MARKETING STRATEGY & SUSTAINABILITY

ANURAG SINGH DIXANT KUMAWAT MOHINI PATIL NUPUR RUSTGI PRATIK MANDHANA TUSHAR KUMAR WAMAN VIRGAONKAR ABM10004 PGP29012 PGP29007 PGP29022 PGP29002 PGP28017 PGP29017

TERM-I SECTION-A Group-G (7)

MARKETING MANAGEMENT I PROF. DEVASHISH DAS GUPTA

INDEX
1. Introduction 2. Conceptual Framework 3. Marketing Strategy and Sustainability 4. Finings and Analysis 5. Conclusion 6. Bibliography

1. INTRODUCTION
A sustainable development can be achieved by integrating social and ecological perspectives with marketing strategies. Therefore, sustainability is one of the main marketing challenges in the 21st century. Business sustainability can be zeroed down to managing the triple bottom line which is a process most of the companies follow to manage their financial, social and environmental risks, opportunities and obligations. These three are at times referred to as profits, people and planet. Marketing for a sustainable business is about delivering greater value to customers and ensuring that brand remains viable over time. Good intentions, authenticity and credibility are important for a sustainable business. Marketers have the power to create a more sustainable business through their influence on product development and purchasing decisions. Sustainable businesses are prepared for the future because they create long-term financial value thus, making firms resilient to change and better able to adapt it. Organizations see their ties to others for example, employees and community and contribute to positive social change. These firms go beyond short-term financial goals and consider environmental and social implications both in their day-to-day operations and when making long-term investments. Sustainability Marketing hence provides a global perspective and a new sustainability-oriented vision of marketing for the twenty-first century. It has a consumer marketing focus with an emphasis on integrating sustainability principles into both marketing theory and the practical decision making. The sustainability imperative for society is comparatively clear, and for major companies this presents both a responsibility and an opportunity. The responsibility is to operate ethically, and ensure that products and operations are safe for humans and the environment. But, if integrated into the rhythm of a business, it also presents the opportunity to meet new consumer needs, build top-line business, reduce costs, build employee morale, and deliver greater value to both society in general and shareholders in particular. The key is to build sustainability into the business, rather than present it as an additional activity; to have it owned by the business rather than by a corporate CSR group.

2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Marketing is no longer a task confined to a single department. The dimensions have increased and span across different departments which contribute in development of marketing strategy for any organization. In the current scenario, where the dynamics are so fast paced that there is a continuous need to evolve the strategy, an important aspect is the consideration of the sustainability of the organization in the context of expectations of various stakeholders. The objectives are as follows: To find the influence of social perceptions in marketing strategy development To find marketing strategy considerations for evaluation of impact on organizations business environment To find how marketing strategy and sustainability go together Complement, Contradict, Coexist? To find specific intricacies of emerging market marketing strategies and their sustainability in the global context

3. MARKETING STRATEGY AND SUSTAINABILITY: A RESEARCH AGENDA

The paper proposes a comprehensive conception of sustainability marketing, defined by six steps: analysis of socio-ecological problems; analysis of consumer behavior; normative sustainability marketing; strategic sustainability marketing; instrumental sustainability marketing; and transformational sustainability marketing. The aims of the paper are to clarify the concept of sustainability marketing and to inspire further research in this fascinating field. Sustainability marketing aims at creating customer value, social value and environmental value. It aims at integrating social and ecological criteria into marketing. These include: a. Analysis of the social and ecological problems, generally and specifically with respect to products which satisfy customer needs and wants Impact = Population*Affluence*Technology b. Analysis of consumer behavior with special respect to social and ecological concerns

c. Corporate commitments to sustainable development in the mission statement, development of sustainability visions, formulation of sustainable principles and guidelines, setting of socioecological marketing objectives and goals (normative aspects of sustainability marketing) d. Sustainability segmentation, targeting and positioning, and timing of market entry (strategic aspects of sustainability marketing) e. Integration of social and ecological criteria into the marketing-mix, i.e. products, services and brands, pricing, distribution and communication (instrumental aspects of sustainability marketing) f. Participation in public and political change processes, which transform existing institutions towards sustainability (transformational aspects of sustainability marketing). Specifics of Sustainability Marketing:

i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi.

