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Marketing’s Quest for Environmental Sustainability: Persistent Challenges and New Perspectives

Marketing in and for a Sustainable Society

ISBN: 978-1-78635-282-8, eISBN: 978-1-78635-281-1

Publication date: 27 June 2016

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this chapter is fivefold. First, it highlights that, despite apparent progress, business in general, and marketing in particular, has made little impact upon environmental sustainability. Second, it offers four explanations for the persistent challenges that contribute to this lack of meaningful progress. Third, it presents two theoretical lenses (i.e., assemblage theory and socio-ecological systems theory) for viewing environmental sustainability from new perspectives. Fourth, it offers a mid-range theory, biomimicry, to bridge the gap between these higher-level theories and managerial decisions on the ground. Finally, it offers implications and ideas for future research based on these persistent challenges and new perspectives.

Methodology/approach

Our paper is theoretical in focus. We offer a conceptual analysis of persistent challenges facing business efforts in environmental sustainability and suggest useful lenses to integrate marketing decisions more closely with our natural environment.

Findings

We present biomimicry as an actionable framework that seeks inspiration from nature and also explicitly grounds marketing decisions in the natural world.

Practical Implications

Our paper draws attention to the challenges facing firms seeking to achieve better performance in environmental sustainability. In addition, it offers a set of fresh theoretical perspectives as well as future issues for scholarly research in this domain.

Originality/value

Our work is designed to be provocative; it articulates reasons why business efforts in environmental sustainability do not scale to meaningful impact upon our planet and explores theoretical lenses by which those efforts could be more impactful.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

The first author thanks the University of Montana for funding her sabbatical to pursue this research and feedback from research presentations at the University of Montana, University of Arizona, University of Illinois, University of Stockholm, University of Wyoming, and Montana State University. In addition, helpful comments by Justin Angle and Naresh Malhotra have improved this chapter.

Citation

Mohr, J.J., Price, L.L. and Rindfleisch, A. (2016), "Marketing’s Quest for Environmental Sustainability: Persistent Challenges and New Perspectives", Marketing in and for a Sustainable Society (Review of Marketing Research, Vol. 13), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 29-59. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1548-643520160000013010

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016 Emerald Group Publishing Limited