Companies should ensure environmental sustainability and promote sustainable marketing in their business actions. The objective of the study is to analyze environmental sustainability and sustainable marketing and business actions in the promotion of sustainable marketing. The methodology adopted is a conceptual analysis of environmental sustainability, sustainable marketing, and business actions towards promotion of sustainable marketing. Various sustainable marketing principles including consumer-oriented marketing, customer value marketing, innovative marketing, sense-of-mission marketing, and societal marketing are discussed. Companies have roles and responsibilities towards promotion of sustainable marketing. They adopt different initiatives and strategies for promotion of sustainable marketing. The discussions will help academicians and practicing managers understand their roles and responsibilities towards environmental sustainability and sustainable marketing. Companies may incorporate sustainable marketing in their processes to achieve business excellence in the long run.
Top1. Introduction
Businesses should be responsible towards customers and the society at large (Zaman, Jain, Samara, & Jamali, 2022). Businesses should meet the needs of customers and the society – now and in the future – through socially and environmentally responsible marketing actions (Kashif & Udunuwara, 2022). Companies themselves can benefit from proactively pursuing sustainable marketing practices that bring value to not only individual customers but also to the society at large (Khandai, Mathew, Yadav, Kataria, & Kohli, 2022). Companies should realize that sustainable marketing actions are more than just the right thing to do. Sustainable marketing actions are also good for business (Calvo-Porral, 2021).
Sustainable marketing calls for socially and environmentally responsible actions that meet the present needs of customers and businesses while also preserving or enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their needs (Au-Yong-Oliveira & Sousa, 2022). Companies and businesses should not be confined to generating revenues and profits for themselves. Companies and businesses should understand and internalize the importance of environmental sustainability. They should have the broader objective of sustainability in mind in all their business actions and when they develop strategies and adopt initiatives (Soliman, 2021). Now-a-days, many companies understand the necessity of sustainability and aim to incorporate sustainability in all their business actions (Al-Shaer & Hussainey, 2022). Companies adopt sustainable marketing, practice sustainable marketing principles, and do promotion of sustainable marketing. There are also consumer and grassroot organizations that exist to keep businesses in line.
The importance of environmental sustainability and the responsibilities of companies and businesses working for a sustainable environment cannot be overemphasized. Initially, companies and businesses were not serious about environmental sustainability and sustainable marketing. Businesses even opposed the idea of social and sustainable marketing. Consumer and environmental activists criticized the various activities of businesses. However, companies were of the opinion that such criticisms were either unfair or unimportant (Yılmaz & Baybars, 2022). At present, companies realize the importance of environmental sustainability. They understand and realize the importance of creating and maintaining a sustainable environment. They understand the consumer rights related to environmental sustainability and sustainable marketing. They embrace the new consumer rights, at least in principle (Zaman, 2021).
From the discussions, it is evident that companies and businesses should have a focus on environmental sustainability. They should aim to create and maintain a sustainable environment. Companies and businesses have started realizing their roles and responsibilities towards creating and maintaining a sustainable environment. However, the realization is in a nascent stage. Although the topics of environmental sustainability and sustainable marketing are important, there are few studies which address the issue. The study aims to address this research gap.
The objective of the study is to investigate and to analyze the roles and responsibilities of companies and businesses towards creating and maintaining environmental sustainability. The study deals with the involvements of businesses and companies in promotion of sustainable marketing. The study also focuses on the various business actions towards promotion of sustainable marketing.
The methodology adopted is a conceptual analysis of the various aspects of environmental sustainability, sustainable marketing and its promotion, and the roles and responsibilities of companies and businesses. Research studies from reputed academic journals are referred to for understanding the various aspects. Primary data is not collected and empirical analysis is not done.