Sustainable Marketing Strategies Research Articles

Why do millennials use Facebook? Enduring insights

PurposeThis study aims to address the following questions: What is enduring about consumer behavior on social media given that digital and social media (DSM) technologies change rapidly? Why do millennials use social media to the extent they do? The authors’ review revealed that a prevailing theoretical approach that may help answer these questions is inadequate. The technology acceptance model (TAM) from information systems was grafted into marketing to explain consumer technology adoption. TAM predicts Facebook adoption effectively, as demonstrated in the authors’ first study, but does not go beyond that in explaining the why’s behind its use. In a second study, the authors used the means-end approach (MEC) complementarily to unearth the why’s of millennials’ use of Facebook.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a mixed-methods design combining the structural modeling of TAM with the probing one-on-one interviews and laddering of MEC.FindingsThe authors found that the laddering process both widened and deepened TAM’s scope. It not only confirmed the importance of the TAM attributes, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, but it also revealed others, in determining adoption. It was also able to dig deeper from these to uncover a mesh of fundamental values that millennials used Facebook to satisfy, such as belongingness, pleasure, social acceptance and inner harmony, in their quest for inner and relational contentment. The authors also found negative aspects that kept consumers away, such as its lack of privacy and the overwhelming nature of unwanted video in its feed, tying these back to important values.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors build on prior exploratory work relating to DSM use and uncover psychological drivers of consumer behavior on social media, by blending TAM in a consumer context, and the MEC approach. The TAM-MEC framework used here offers a technology-independent template for other DSM research, by focusing on how and why consumers use media socially.Practical implicationsManagerially, the authors discuss the building of sustainable marketing strategy on enduring consumer values rather than on transient attributes or technologies. The authors also discuss potential areas of vulnerability for Facebook, such as its increasing use of video and live content, which creates negative consumer sentiment and which may drive consumers to competitors.Originality/valueBy blending the quantitative TAM and the qualitative MEC, something that has not been done before in marketing, this research provides trustworthy answers to the research questions. In so doing, this study also contributes some cohesion to the fragmented DSM research field, as called for recently in prominent journals, by anchoring DSM study in well-established theories in marketing.

Sustainable marketing strategy under globalization: a comparison between p-KIBS and t-KIBS sectors

The recognition of the relevance of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) is becoming especially acute in the European Union and even more important for many emerging economies. The objective of this paper is to explore what are the differences in marketing strategy to sustain the competitiveness of KIBS in the local and global markets in the last five years. In addition, this research compares what are the differences between the technology-based (t-KIBS) and professional-based (p-KIBS) business services. The empirical evidence is based on quantitative and firm-level data gathered through an email questionnaire which yielded 128 qualified responses from the small enterprises in Czech Republic. The analysis is based on descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests to compare the differences between the two groups of enterprises. The empirical evidence displays a diversity between t-KIBS and p-KIBS in usage of marketing policy such as pricing policy, brand or company presentation as well as the markets they operate on in the last five years. The research contributions of this study are twofold. First, the results have implications for managers involved in business development of service industry and second, results could be useful for government efforts to support the development (export) activities of KIBS as a heterogeneous category.

Predicting the Helpfulness of Online Restaurant Reviews Using Different Machine Learning Algorithms: A Case Study of Yelp

Helpful online reviews could be utilized to create sustainable marketing strategies in the restaurant industry, which contributes to national sustainable economic development. This study, the main aspects (including food/taste, experience, location, and value) from 294,034 reviews on Yelp.com were extracted empirically using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and positive and negative sentiment were assigned to each extracted aspect. Positive sentiments were associated with food/taste, while negative sentiments were associated with value. This study further proves a robust classification algorithm based on Support Vector Machine (SVM) with a Fuzzy Domain Ontology (FDO) algorithm outperforms other traditional classification algorithms such as Naïve Bayes (MB) and SVM ontology in predicting the helpfulness of online reviews. This study enriches the literature on managerial aspects of sustainability by analyzing a large amount of plain text data that customers generated. The results of this study could be used as sustainable marketing strategy for review website developers to design sophisticated, intelligence review systems by enabling customers to sort and filter helpful reviews based on their preferences. The extracted aspects and their assigned sentiment could also help restaurateurs better understand how to meet diverse customers’ needs and maintain sustainable competitive advantages.

