A Guiding Framework for Levels of Sustainability in Marketing

Abstract

Up to now, far more attention has been paid to assessing the environmental, social, and economic aspects of sustainability. However, what makes this paper distinct is that it proposes a guiding framework that can be employed as a useful tool for business enterprises and other related stakeholders in transforming the potential of marketing disciplines towards upper levels of marketing orientations and sustainable consumption patterns. This present paper follows a typological model that classifies the conceptual approximations that are relatively dispersed in the literature. In doing so, the authors trace back to Kotler’s distinction of positive and normative scopes of marketing, then based on this dichotomy, they propose five different sustainability marketing levels and tag them. This paper aims to provide a convenient roadmap for traditional growth-oriented and transitionary firms who are stuck in short-term positive marketing level and thus need to include sustainability and sufficiency as the most prospective options for long term competitive advantage.

Sufficiency and transformation–A semi-systematic literature review of notions of social change in different concepts of sufficiency

“…In some conceptions, ecological motivation becomes constitutive for sufficiency practices (Alcott, 2008, p. 771;Heindl and Kanschik, 2016). Thus, this conception of sufficiency is closely linked to approaches of voluntary simplicity (Alexander and Ussher, 2012;Rebouças and Soares, 2021), conscious consumption (Freudenreich and Schaltegger, 2020;Kelleci and Yildiz, 2021) or sometimes even eco-anarchism (Trainer, 2019). Research and suggested measures often focus at individual or household level (Parks, 2012;Sahakian et al, 2021;van Loy et al, 2021).…”

“…Sufficiency-oriented businesses respond to changing consumer behavior and influence consumers by shifts in promotion and sales strategies and development of business models beyond fast fashion trends and increasing product sales (Bocken and Short, 2016;Tunn et al, 2019;Bocken et al, 2020;Kantabutra and Punnakitikashem, 2020;Ralph, 2021). Instead of mass consumption sufficiency-oriented marketing emphasizes wellbeing (Kelleci and Yildiz, 2021). For some businesses, especially in the premium sector, such new business models may be beneficial (Bocken and Short, 2016;Bocken et al, 2016, p. 43;Yip and Bocken, 2018;Freudenreich and Schaltegger, 2020).…”

Four-Stage Model of Value Creation for Sustainability-Oriented Marketing: En Route to Participatory Marketing

“…As Fuchs (2017) attested, "The factory is not limited to your room and your wage workplacethe factory and workplace surveillance are also in all in-between spaces" (p. 118). Participatory marketing also implies a disintegration and deviation from the "souldraining practices of positive marketing" (Kelleci and Yıldız 2021) with the aim of "overthrowing all conditions in which a man is degraded, enslaved, neglected" (Marx 1997, p. 257). Modern business strategies gravitate toward broader value creation for the whole society than for just the firm and its customers.…”

“…Traditional value creation efforts have commonly focused on value creation "within the firm and its customers" from a pure marketing standpoint as defined by the AMA's definition of marketing in 1985 (Gundlach and Wilkie 2009). The sustainability marketing concept reflects multiple values, such as shared value, shared prosperity, and inclusive growth (Kelleci and Yıldız 2021) for "society at large," which contradicts the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) of the bygone industrial era.…”

Research trends of sustainability and marketing research, 2010–2020: Topic modeling analysis

“…For example, micro-marketing encourages consumption behaviors through the creation, communication, delivery, and exchange of goods, while meso-marketing focuses on designing sustainable strategies regarding an organization's structure and culture, such as sustainable performance [ 14 , 15 , 42 , [52] , [53] , [54] ]. By contrast, macro-marketing embraces the complexity of both micro- and meso-marketing, as both drive sustainable systems and make sustainable contributions to enterprises and industrial companies [ 42 , 55 , 56 , 58 ]. Consequently, attempts have been made to develop sustainability views and frameworks from a marketing perspective [ 7 , 15 , 42 , 55 ].…”