Ecological and Social Problems: These are hardly considered during product lifecycle. So the analysis remains on a superficial level. Intersection: For sustainability, intersection between socio ecological problems and consumer behavior is important. Normative aspects: Sustainability marketing focuses on key concepts on marketing. Information Asymmetries: The customers should believe information passed by producers else it will lead to skepticism. Thats why trust and credibility are important. Transformational Aspects: The objective is to change the existing framework in favor of sustainability. Time Aspects: Unlike classical marketing that focuses on short term sales and transactions, sustainability marketing aims at building long lasting customer relationship.

4. FINDING AND ANALYSIS

i. Towards Sustainability: The Third Age of Green Marketing,

The article reviews the evolution of green marketing in terms of three ages: Ecological, Environmental and Sustainable marketing Green marketing mainly attempts to describe marketing activities that try to ensure reduction in the negative social and environmental impacts of existing products and systems. Main concerns the first age tried to focus were, specific environmental issues like air pollution, oil reserve depletion etc, identifying products and companies causing these issues, ensuring the companies complied with new introduce environmental regulations which was mainly driven by end-of-pipe enhancements. Though this approach had two flaws- restriction on marketing strategy and less consideration of customer needs leading to increased market pressure, many businesses like body shop, adopted it to become icon in ecological green marketing. Later 1980s the second age of green marketing took a leap highlighting serious issues such as Bhopal tragedy. It also evolved around various parameters like Sustainability, Clean Technology, The Green Consumer, Eco-performance etc. Introduction of sustainability widened the scope of environmental debate compelling to marketers to consider various aspects like loss of species, ecosystem destructions. This changed the view of business to a total physical system. Sustainability promoted global perspective considerations of environment, new environmental market developments with faster sector growth, introduction of new products with promotional opportunities and more emphasis on the means of production. The end of second age triggered more emphasis on sustainability providing significant challenge to marketing discipline. The major components it considered are futurity, equity and emphasis on needs. Sustainability as whole poses critical challenge to marketing with environmental restrictions on basis on freedom of choice. It also aims for equitable distribution among ages, sexes and nations with greater emphasis on customer needs than wants establishing the fact that it is critically important to focus on customer needs in order to grow and sustain in competitive market environment. Though environmental impact due to marketing activities of many industries and companies have increased and ultimately any improvement that does not lead to eventual sustainability risk becoming a futile gesture. Unless customers recognize the green marketing targeted issues and are convinced with the offerings current green marketing is making to them, there is a little hope remained for green marketing. According to the Brundtland Report, the first conclusion drawn was that People generally are unfamiliar with the idea of sustainability in its environmental sense. But once they understand it, they appear to identify positively with its values and priorities. (MacNaghten et al. 1995). That sentence encapsulates the opportunity and the challenge involved in making marketing more sustainable.

ii.

Marketing, Market and Product Stewardship: Contributing to corporate social responsibility strategies:

This article aims at providing information and insight of the process of sustainable marketing, branding and product development. Sustainable development is concerned about the ways business contributes

to the most significant challenges faced by the world today that is, it focuses on climate changes and working conditions bio-diversity and health among the poor. However, Marketers have struggled in translating these ideas into critical commercial propositions and into marketing strategies that encourage competitive advantage, build trust or create new business opportunities, facing criticism for being part of the problem by pushing the consumption of unsustainable products and lifestyles. Sustainable strategies development that address environmental and CR issues is a significant challenge for marketers and can be explained by holistic approach, external focus on stakeholders, strong focus on internal values, partnership, future orientation etc. Developing sustainable marketing involves activities which mainly focus on customer needs, preferences and expectations. In addition, it also considers analysis of companys ability to meet those expectations as compared to its rivals. A sustainable marketing mix must have qualities like ability to deliver sustainable returns to investors, ability to address customer and consumer needs, should be able to identify and respond to emerging society trends and should respond to regulations expectations with ability to influence public policy agenda. The key elements of sustainable marketing are products, price and packaging, place. Marketers must take cognisance of sustainable development in their marketing practices. Taking a broad view of social, environmental and economic outcomes, an inclusive approach to action will ensure the sustainability of the company, the people and communities on which a company depend. iii. Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Service Industries: A Conceptual Model and Research Propositions