Is that coffee mug smiling at me? How anthropomorphism impacts the effectiveness of desirability vs. feasibility appeals in sustainability advertising

In this study, we examine how two message appeals—feasibility vs. desirability—and anthropomorphism jointly shape the effectiveness of environmental persuasion. The findings of Study 1 showed that the feasibility appeal was more effective than the desirability appeal in an ad promoting recycling. In Study 2, we found that this effect was moderated by anthropomorphic imagery in the ad. That is, the desirability appeal was more effective than the feasibility appeal when the ad featured a reusable cup with a smiley face and first-person copy, whereas the feasibility appeal was more effective than the desirability appeal when the ad featured a reusable cup with no smiley face and third-person copy. Theoretical and practical implications for sustainability marketing strategies are discussed.

Zeleni cinizam – dimenzije i učinci na kupnju ekoloških prehrambenih proizvoda

Brojne kritike kao i nezanemariv broj nepoštenih proizvođačkih praksi u prošlosti, doveli su do značajno prisutne skepse i nepovjerenja potrošača. Ovo, kod nekih potrošača, prilično duboko ukorijenjeno nepovjerenje, skepticizam i nezainteresiranost, može se obuhvatiti pojmom zelenog cinizma. Zeleni cinizam znatno interferira i ometa sve aktivnosti i napore iz domene održivog marketinga s obzirom na to da je zbog izrazitog nepovjerenja znatno teže ili čak nemoguće pozicionirati proizvod ili gospodarski subjekt kao održivi. Ovo dovodi do otežanog prihvaćanja ovih proizvoda od potrošača te sporijeg prihvaćanja održivih marketinških strategija od gospodarskih subjekata, što je nedvojbeno društveno nepoželjna pojava. Iz tog je razloga iznimno važno proučavati i razumjeti čimbenike koji utječu na ovaj oblik cinizma te kako on utječe na određena ponašanja. Cilj ovoga rada je predložiti i objasniti pojam zelenog cinizma i istražiti neke njegove moguće dimenzije te provjeriti njihov utjecaj na namjeru kupnje ekoloških prehrambenih proizvoda. Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku od 411 ispitanika iz istočne Hrvatske koji predstavljaju osobe koje obavljaju kupnju većine namirnica za kućanstvo. Rezultati utemeljeni na regresijskoj analizi pokazali su da na namjeru kupnje ekoloških prehrambenih proizvoda najjači negativan učinak ima nezainteresiranost iskazana kao nedostatak vremena da se o tim pitanjima uopće razmišlja. Također signifikantan negativan utjecaj ima i nepovjerenje prema samim ekološkim prehrambenim proizvodima odnosno oznakama koje ih razlikuju od konvencionalnih proizvoda. U ovom istraživanju utjecaj skepticizma što se tiče problema okoliša nije se pokazao signifikantnim što može biti posljedica činjenice da se radi o značajnoj razlici u širini obuhvata varijable.

Sustainable marketing strategy in food and drink industry: a comparative analysis of B2B and B2C SMEs operating in Europe

PurposeThe paper aims to make a contribution by providing a comprehensive understanding of the scope of the implementation of sustainable marketing tools in SMEs operating in the food and drink industry in Europe. The focus will be put on the identification of differences between companies operating in business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) context.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical basis is a survey of 770 European SMEs, of which 369 operate in Western European countries (including UK, Germany and Spain) and 401 in Central and Eastern Europe (including Poland, Croatia and Russia). The respondents in the particular countries were stratified according to company size, measured by the number of employees. The research covered 316 micro companies, 5 small companies and 209 medium ones. The questionnaire was completed by the managing directors of the enterprises (CEOs) or heads of the marketing departments (CMOs). The research was conducted between April 2016 and January 2017. An in-depth analysis of the findings helped to identify differences between the two groups of SMEs, i.e. operating in the B2B and B2C context, in terms of the extent of sustainable marketing implementation. The non-parametric U Mann–Whitney test was used to examine the significance of the differences between the two groups of companies.FindingsThe research results suggest that both groups of B2B and B2C companies implement sustainable marketing tools to some extent. However, in most cases, B2B organizations do it to a significantly greater extent. Nevertheless, these activities relate mainly to those tools, which are directly visible to customers, both institutional and individual, such as packaging, product ingredients or certificates. To a lesser extent, they involve marketing activities of an internal nature, such as production process and the level of energy, water or resources used.Originality/valueTo the best knowledge of the author, this is the first empirical research study on the implementation of the sustainable marketing concept in SMEs operating in European countries. The study is a comparative analysis of the phenomenon between B2B and B2C companies, which has not been previously researched.

