Marketing and sustainability

'Marketing and sustainability' is based on an original booklet written by Martin Charter in 1990. The text has been updated and re-written to take account of the changing and emerging debate of marketing’s role in relation to sustainable development. This booklet has been produced as a supporting publication for the Sustainable Marketing Knowledge Network (Smart: Know-Net) a web-based information and communication platform for marketers interested in sustainability, available at www.cfsd.org.uk/smart-know-ne

Fairtrade towns as unconventional networks of ethical activism

The growing availability and consumption of Fairtrade products is recognised as one of the most widespread ethically inspired market developments, and as an example of activist-driven change within the wider marketing system. The Fairtrade Towns movement, now operating in over 1700 towns and cities globally, represents a comparatively recent extension of Fairtrade marketing driven by local activists seeking to promote positive change in production and consumption systems. This paper briefly explores the conventional framing of the role that ethically related activism plays in the operation of markets and in influencing market participants. It then presents key insights gathered from a grounded theory exploration of Fairtrade Towns as activist-driven marketing systems, revealing the atypical nature of the activism involved. The findings demonstrate how local activists leverage their social networks to exert pressure and generate support to promote ethical consumption. The study suggests that Fairtrade Towns offer a new role for activists as Fairtrade itself becomes more mainstream, and considers the role they are fulfilling as ‘informal’ local marketers. The marketing dynamics revealed represent a complex and distinctive form of relational activism that seeks to build Fairtrade markets and highlight their positive benefits, with potential lessons for other local ethical market-building efforts in future

Bridging the Great Divide? Making Sense of the Human Rights-CSR Relationship in UK Multinational Companies

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Human rights (HR) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are both fields of knowledge and research that have been shaped by, and examine, the role of multi-national enterprises in society. Whilst scholars have highlighted the overlapping nature of CSR and HR, our understanding of this relationship within business practice remains vague and under-researched. To explore the interface between CSR and HR, this paper presents empirical data from a qualitative study involving 22 international businesses based in the UK. Through an analysis based on sensemaking, the paper examines how and where CSR and HR overlap, contrast and shape one another, and the role that companies’ international operations has on this relationship. The findings reveal a complex and multi-layered relationship between the two, and concludes that in contrast to management theory, companies have bridged the ‘great divide’ in varying degrees most notably in their implementation strategies

Expanding the Boundaries of Brand Communities : The Case of Fairtrade Towns

Purpose: This paper aims to further the authors’ understanding of brand communities, and their role in brand co-creation, through empirical and theoretical contributions derived from researching the marketing dynamics operating within a successful but atypical form of brand community, Fairtrade Towns (FTT). Design/methodology/approach: The paper reflects a pragmatic application of Grounded Theory, which captured qualitative data from key “insiders”, with a particular emphasis on FTT steering group members and their role as “prosumers”. Data were gathered via ethnographic involvement within one town and semi-structured interviews with participants in others. Findings: FTTs, as brand communities, demonstrate elements of co-creation that go beyond the dominant theories and models within the marketing literature. They operate in, and relate to, real places rather than the online environments that dominate the literature on this subject. Unusually, the interactions between brand marketers and consumers are not the primary source of co-creation in FTTs. Instead, factors usually identified as merely secondary providers of additional brand knowledge become key initiators and sources of co-creation and active “citizen marketer” engagement. Originality/value: This study demonstrates how brand co-creation can operate in physical geographical communities in ways that are formal without being managed by conventional brand managers. It conceptualises FTTs as a nested and “glocalised” brand and demonstrates how steering group members facilitate the process of co-creation as prosumers. It empirically demonstrates how FTTs have evolved to become unusually complex brand communities in terms of the variety of stakeholders and the multiplicity of brands involved, and the governance of the localised brand co-creation process

Access over ownership: case studies of libraries of things.

Over the last decade there has been increasing interest in the concept of the sharing economy, which replaces the focus on individual ownership with a focus on access to goods and services through borrowing, hiring or sharing. This study investigates the efficacy of extending the library concept to include more items, such as those that are used infrequently. The aim is to explore how Libraries of Things (LoTs) operate and the potential to broaden their appeal, reach and sustainability. This study adopts a multiple case study method to provide a snapshot of six LoTs in the UK. Findings indicate that all LoTs shared common environmental and social values, with the most prevalent values being to use the library concept to reduce resource use and waste and to enable more equitable access to goods. All relied on volunteers and public support, in the form of free or discounted space and none were yet economically self-sufficient. This poses important questions about the future for LoTs and whether they could or even should, transition towards the mainstream to make a more substantive contribution to creating a more socially equitable and environmentally sustainable economy

Beyond win-win: a syncretic theory on corporate stakeholder engagement in sustainable development

This article explores the concept of syncretism to articulate the construct of a novel theoretical approach that may help to accelerate progress in developing substantively more sustainable business activities. One reason why the integration of environmental and social responsibility in business has been so difficult to achieve in practice is that it is not just a battle of competing business logics, but a battle of faiths. The concept of syncretism, with its roots in religious synthesis, may be far more relevant and useful than conventional approaches to combining the two which rarely seem to rise above a “win-win” appeal to logic. The connectionist logic of syncretism may show us a way beyond paradigmatic conformity in business sustainability research so that scholars with diverse theoretical backgrounds might have a common ground for discussion, find constructive connections, and engage in potentially more insightful and creative interactions to develop our understanding of corporate sustainability

Return to reintegration? Towards a circular-economy-inspired management paradigm

Humanity has entered the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch marked by an unprecedented human impact upon planet Earth. In this context of “planetary emergency”, questioning the effectiveness of extant management research at guiding environmentally sustainable corporate outcomes has become more relevant than ever before. Responding to the calls for management scholars to reconceive the foundations of management research, this article draws on circular economy thinking to infuse the paradigmatic assumptions of the business and natural environment research field with the logic of ecological systems and bring them back to their early systemic orientation. It also discusses which barriers and limitations can prevent the circular economy from unleashing its transformational powe

Behaviour and Climate Change: Consumer Perceptions of Responsibility

This paper explores the under-researched notion of consumer responsibility, a potentially significant influence on consumer behaviour that marketers and policymakers may be able to harness as they attempt to respond to environmental challenges such as climate change. The paper uses data derived from a commercially motivated survey (n = 1513) to explore domestic consumption behaviours most closely associated with the issue of disruptive climate change. A measure of 'General Environmental Responsiveness' (GER) is used to test: (1) the effects of consumers both taking responsibility for their actions and placing responsibility on others for the consequences of their consumption behaviour; and (2) whether sociodemographic variables can aid the targeting of consumers by the level and type of responsibility and pro-environmental behavioural intentions expressed. The study's findings demonstrate clear, if not strong, relationships between consumer conceptions of responsibilities for causing and tackling climate change and environment-related consumer behaviour. The study's implications both challenge accepted wisdom about environment-related consumer behaviour and suggest avenues for future research