This article describes a contingency model of sustainable competitive advantage in service industries. The model explains the components such as potential sources of competitive advantage, characteristics of services and service industries, competitive positional advantages, sustainability of competitive positional advantages and long term performance, service firm characteristics, barriers to imitation of resources. This article provides an assessment of the services marketing and management highlighting the need for developing contingency theories of services marketing and management. The main requirement of this research is to develop and test propositions about what marketing and management practices are effective for certain types of services under certain conditions. The contingency model in service industries and propositions mentioned here partially addresses the research needs highlighted by these authors. Many constructs presented in this model for example, equity of brands, communication for good effect and psychometric scales are not available currently. As per the authors, development and validation of Psychometric scales for these constructs with further refinements of the proposed model will constitute promising future research directions. i. Customer Retention-An important marketing strategy for business competitiveness

The article focuses on the customer retention aspect for a business to sustain in global market competition. Considering the fact that customer is the king of todays market, it is critically important for a selling organization to ensure its customer retention while structuring its marketing strategies. When

compared to the strategies in capturing new customer markets customer retention is less expensive to cultivate the existing customer base and sell more services to them than it is to seek new. Without customers none business organization can be run. Therefore, In order to sustain the competition most of the business organizations try to maximize their customer satisfaction so that they can retain the customers. ii. How companies manage sustainability: McKinsey Global Survey results

According to the global survey, 50 % of the executives consider sustainability as the management of environmental, social and governance issues considering various factors such as new product development, reputation building and corporate strategy. The survey clearly depicts that the major reason why companies engage resources in sustainability is to build business reputation and brands. 72 percent of the survey respondents have confirmed this fact. Sustainability matters at all levels of a business ranging from manufacturing, energy, financial, professional services and high tech telecom, etc. The survey also highlights that despite the fact that businesses know the importance of sustainability marketing the effort is lacking at executives levels. Among the group that is aware of whats being tracked, the engaged companies are far more likely to be tracking relevant sustainability indicators such as waste, energy and water use, and labor standards for their suppliers and consumers. The survey also highlights the importance of sustainable marketing which contributes positively to share holders values in the long term thus enabling the companies to find value creation opportunities. In addition, it communicates better with investors and other stakeholders, encouraging them to consider the business for their future investments. iii. Sustainable Marketing Practices: A potential strategy for Sustainable Development in Emerging Economies

This paper describes how individuals and organizations can achieve sustainable development from sustainable marketing practices. The paper concentrates on protection of environment by incorporation of sustainable marketing practices to conserve the depleting resources in the world today. The paper is restricted only to the marketing discipline and does not cover other business areas. The paper hence provides the relation between sustainable marketing practices and sustainable development. The paper is largely conceptual and explores information from a secondary data source. iv. Building a sustainability strategy into the business

This paper is built around a case study based on sustainability practices of Proctor and Gamble, which is a global leader in FMCG sector. The paper describes the sustainability strategy and goals followed globally by P&G. The paper shows it is imperative to be explicit about sustainability and its importance. It should be ensured that sustainability is not added work and it is incorporated into the DNA of the organization. The paper highlights how sustainability has been implemented in a global FMCG company and the challenges of engaging a global workforce to deliver a single coherent sustainable strategy.

v.