Linking Sustainability-Oriented Marketing to Social Media and Web Atmospheric Cues

Acknowledging the widespread use of social media and the exponential growth of digital technology, a number of reputable organizations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have shifted their traditional marketing tools to approach new markets for the growth of their businesses. Such companies have introduced their business over social media in order to gain greater attention from the consumers. However, the major concern addressed regarding how products and services are promoted online is regarding sustainable marketing. It is explored that most of the consumers tend to view online businesses by visualizing essential factors that reflect sustainability and thus, SMEs have started to analyze specific web atmospheric cues, which contribute in developing social media according to consumer behavior and their perceptions. To assess the research area, the following study is performed to understand possible measures that are significant in bridging business and consumer needs. This research incorporates a quantitative research method for gathering specific data by using questionnaires. From the findings of the research, it is analyzed that consumers are likely to perceive and give attention to social media by analyzing specific cues, including visuals, ethics, information, social, and security. It is concluded that SMEs could foster their online businesses by adopting effective sustainable marketing strategies aligned according to specific web atmospheric cues.

The role of industries’ environmental reputation and competitive intensity on sustainability marketing strategy

PurposeThis paper aims to highlight a model of industry drivers (industries’ environmental reputation and competitive intensity) that affect the sustainability marketing strategy segmentation, targeting and positioning based on customers’ environmental concern and explore the circumstances under which such a strategy affects performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examined 64 Iranian export companies, which adopted sustainability marketing strategies across seven different industries. Achieved data are analyzed using a structural equation model methodology.FindingsThe results indicate that industries’ environmental reputation is positively related to the sustainability marketing strategies based on customers’ environmental concern and leads to superior financial and market performance. They also posit that competitive intensity has no significant effect on sustainability marketing strategies.Research limitations/implicationsThis study specifically examines the impact of industry drivers on sustainability marketing strategy and performance. Logically, there might be other factors affecting the sustainability or other value dimensions that are not addressed in this study.Practical implicationsThis paper provides some understanding of how organizations strength their sustainability marketing strategy, and they have to consider what factors to adopt such strategy. This paper also facilitates a better understanding of the customers’ needs and concern as a factor influencing sustainability marketing strategy adoption and implementation. Identifying the customer segmentation and market targeting based on the industry’s environmental can lead to the business will normally tailor the marketing mix (4Ps) with the needs and expectations of the target in mind.Originality/valueThis paper strengthens the effect of environmental concern of customer to understand what influences the success of the sustainability marketing adoption and implementation by investigating the most influential factors such as industries’ environmental reputation and competitive intensity.

Healthcare Marketing: An Empirical Study among Lebanese Hospitals

Although most of studies have identified different dynamic factors that influence hospitals business development, there is always an increasing interest to find the best practices that ensure effective and sustainable marketing strategies in healthcare. The purpose of this study was to make an approach between patients and hospital managers to develop an effective marketing strategy for hospitals in Lebanon. A quantitative methodology was applied to statistically test both patients and managers’ attitudesthrough conducting two different simple surveys among patients and managers from fourdifferent hospitals in Lebanon. Self-administered questionnaires were designed in terms of marketing mix and hospitalization experience, and distributed randomly among participants to assess the implemented marketing strategies.Majority of patients were satisfied from the healthcare service provided and 93.3% of patients showed high level of loyalty to these hospitals. In terms of experiencing the marketing mix, majorityof patients were able to identify the most significant 7ps in hospitals especially in terms of price and people. Similarly, the results obtained from managers’ surveyshowed consistency of the marketing strategies applied by these hospitals with the patients’ attitudesbut with some conservation regarding the pricing strategies in the Lebanese healthcare system.The importance of healthcare marketing falls mainly in the framework of strengthening public relations with patients and maintaining a proper pricing strategy that is backed by the government and mediated by the guarantors. Future studies can be extended empirically in terms of geographical distribution of hospitals and the methodology applied.

