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Inclusive and Sustainable Marketing and Business Performance

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 April 2025 | Viewed by 2713

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Economics and Management, Prince Henry Portucalense University, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
Interests: entrepreneurship; innovation; marketing; societal sustainability; social inclusion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
High Institute of Accounting and Administration, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Interests: marketing; retail; consumer behavior; IA and new tech; sustainability; good management and marketing practices

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue of Sustainability which concerns essential issues affecting current businesses, namely social inclusion and societal sustainability.

Today's competitive environment is characterized by uncertainties, increasing flux, and new risks, such as consumers exhibiting increased perceptions of sustainability and social inclusion issues (e.g., Alqahtani and Uslay, 2020; Hemmati and Mohsen, 2022). To preserve a company’s reputation and survival, one must ensure that the way one produces, distributes, and communicates products (goods, services, ideas) is compatible with the demands of customers for “good” organizational citizenship. Marketing should meet the expectations of shareholders concerning the quality, innovativeness, societal sustainability, inclusiveness, and inclusivity of products and processes (e.g., Cerdan-Chiscano and Jiménez-Zarco, 2021). Societal sustainability includes at least four dimensions: the economic (the ability of the product to satisfy human needs); the ecological (the preservation of natural capital); the social (protection of social cohesion); and the psychological (positive emotional states, a balance between physical and mental health, and perceptions of individual quality of life) (e.g., Carvalho, 2019). Issues related to social inclusion can be tackled through a twofold approach: hiring sociobiologically disadvantaged people (inclusiveness) and offering products that minimize discrimination (inclusivity).

As such, we are looking for articles that express the current state of the art and develop an inclusive and sustainable approach to marketing through theoretical or empirical studies that do not forget the importance of business performance.

References

Alqahtani, N., & Uslay, C. (2020). Entrepreneurial marketing and firm performance: Synthesis and conceptual development. Journal of Business Research, 113, 62-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.12.035.

Carvalho, J.M.S. (2019). Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Sustainability. In Information Resources Management Association (Ed.), Social Entrepreneurship: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (chap. 01, pp. 1-34). Hershey, USA, IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-8182-6.ch001.

Cerdan-Chiscano, M., & Jiménez-Zarco, A.I. (2021). Towards an inclusive museum management strategy. An exploratory study of consumption experience in visitors with disabilities. The case of the CosmoCaixa Science Museum. Sustainability, 13(2), 660. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020660.

Hemmati, M., & Mohsen S. (2022). Influencing Customer Demand: An Operations Management Approach. Boca Raton, FL, USA: CRC Press.

Dr. João Manuel da Silva Carvalho
Dr. Sílvia Faria
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • inclusive and sustainable marketing
  • sustainable business performance
  • artificial intelligence and marketing sustainability
  • sustainable products and business performance
  • distribution impact on business sustainability
  • new inclusive and sustainable distribution approaches
  • inclusive communication and business performance
  • inclusive and sustainable digital marketing transformation
  • new inclusive and sustainable pricing strategies
  • new inclusive and sustainable marketing competencies

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

35 pages, 6998 KiB  
Article
Inclusive and Sustainable Supply Chain Strategies in Live E-Commerce: The Role of Influencer Marketing and Spillover Effects
by Xiaodong Zhu and Ruiting Deng
Sustainability 2024, 16(24), 10985; https://doi.org/10.3390/su162410985 - 14 Dec 2024
Viewed by 1003
Abstract
Live e-commerce has proliferated as a new business model in recent years. Live-streaming channel selection strategies and behavioral decisions are critical considerations for retailers to enhance business performance by increasing engagement and profitability. This study introduces the spillover effect between influencer and self-live-streaming [...] Read more.
Live e-commerce has proliferated as a new business model in recent years. Live-streaming channel selection strategies and behavioral decisions are critical considerations for retailers to enhance business performance by increasing engagement and profitability. This study introduces the spillover effect between influencer and self-live-streaming channels, offering new theoretical insights into sustainable supply chain management from multichannel retailing, game theory, and spillover effects for channel selection and pricing, optimizing dual-channel tactics for inclusive marketing, and challenging pricing and channel effectiveness beliefs. Hence, inclusive and sustainable business practices in live e-commerce have been examined, focusing on dual-digital-channel strategies involving influencer marketing and self-live-streaming. This paper investigates three digital supply chain structures for sustainability, which are based on influencer characteristics: the single digital channel (S), the dual-digital-channel structure without spillover effect (DN), and the dual-digital-channel structure with spillover effect (DS). This study employs Stackelberg game models to analyze behavioral, pricing, and channel preferences, and it also extends the model to offline channels. This study finds that (a) influencer effort affects influencer live-streaming pricing, which may not always be cheaper than self-streaming digital channels; (b) commission rates significantly impact influencer pricing strategies, leading retailers to use skimming and penetration pricing strategies when commission rates are low and high; and (c) retailers may develop influencer live-streaming channels if the cross-price coefficient is medium and low but prefer it when the coefficient and spillover impact are large. By analyzing how these digital channels contribute to societal sustainability through reduced environmental impact and enhanced social inclusion, this research highlights key marketing decisions that optimize business performance and social responsibility in the digital economy. It offers live e-commerce managers strategic channel selection, pricing, and sustainability advice and recommendations for future empirical validation to enhance practical applicability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inclusive and Sustainable Marketing and Business Performance)
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19 pages, 2507 KiB  
Article
Cycling into Sustainability: Lessons from the Netherlands for Slovenia’s E-Bike Adoption
by Sergej Gričar, Urška Longar, Tanja Longar and Violeta Šugar
Sustainability 2024, 16(22), 9987; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16229987 - 15 Nov 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1321
Abstract
This study investigates whether Slovenia can learn from the Netherlands to enhance its bicycle commuting culture and how e-bikes can improve cycling performance among its residents. The research utilises secondary data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia and Statista, covering [...] Read more.
This study investigates whether Slovenia can learn from the Netherlands to enhance its bicycle commuting culture and how e-bikes can improve cycling performance among its residents. The research utilises secondary data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia and Statista, covering variables such as bicycle sales, gross domestic product, and urbanisation rates from 1997 to 2024. The data are analysed using Vector Auto Regression (VAR). The results reveal that urbanisation positively influences both traditional and e-bike demand, highlighting the importance of improved cycling infrastructure. However, GDP negatively impacts bike demand, suggesting affordability issues that could hinder adoption without financial support. These findings indicate that e-bikes play a transformative role, particularly in overcoming Slovenia’s hilly terrain and long-distance commuting barriers, with evidence of substitution effects between traditional bicycles and e-bikes. Lessons from the Netherlands emphasise the integration of cycling with public transport, financial incentives, and cultural promotion of cycling. Slovenia’s growing e-bike market signals a promising shift towards sustainable mobility, but strategic investments in infrastructure and policies are crucial. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inclusive and Sustainable Marketing and Business Performance)
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