Strategic Positioning and Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Food Industry

This paper covers the link between Strategic positioning and Sustainable Competitive Advantage. The paper is especially focused around Food Industry. Food industry is extremely wide, diverse and dynamic. Eating habits of people vary globally especially due to geographical location, culture and tradition. The paper focuses on 3 successful companies from the food industry producing drinks. It has a deep insight into the various strategies followed for positioning and other strategies followed for success of the business. The paper also considers network approach and relationship concept marketing the concept of positioning. vi. Benchmarking Marketing Capabilities for Sustainable Competitive Advantage

This paper talks about how market based organizational learning in the form of Benchmarking has been identified as an important source of sustainable competitive advantage. The paper discusses the link between marketing capabilities and business performance. The paper identifies a set of marketing capabilities that are appropriate for benchmarking, both for within and across industries. The paper also tells how each marketing capability is positively and directly related to firm performance. These are therefore appropriate targets for benchmarking. The paper mentions the indirect paths between the firm performance and marketing capabilities. vii. Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Service industries

The purpose of Sustainable Competitive Advantage is to enhance a businesss performance. This paper focuses on the distinctive organizational skills and resources underlying Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Service Industries and the moderating effects of characteristics of services, service industries and firms within the service industry on the skills and resources underlying a businesss competitive positional advantages. The paper discusses the sources and conditions for Sustainable Competitive Advantage with a conceptual outlook. It also lays emphasis on the proposition extended by Service Industries for Sustainable Competitive Advantage. The paper also looks at other aspects such as communication, corporate culture and product and process innovations.

viii.

How Stakeholder Perceptions Differ From Corporate Reality

Sustainability is viewed as an important component corporate reputation. A strong reputation can be the most valuable asset of a firm. Many stakeholders consider sustainability as an important part of their decision making. However, there is a gap between firms performance and perception of the stakeholders. It is possible that the stakeholders do not notice meaningful differences on sustainability between the vast majority of firms. Hence, it is important to integrate sustainability into the culture and business practices which would then flow into mainstream communications.

ix.

A multidimensional approach to the influence of Environmental Marketing and Orientation on the Firms Organizational Performance

Environmental marketing is is an emerging philosophy on the back of environmental degradation problems. It focuses on considering social and environmental impacts alongwith customer satisfaction and economic objectives. It is employed to express that corporate commitment to environment protection is not just a communication strategy. The commitment has to be translated into specific strategy at operational levels. This also helps improve firmss operational performance and economic performance. It also results in higher employee satisfaction, relation with authorities, customer loyalty and improved reputation.

x.

A Conceptual Framework for understanding and analyzing attitudes towards environment behaviour

Attitude and Behaviour change is a complex process. The socio-psychological factors gain importance due to alternative perceptions in different contexts. The situational and psychological factors intervene the values and behaviour. The situational variables modify the environmental behaviour based on context specific to each individual. Psychological variables like intrinsic motives, response efficacy, peceived threat relate to the practices surrounding sustainable consumption. These can offer insights into the conceptual basis of different attitudes and perceptions. Hence any strategy should take into account the diversity of behaviour and make the people think and feel the need to change the structures and values towards environment. xi. Instrumental and Integrative Logics in Business Sustainability

It is often assumed that decisions on social and environmental investments are made for instrumental reasons to predict higher financial performance. However, the theoretical premise uses a systems perspective and considers higher integration between financial performance and commitment to environmental issues. It is not about how firms can benefit from addressing societal concerns. It is the interwoven financial, social and environmental performance which act as pillars for a business to sustain. When viewed integrated through simultaneous decision making, the firm can generate more creative strategic solutions. xii. The Marketing-Natural environment interface model for discussion

Environmental issues are important, pervasive and it is important to examine the interface between environment and marketing. Three models are presented:

xiii.

Appropriate marketing strategies for sustainability of small businesses in developing countries: Case of Bakery Chains of Kolkata:

A research was conducted on small firms in India, to explore how they sustain the cut throat competition with appropriate marketing strategies. A framework was developed to evaluate the

marketing strategies and its impact on market position of the firms. This framework was then tasted on a chain of small scale bakers in Kolkata. The case study was developed based on business reports and informal interviews with top management. It was done to understand three things at large: a. Target Customer Group b. Marketing Mix c. Understanding of present competitive scenario and future challenges Initially, funds were a major constraint and so the bakers created brand awareness and loyalty by performance rather than by Advertisement. The available funds were utilized for infrastructure and product line development. They used the concept of mobile advertisement effectively. Post this, with the availability of funds, they started with promotional offers like celebration clubs to increase the customer loyalty. Then they relied on POPs like banners and posters. Also, they utilized vehicles like auto, used for retail distribution, by painting them with brand name and logo. And now they have tie ups with Pepsi and Rollicks ice cream.

xiv.