A Proposed Model for applying sustainable marketing strategy as a tool to improve the marketing performance Field study: Egypt air training academy

This study aims to propose a model for applying sustainable marketing strategy (customer oriented marketing, customer value marketing, innovative marketing, sense of mission marketing and societal marketing), in EgyptAirTrainingAcademy in order to improve its marketing performance. The study uses the analytical descriptive approach, tools and methods to describe the study quantitatively and qualitatively. The study concludes that effective application of sustainable marketing strategy through the proposed model, significantly affects the improvements of marketing performance of EgyptAirTrainingAcademy. The study a number of recommendations to improve sustainable marketing practices in the Academy.

N. Obukhova, D. Prima, Strategy of sustainable marketing as part of the overall program of sedentary development.

The article considers the essence of the principles of sustainable development and analyzes the systems of challenges that influenced the emergence of this concept. The article notes the effectiveness of the use of sedentary-based interaction tools between economic entities of economic systems. Sustainable production is aimed at improving products and / or production processes in order to reduce resource consumption, the use of hazardous materials and the production of waste and pollutants in the provision of products. It is researched that the use of sustainable marketing in enterprises provides a competitive advantage, increases the positive impact on the development of society and the environment. It has been determined that sustainable marketing is a holistic, integrative approach that provides equal emphasis on environmental, social justice and economic issues in the development of marketing strategies. The article defines the essence of the concept of reasonable as a tool to counteract environmental, social and economic irresponsibility. As a result, sustainable consumption policies and initiatives are growing, given the impact of processes, as well as products, services, and goods. The authors noted that stimulating innovation based on sustainability attributes, companies can also consider actions based on existing products. It has been proven that a larger portfolio transformation can be developed by rebranding or re-categorizing existing sustainable products (services). Stable marketing practices imply even greater importance and relevance in developing countries. Marketing, like other functional areas of the business, contributes to the environmental, social and economic problems facing today's world, іncluding the problem of developing and implementing a sustainable marketing strategy for an enterprise within the overall family development program, which should be consistent with its use.

MAPPING SEASCAPES TOURISM DESTINATION IN INDONESIA

This research was to map prospective seascapes tourism destination. As results, some challenges occurred in seascapes destination development. Thus, it can be concluded that main activities of seascapes tourism are: cruising, yachting, surfing, leisure fishing and watersport activities i.e. Jet skiing. The development of seascapes tourism destination falls into: (1) Pioneering phase takes place in new-found attraction that it is recently built and has potential tourists; (2) Expansion stage occurred in areas that already exist with certain service quality level and loyal customer; (3) Improvement phase, the area is mature and ready-visit; and (4) Revitalization for saturated destination. It was recommended that marine infrastructure and tourist facilities such as: floating pontoons and dinghy-jetty, FB establishment and toilet must be constructed. Brand awareness and market penetration are created. Evaluations on existing activities and attractions as well as maintenance of infrastructure, networking and hard-selling act were needed. Sharpen competitive advantages, sustainable marketing strategy; maintain loyalties of tourist, infrastructure and facilities as well as networking are a must. Feature of attraction and activities should be modified, re-adjustment based on tourist’s preference and re-orientation on networking when destination reach revitalization phase.

