Most of the times the companies look to implement green products internally. However, there is no such guarantee over the fact that such efforts would result in external changes. Therefore, if being green does not lead to increase in market share and sales or corporate reputation, then the green marketing activities may look like foolhardy. Therefore it is important for the managers to select and implement green strategies that could be profitable in nature. The green marketing matrix can be used by the managers while development and implementation of the green strategies (Dahlstrom, 2011, p. 201). Figure 4: Green marketing matrix Lean Green: Lean greens usually look to be good corporate citizens. However, these companies are not focused on marketing or publicizing the green marketing initiatives. Rather the companies are more interested in decreasing the costs and improving the efficiencies. Defensive Green: Defensive greens mainly use green marketing as a precautionary measure. The defensive greens usually look to use green marketing strategies as a response to any criticism from any social or environmental activists (Johnson, 2009, p. 131). Shaded Green: Shaded green are those that look to make invest long term, environmental friendly and system wide processes that need a substantial nonfinancial as well as financial commitment. Such companies look at green marketing as an opportunity to develop innovative demand satisfying environment friendly products. Such companies have the capability to use green marketing theme as an effective product differentiation strategy (Peattie, 1995, p.347). Extreme Green: Holistic values and philosophies silhouette the extreme green companies. Environmental issues are fully integrated in to the product life cycle and overall business. Greenness acts as a major driving force behind the company objectives. The company policies and practices involve total quality management, product life cycle pricing and manufacturing processes in integration with the environmental factors. Extreme greens usually serve niche market segments and sell the products of services through speciality channels (Nelissen, and Bartels, 2002, p. 227). Consumer behaviour refers to the type of behaviour exhibited by consumers while the evaluation, selection or even dispose of a product. The considerations made by the consumers regarding sustainability or ecological aspects as important criteria while purchase of a product is one of the most popular topics for the researchers. Various studies have shown that the consumers do actually considers sustainability as important criteria for making product choice. Since the inception of the global warming problems the consumers have actually shown preference to buy green products as opposed to others. However, when the customers have to make a choice between ecological balance and sustainability and product attributes; then sustainability rarely wins (Smith, 1998, p.422). It has been shown that regardless of the belief the consumers are readily engaged with the concept of sustainability marketing. However, very few people actually believe that they are actually making any difference. Also only 16% of the people actually believe that the businesses are working appropriately to address the problems of global warming. While buying products greenness many not appear as appealing to everyone. Therefore, in order to respond to the needs of the customers keeping the varied degree of environmental concerns in mind marketers need to segment the market into different groups of green such as the following: True Blue Greens: The people belonging to this segment have strong concerns for environment and try to inflict positive changes through individual initiatives (Grant, 2009, p. 229). Greenback Greens: Such consumers do not look to be active. But rather such customers look to make contributions by purchasing environment friendly products. Sprouts: Sprouts believe in the environmental concern theories. But, do not practice those theories. Sprouts would rarely buy green products. Grousers: Grousers tend to be relatively uneducated regarding the environmental issues. Grousers also tend to be pessimistic regarding their ability to effect change. Basic Browns: Basic Browns are more busy in day to day concerns and do not actually care about the social and environmental issues (Kapferer, 2008, p. 203). Figure 5: Green Market Segment Distribution Illustrative examples One of the best examples sustainability marketing would most certainly be Toyota. Toyota is quite often regarded as one of the most successful sustainable and green marketing brand. As a matter of fact Toyota Prius is also treated as one of the most successful green products. Firstly, the product provides consumers all the major requirements of a sedan. Moreover the product has excellent style and design (Kotelr, 2001, p. 339). However, the as far as sustainability is concerned the main feature of the product would most definitely be the hybrid engine, which provides fuel efficiency. Also due to the hybrid feature of the car, one does not have to stop for twelve hour recharge. The dashboard of the care consists with unusual features. It contains a feature that allows the driver to know which of the two engines are in used as well as the fuel efficiency. When the car was first introduced, the marketers focused upon superior performance. Some additional ads focused on the environmental benefits. However, as the energy and fuel prices went up, the company decided to go for a repositioning strategy. Toyota Prius is now being marketed as a fuel efficient and environmental conscious car. Some of the buyers have actually purchased the product due to the nick name of the car, i.e. Conspicuous Conservation (Belz and Peattie, 2012, p. 221). Figure 6 Toyota Prius Implications for practice Even before describing the implications of the study it is important to look at the following details. Figure 7: Ranking of most serious problems As it can be seen from the diagram above, Climate change is being considered as the most serious global problem. Keeping this in mind it can be said that the present study on sustainability marketing is of great significance. However, it is quite often believed that companies go for sustainable marketing practices, only if such practices are profitable. However, in the defence of the companies it can also be said that sustainable marketing, if not profitable may haunt the existence of the companies (McKenzie, 2011, p.199). Therefore the only way out of this would be development of sustainable marketing strategies that are profitable in nature. One of the major constraints in case of sustainable marketing has been the mindset of the customers. Majority of the customers do not actually care about the sustainability or environmental factors. Among the people who believe in making contribution towards environment by buying green product do not actually indulge in such activities directly. Therefore from the point of marketers it would be important to increase the percentage of people belonging to the Greenback Greens groups. Product Positioning and communication would play a major role along with innovative product design. One of the prime examples of this would be most certainly be Toyota Prius. Apart from Toyota various other major companies like Starbucks; P&G have also indulged into such sustainable business practices to position themselves as a truly responsible corporate citizen (Cooper, 2003, p. 179). References Belz, F. And Peattie, K. 2012. Sustainability Marketing: A Global Perspective. US: Wiley and Sons. Coddington, W.1993. Environmental marketing: positive strategies for reaching the green consumer. US: McGraw-Hill. Cooper, R. 2003. Business Research Methods. US: McGraw-Hill. Dahlstrom, R. 2011. Green Marketing Management. US: South-Western Cengage Learning. Grant, J. 2009. The Green Marketing Manifesto. UK: John Wiley & Sons. Johnson, F. 2009. Green Marketing Concepts. US: Wiley and Sons. Kapferer, J. 2008. The new strategic Brand Management, UK: Kogan Page. Kotler, P. 2001. Marketing Management. UK: Prentice Hall. McKenzie, D. 2011. Fostering Sustainable Behaviour: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing. US: New Society Publishers. Nelissen, W and Bartels, G. 2002. Marketing for Sustainability: Towards Transactional Policy-Making. US: Ios PressInc. Ottman, J. 1998. Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation.US: NTC Business Books. Ottman, J. 2011. The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools, and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding. US: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Ottman. J. 1992. Green marketing: responding to environmental consumerism. US: NTC Business Books. Peattie, K. 1995. Environmental marketing management: meeting the green challenge. US: Pitman. Shaw, W. 2007. Business Ethics. US: Cengage Learning. Smith, T. 1998. The Myth of Green Marketing: Tending Our Goats at the Edge of Apocalypse. CAN: University of Toronto Press. Bibliography Keller, K. L. 1998, Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity, UK: Prentice-Hall. Read More