Marketing Strategies in the age of Sustainable Development:

The paper was written to investigate characteristics and drivers of sustainability marketing strategies. In the empirical study of German Food Sector, four sustainability marketing strategy with distinctive characteristics were identified: i. ii. iii. iv. performers followers indecisive passives

Sustainability marketing is defined as building and maintaining sustainable relationships with customers, the social environment and the natural environment. Generally behavioral, demographic, psychographic and geographic variables are used for market segmentation. A number of studies have identified consumers as the key driver for Strategic sustainability Marketing. Then the article discusses about determinants of Strategic Sustainability Marketing, which states that: The higher the influence of consumers, the more likely the companies will pursue active sustainability marketing. Finally 5 key characteristics of strategic sustainability were discussed: Ecological Product Quality a. Social Product Quality b. Market Segmentation c. Targeting

d. Positioning

xv.

Social Marketing and Sustainable Tourism:

This research paper highlights the tourism promotion, provision and consumption, and how social marketing can offer tourism organizations a more sustainable approach to their market. Social Marketing has been defined as a desire to benefit individuals or society as a whole, not the marketer, by directly influencing behavior, an adequate consideration of the needs of the target audience. These needs can then be reflected in the nature of the benefits that are marketed to each target group as resulting from the adoption of the specified change in behavior. The initial marketing mix (the four Ps of marketing) was given by McCarthy as Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Later, Kotler in 1983, recommended adoption of an extending marketing mix including partnership and policy. A self completion questionnaire was developed which captured data in respect of demographic, lifestyle and behavioral characteristics of visitors to the region. So in the results two distinct strategies were suggested. Firstly, potential to segment the traditional market and focus in particular on those who will be attracted by the tourist location. These visitors would be considerably more likely to behave sustainably. Secondly, to target those segments that is less sustainable. An approach to this market based on social marketing would likely be effective in developing it to its full potential, while at the same time minimizing the economic, social and physical impacts of enhanced visitor numbers on the host region. In short, the tools and techniques of social marketing would seem well suited to the promulgation of both the notion of sustainability and the conservation of our tourism destinations.

xvi.

Ecological Sustainability and Marketing Strategy: Environmentalists tend to focus on sustainability aiming at both ecological and economic concerns. Green marketing has been defined as the application of marketing tools to facilitate exchanges that satisfy the goals of organization and individuals in a way so as to preserve, protect and conserve the physical environment. A green marketing approach promotes integration of environmental issues into different corporate activities. Solutions found to environmental challenges are: a. New technologies for handling waste, pollution b. Product standardization c. Providing natural products d. Products oriented towards resource conservation Eco efficiency refers to the use of natural resources at correct timings. The list stages of product include:

i. ii. iii. iv.

Development Stage It deals with procurement of raw materials and component parts. So manufacturers should check environmental programs of suppliers. Production Stage Reduce emissions, toxic waste and conserve water. Consumption Stage Conservation of energy, minimization of packaging and promote reuse and recyclability of the dead product. Disposal Stage Waste Reduction

Total Quality Management deals with total yield of production and product marketing processes, including recycling and waste reduction. Companies have adopted ecological approach and these include: 1. Building consumer demand for green products 2. Spending revenues to educate buyers 3. Building infrastructure to facilitate recycling and prevent pollution

xvii.