Does sustainability marketing strategy achieve payback profits? A signaling theory perspective

AbstractDespite the importance of sustainability marketing strategy, its influence on firm performance is still inconclusive. In this study, we explore how and under what conditions sustainability marketing strategy influences firm performance by including the customer as an external stakeholder. Drawing on signaling theory, we test the hypothesized relationships using survey data collected from 264 Chinese firms. The results reveal that customer loyalty partially mediates the relationship between sustainability marketing strategy and firm performance. In addition, our findings indicate that competitive intensity positively moderates the relationship between sustainability marketing strategy and customer loyalty, and the mediating effect of customer loyalty. However, customer trust negatively moderates the relationship between sustainability marketing strategy and customer loyalty, while its moderated mediation is not significant. This study contributes to sustainability marketing literature and practice by providing novel insights into how to enhance firm performance by developing sustainability marketing strategy.

Sustainable marketing communication strategies of Russian companies under the import substitution policy

The sanction standoff between Russia and the West opened up new opportunities for Russian food manufacturers. A new import substitution policy declared by the government restricted the access of the leading foreign countries to the market and unlocked a potential for internal development. Russian producers spotted new niches in the food market. There exist numerous obstacles to assimilating new market prospects: organizational (logistics, infrastructure, etc.), investment, legal, economic, etc. The paper underlines that the problem of enhancing the effectiveness of food companies' marketing policy in the context of import substitution is among the most formidable challenges. The article generalizes the problems of implementing the marketing policy of Russian enterprises. It reviews the core findings of the research studies on exploring consumers' attitude towards Russian and foreign-made food products. The author formulates recommendations about executing sustainable marketing communication strategies of Russian companies under import substitution.

Should Polytechnics Rely Solely on International Agents to Recruit International Students? A Case Study in New Zealand

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether polytechnics should rely solely on international agents to recruit international students or not. To analyse the use of agents to recruit international students by tertiary institutions in New Zealand, this study attempts to find effectiveness and shortcomings of using international agents as a marketing strategy in recruiting international students. Though marketing strategies of marketing higher education is not new to the Anglo-Saxon countries (UK, US, and Australia), however, such marketing strategies of tertiary institutions in New Zealand have not been examined empirically. Deductive method of research was adopted and a total of 150 international students who studied at undergraduate and postgraduate level in a polytechnic in the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand participated in the research. The empirical findings of the research suggest that most international students relied on international agents for visa application and for enrolment process. A significant concern that a large proportion of the international students pointed to is the information mismatch between the promises by the agents and the reality that the international students faced here in New Zealand. It is suggested that relying solely on international agents to recruit international students might not be a sustainable marketing strategy for the tertiary institutions and other marketing strategies needs to be explored as well. Several policy implications in marketing strategy of higher education are also suggested in this study.

Design of Concept of Sustainable Marketing Communication Strategy for a Ideal Industrial Enterprise and Practical Applications of this Concept

Abstract In the contribution the authors deal with the design and use of a sustainable marketing communication strategy of an ideal industrial enterprise in the Slovak Republic. The concept of an ideal enterprise is designed to increase the enterprise's sustainable competitiveness through the formation of a corporate image. In the framework of the research, the practical application of the draft concept was realized through a semi-structured interview in the form of propositional logic.

Sustainable marketing strategies in the context of a globalized clothing and textile (C&T) sector in Zimbabwe

This article provides a new perspective on sustainable marketing strategies in the context of a globalized clothing and textile (C&T) sector in Zimbabwe by linking two diverse streams of literature, namely, globalization and marketing strategy. A quantitative approach was adopted to obtain data from 127 respondents using a two-stage cluster sample. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) confirmed three of four hypothesized relationships, namely that integrated co-alliances, modern technology and national policy impact the sustainability of clothing and textile sector in Zimbabwe. The adoption of a standardized marketing strategy characterized by uniform application of the marketing mix elements with minor modifications will have a significant impact on the capacity of the C&T sector to withstand the adverse effects of globalization. The research extends the body of existing knowledge on marketing strategy in the context of globalization of Zimbabwe’s C&T sector, and argues empirically for a new approach to developing and implementing competitive marketing strategies. The research findings will enable companies in the C&T sector of a developing economy to craft competitive marketing strategies, which incorporate internal company capabilities and technology, and also recognize the role of national policy in the globalization discourse.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUSTAINABLE MARKETING AND CUSTOMER EQUITY BASE ON TWO COUNTRIES