Evolution of sustainability as marketing strategy: Beginning of new era

Can we ensure a better world in terms of economy, society and environment to our future generations? Will they be able to witness same growth in aforementioned areas which our generation has witnessed? These are the questions which brought the concept of sustainability to the fore. Defining it precisely, it is the fulfilment of demand of current generation without compromising on the ability of future generations. Sustainability works on triple bottom line concept of people, planet and profit. Most of the times, sustainability is measured in environmental context only but it also includes social and business issues. A business is said to be sustainable if it is assessed through economic, social and environmental dimensions. Marketing strategy is often defined as the optimum allocation and coordination of marketing resources to attain the organisations goals. A holistic marketing strategy is imperative in a business so that problems related to the achievement of economic, social and environmental goals of the organisation can be easily dealt with. Social marketing, as the name suggests, is accommodating the social ideas with considerations of product planning, pricing and distribution. Companies are very pragmatic now a day to adopt social marketing as their frontline strategy to gain competitive advantage. Ecological marketing is extension of social marketing. It focuses on the willingness of marketers to acknowledge the impending ecological and environmental concerns. This gives the concept of sustainability marketing. It is building and maintaining sustainable relationship with customers, society and ecology.

Attaining the agenda of sustainable marketing is not easy to achieve. On one hand, the principle of marketing says to sell more and on the other there is an obvious agreement on the scarce natural resources. So there should be a trade off. This pursuit will open doors for more innovation in sustainable products.

xviii.

Indicators of sustainable business practices: Woolworths in South Africa

A very relevant example of sustainable business is Woolsworth Retail Chain in South Africa. It sells wide range of products viz. food, cloth and general merchandise. It has employee strength of 2,20,000 and annual revenue of $ 3 billion (as per 2011 data). Its success lies in its complete adherence to triple bottom line of sustainability. Apart from taking care of entire life cycle of product they have very customer centric marketing strategy. They convince customer in behaving responsibly to reduce the environmental impact of their products. Woolsworth achieves this by in-store awareness programs, increased use of social media platforms and new relationship with a nature conversation TV program. Because of this approach their business remains profitable while at the same time protects the environment.

xix.

Environmental marketing strategy and firm performance: Effects on new product performance and market share

As per Varadarajan, environpreneurship is environmental - friendly marketing practices, strategies and tactics initiated by a firm in the realm of marketing. Environpreneurial Marketing (EM) can prove as a powerful resource which can directly influence not only the firms capabilities but can also give it a competitive advantage. A true EM is not only recognises the environmental concerns but also honours the commitments towards it. EM can be positioned into 3 constructs. These are (1) Corporate Environmentalism (2) Environmental orientation (3) Environmental strategy focus. There are several firms which adhered to these constructs and remained profitable and environmentally responsible too. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) is global purveyor of coffee beans. It dwells upon the policy of fair trade. This means they pay the farmers a price for their produce so that it increases their production capacity for the consequent season. In this way they are making the business sustainable. xx. An Ethical framework for marketing the Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility doesnt only create value for stakeholders but also for the corporation itself. This can be done by marketing the CSR initiatives. An ethical framework is prepared for the marketing of CSR activities by researchers. As per this, CEO of a company should keep the stakeholders well aware of its CSR activities but not brag too much. The rationale behind the framework is, it will increase funding, add more volunteers and increases awareness. This makes the initiative sustainable in longer run.

There should be a tradeoff between a firms CSR activities and its main motive i.e. to earn profits. The company shouldnt stress itself for excessive marketing of CSR. A company should be virtuous enough if it goes for marketing its CSR. There are five identities which define the virtuosity viz. actual identity, communicated identity, conceived identity, ideal identity and desired identity. If there is misalignment in conceived identity and actual identity then this will create mistrust between company and its stakeholders.

xxi.

Innovative Marketing

This research paper explains the marketing methodology which a handloom firm employed for its sustainability. Datkar Andhra Marketing Association (DAMA) is an associate unit of DA which handles its marketing portfolio. It started on the premise that (1) there is a strong demand for medium priced, good quality handloom fabric by low income group, (2) Production and delivery can be worked out with the help of producers. It provided work for certain number of weavers throughout the year and increased the wages. It identified the societies who were willing to work with and these societies were responsible for maintaining records of wages and delivery. In this way they created a system in which every stakeholder was employed for longer run and with regular wages.

xxii.