The marketing scholars and practitioners start to consider a new concept, which pay attention to the government policies and company methods would cause a deep influence to develop a sustainable marketing. Because of the customer equity take a more and more importance place in consumer research, companies have become aware of the importance of sustainability, but customers may not realize the significance of this factor. When companies cannot obtain the feedback from the customers, they can not meet the needs as well. Nevertheless, researchers have attempted to determine whether sustainable marketing customer equity, both in positive and negative ways. Using algorithms of configurations of antecedent condition s to refine the shortcomings of symmetric variable hypotheses (McClelland, 1998; Woodside, 2015).Sustainable marketing includes environmental, economic, and social dimensions, in addition to the ethical management dimensions that guide sustainable marketing strategies through CSR (Lii et al., 2013).The environmental dimension requires to build a eco-friendly image, the economic dimension requires to achieve short- and long-term economic goals(bansal 2005); The social dimension requires that companies enhance social and human wellbeing (Kim et al, 2015; Sun et al., 2016).When marketing research has turned to customer lifetime value (CLV) (Rust et al.,2004), they find the future profit is value equity, brand equity, and relation equity has been accepted by most researchers as major drivers. This study bases on models of which factors can influence value of customers and which are not. Structural equation modeling (SEM) has been used to show that sustainable marketing has positive effects on customer equity drivers (Sun, Garrett, & Kim, 2016). However, it has shortage in most empirical behavioral science and business research, in order to lessen influence of the method limitation; a subset of qualitative comparative analysis called faQCA is applied to study. This study make a general conclusion that in the cross-culture, customers can not accept companies lose anyone dimension, even though they perform at normal level in others. Nevertheless if a company achieve a high goal in one dimension, it is also can be admitted by consumers.This research adapts two different countries as the sample to define their value and motivations. And the Adidas as the sample brand to be used in the study. Using the fuzzyset Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) attempts to find a new point to explain configural antecedents, to verify the finding and to overcome the shortages. The result of this study is aimed to find the way to narrow the gap between companies, customers and sustainable concepts.

Sustainable Marketing Strategies: A study on the Effectiveness of Green Marketing Initiatives in Promoting Sustainable Consumption

The purpose of this research is to analyse the efficacy of green marketing activities in encouraging sustainable consumption and to investigate sustainable marketing methods. Businesses are beginning to include "green marketing" activities into their overall marketing strategy in order to attract customers who are environmentally sensitive as sustainability becomes an increasingly significant factor in consumer decision-making. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the influence that these activities have had on the behaviour of consumers and to establish the degree to which different sustainable marketing methods are successful. The investigation will make use of a variety of research approaches, including qualitative and quantitative approaches, such as questionnaires, interviews, and examinations of various advertising campaigns. The outcomes of this research will contribute to a greater understanding of the role that green marketing plays in encouraging sustainable consumption and will give companies with insights that will help them design successful sustainable marketing strategies.

Brand Strategies in the Era of Sustainability

Today, brands are powerful instruments of change. They are tightly connected with consumers all over the world and profoundly incorporated into their everyday life and choices they made. Consumers indicate with brands they love and strongly advocate the ideas that are embedded in their philosophy and image. Consequently, companies that own successful brands, which are followed by large group of loyal consumers, have the power to generate modification and even complete shift in consumers' lifestyle, value system, attitudes and behavior. Accordingly, environmentally friendly brands are inevitable element of sustainable marketing strategy and sustainability concept, given that its implementation requires changes that will trigger mass rather than individuals. However, regardless of positive opinion about socially responsible practice on the market, attitude - behavior gap is widely present among consumers, making segment of green consumers just a market niche. Thus, the most challenging task for marketing and brand managers is to find interest for consumers in a sustainable way of life and to make it easy accessible and attractive for them. This article aims to highlight the leading role of sustainability in branding theory and practice and to point out strategies for successful implementation of green values into the brand management, with an accent on brand equity construct, relying on the results of research and analysis in the given field.