Marketing and Sustainability

This paper analyses the key concepts in sustainability and marketing, the issues and implications of them and how they can be combined. Authors state the findings of a range of studies that show that customers, employees and investors tend to favour companies that are more sustainable. According to the paper, the consumers and the media are the major drivers of change for sustainability. It then goes to discuss the definitions of the concepts involved in sustainability like the environment, ecology, stakeholders and the different themes of marketing related to them. Sustainability issues like global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain etc. are very well stated. The paper next gives the strategic implications to a company for addressing sustainability and marketings role in it. The latter half of the paper discusses about how sustainability can be incorporated into a marketing strategy through the traditional 4Ps approach as well as other methods such as campaigns, advertising, PR, sponsorship among others. The paper concludes by giving a picture of the future of sustainability in marketing.

xxiii.

Integration of the Sustainability concept into Strategy and Marketing

The paper talks about how recent marketing concepts reflect sustainability requirements and competitive advantages of their integration into mission, strategy and policies at companies. It also talks about translating sustainability theory into business philosophy by innovating and balancing three objectives of Ecology, Economy and Equity using the triple bottom line concept. Marketing approach of sustainability is discussed through the concepts of added value delivery to customers, societal marketing

and customer relationship marketing. The discussion is extended to some related strategic and management implications like competitive advantage, cost & benefit issues, aspects of efficiency & innovation and company reputation. xxiv. Sustainability: Consumer Perceptions and Marketing Strategies

The paper discusses about how studies of green consumer behavior, in particular purchasing and disposal, have largely focused on demographics or socio-demographics, with mixed and frequently contradictory results. It analyses the degree of compromise and confidence in consumers for buying green products. The authors investigated a wide range of sustainability activities with number of consumers, who placed each activity on a matrix according to perceived effort and perceived difference to the environment. The data was obtained mainly using the interview process. This matrix was then used as a research instrument to identify patterns, both across respondents and between certain pairs of activities. The paper suggests that this model increased our understanding of how consumers view sustainable activities. Marketers can use this information to consider marketing strategies that positively influence consumers' perceptions of such activities. xxv. Sustainability marketing for the poorest of the poor

Recent work is reconceptualising global poverty as an attractive growth opportunity for firms that can simultaneously alleviate the problem of poverty. This notion has major implications for the sustainability of global society in general, and for the concepts and practice of marketing in particular. It is the purpose of this paper to explore, and bring attention to, these important implications, and to offer conceptual and practical suggestions for sustainability marketing for the poor. It discusses how poverty alleviation is a new priority for businesses and how can it be done analysis, objectives, strategy, marketing mix, marketing organisation and controlling. xxvi. Marketing Management: A South Asian Perspective

This book talks about sustainability as a part of Corporate Social Responsibility in managing a holistic marketing organization for the long run. It discusses the concept of triple bottom line people, planet and profit. The book points out that heightened interest in sustainability leads to products not living up to their promise inspite of being environment friendly. Consumers drive the sustainability concept but they are also unwilling to sacrifice the product performance and quality, thus posing a big challenge to many firms, the book says.

xxvii.

Ecological Sustainability and Marketing Strategy: Review and Implications

In the early 1990 due to the ecological concerns in marketplace the business perceptions on issues such as environmental friendliness of products, recyclability, waste reduction and the costs associated with pollution were reinterpreted. Also there was pressure from Federal and Local Government and customer willingness regarding eco friendly products changed. Going for Green approach was a

challenge to American business, it also brought opportunities to get greener products into market and capture them. The concept of Sustainable development came up first in 1987 to preserve the natural capital" -air, water, and other ecological treasures .These all things led to formation of new strategies These include: (1) new technologies for handling waste, sewage and air pollution; (2) product standardization to ensure environmentally safe products; (3) providing "truly" natural products; and, (4) products oriented toward resource conservation and greater occupant health.

xxviii. Primer: Business Sustainability for SMEs

Business Sustainability for Firms means they are able to adapt to the changing environment .Major undertakings in making a business sustainable include to come with long time financial value and try to reduce the impact on the natural environment. And working this way is very beneficial as this results in saving on the capital and involves saving fuel, Energy and other inputs .It also helps in maintain better relationship with Employees, Customers, Local Community and other Companies .The question is where should the companies begin with? This needs to be divided into Environmental Actions and the Social Actions .Environmental ones include looking on for the infrastructure as the building, the equipment, the recycle system, etc. Social ones include communicating with community members about the changes and run workshops and trainings to empower employee skills and loyalty.

xxix.

Marketing Strategy towards Sustainability

Sustainability is increasingly considered an important driver of firm success and well-being society in the new economy. However, developing sustainability is difficult due to the need of integration of economic, environmental and social aspects at different level contexts throughout the organization system. Attaining such heights premise requires a clear focus on sustainability incorporated in all business activities and decisions to help formulate good strategies actions that could really be useful in the long run. In addition, it requires ongoing management attention and continually identifies, analyze and create new strategies to promote sustainability in the long-run. Managers therefore have to rethink whether their current business plans and strategies are able to provide sustainable growth. And working this way is very beneficial as these results in saving on the capital and involves saving fuel, Energy and other inputs .It also helps in maintain better relationship with Employees, Customers, Local Community and other Companies xxx. Sustainability and business-to-business marketing: A framework and implications

Researchers in several business disciplines have cotnously argued that environmentally responsible strategies can lead to competitive advantage and better capital performance. While debates on have been going on ecological conservation and environmental practices within marketing for over three decades, much of the focus has been on getting to know the environmentally-conscious consumer. Less attention has been given to marketing's role in a green supply chain and its interface with environmentally-friendly manufacturing and operations. We integrate data from various sets of research and develop a broader framework to understand the appropriate role and focus of business-to-business

marketing in the supply chain for achieving environmental sustainability objectives. We identify three major strategies the reduction of surplus supply of products, reduction of reverse supply, and internal marketing where marketing's role in environmental sustainability is crucial for achieving superior competitive advantage and financial performance. xxxi. Turning sustainability into action: Explaining firms' sustainability efforts and their impact on firm performance

This research seeks to shed more light on how manufacturing firms adjust their strategy according to the sustainability challenge. Strategic decisions are influenced by strategic long-term considerations, which take into account aspects that lie within firms' boundaries and beyond. Major undertakings in making a business sustainable include to a come with long time financial value and try to reduce the impact on the natural environment. And working this way is very beneficial as t results in saving on the capital and involves saving fuel, Energy and other inputs .Therefore, the first step of this paper is to operationalise the sustainability challenge by identifying relevant drivers for sustainability that firms are exposed to. Second, we develop a framework showing which dimensions affect decisions concerning a sustainability move and which dimensions are affected by these decisions. A sustainability move can contain initiatives emphasising the adoption of new manufacturing technologies, the development of new, sustainable products or the integration of green practices into the supply chain. Next to the influence of sustainability drivers, we explain firms' decisions concerning a sustainability move with past performance, firm size and current level of sustainability action. Depending on whether initiatives are led by strategic or ad-hoc decisions, firms have to explore new knowledge and/or exploit existing knowledge to realise competitive advantage. The goal of this research is to provide an explanation of how decisions of sustainability moves are motivated and which dimensions in the firm are affected by these moves.

5. CONCLUSION
Every business works for the one fundamental motive i.e. to make profits. But in the current economic scenario when resources are scarce and swathes of population are reeling under inequality, poverty and unemployment, there should be another dimension added to the sole business motive. It is sustainability. As per the researchers, sustainability works on triple bottom line of economy, society and ecology. Study done by our group is pretty holistic in the sense that we have covered research insights from very eminent scholars. Key areas covered in the study are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Defining sustainability and its urgent need in modern context. Marketing strategies and their adherence to sustainability. How marketing strategies are evolving keeping in mind the triple bottom line of sustainability? Ecological marketing and businesses which exemplify this Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its framework. Social marketing and its ultimate beneficiaries. Trade-off between sustainable marketing and growth of the firm.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Primer: Business Sustainability for SMEs Marketing Strategy towards Sustainability Sustainability and business-to-business marketing: A framework and implications Turning sustainability into action: Explaining firms' sustainability efforts and their impact on firm performance