Sustainable Marketing and Strategy

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable Marketing and Strategy is the theme of this Special Issue of Sustainability (MDPI). In the literature, we have seen growing evidence of how sustainability efforts are increasingly bringing significant benefits to enterprises. These benefits include increased brand awareness, as those firms that stand out tend to catch the attention of consumers who are increasingly keen to help and not hurt the environment. Consumers are thus opting for more environmentally friendly firms, which is thus a means to achieving greater competitiveness. That the sustainability theme may be seen simply as a marketing tactic has also been debated. Surely it does make strategic and marketing sense to be nice to the community, above what is required by law. Doing so, in sincere and planned efforts, will reap better returns in the age of the informed consumer. Greenwashing must be avoided at all costs, as firms will be punished for not being authentic in their social responsibility efforts. We are thus eager to receive your manuscripts along these and other topics, as the debate on climate change and about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in general, have had the attention of the general public for some time now. One may be eager to see how the future unfolds and to see whether private enterprise may be ushering in a new era whereby many of society’s unsolved problems may finally be eradicated or at least significantly diminished.

Dr. Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira
Dr. Maria José Sousa
Guest Editors

References

1. Asadi, S., OmSalameh Pourhashemi, S., Nilashi, M., Abdullah, R., Samad, S., Yadegaridehkordi, E., … Razali, N. S. (2020). Investigating influence of green innovation on sustainability performance: A case on Malaysian hotel industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 258, 120860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120860
2. Balsalobre-Lorente, D., Driha, O. M., Shahbaz, M., & Sinha, A. (2020). The effects of tourism and globalization over environmental degradation in developed countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(7), 7130–7144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07372-4
3. Benke, K. & Tomkins,B. (2017). Future food-production systems: vertical farming and controlled-environment agriculture. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 13(1), 13-26. doi:10.1080/15487733.2017.1394054  
4. Camino,   R.J. (2007).   Re-evaluating   green   marketing   strategy:   a   stakeholder   perspective.   European   Journal   of   Marketing, 41(11/12):1328-1358
5. Chen, Y., Chang, C. (2013). Greenwash and Green Trust: The Mediation Effects of Green Consumer Confusion and Green Perceived Risk. J Bus Ethics 114, 489–500. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1360-0
6. Chriki S. & Hocquette J., F. (2020). The Myth of Cultured Meat: A Review. Front. Nutr. 7(7). doi:10.3389/fnut.2020.00007.
7. Dam KY and Apeldoorn PAC (1996). Sustainable Marketing. Journal of Macromarketing, 16(2): 45-56
8. Dolnicar, S., Juvan, E., Grün, B. (2020). Reducing the plate waste of families at hotel buffets – a quasi-experimental field study. Tourism Management, 80, 104-103. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2020.104103
9. Fraj-Andrés, E., Martinez-Salinas, E., Matute-Vallejo, J. (2008). A Multidimensional  Approach  to  the  Influence  of  Environmental  Marketing and Orientation on the Firm’s Organizational Performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(2): 263-286
10. Hamad, A.F., Han, J.-H., Kim, B.-C., Rather, I.A. (2017). The intertwine of nanotechnology with the food industry. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences, 25(1). doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2017.09.004
11. Jones P Hill CC and Comfort D (2008). Viewpoint: marketing and sustainability. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 26(2): 123-130 
12. Lynch J. & Pierrehumbert R. (2019). Climate Impacts of Cultured Meat and Beef Cattle. Front. Sustain. Food Syst, 3(5). doi:10.3389/fsufs.2019.00005. 
13. Maignan, I., Ferrell, O.C., Ferrell, L. (2005). A  stakeholder  model  for  implementing  social  responsibility  in  marketing.  European Journal of Marketing, 39(9/10): 956-977
14. Park, E., Kim, K. J., & Kwon, S. (2017). Corporate social responsibility as a determinant of consumer loyalty: An examination of ethical standard, satisfaction, and trust. Journal of Business Research, 76(1), 8–13.
15. Poore, J. & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), 987-992. Retrieved from https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987
16. Prabu, D., & Kline, S. (2005). Corporate social responsibility practices, corporate identity, and purchase intention: A dual-process model. Journal of Public Relations Research, 17(3), 291–313.
17. Rao, R. K. S., & Bharadwaj, N. (2008). Marketing initiatives, expected cash flows, and shareholders' wealth. Journal of Marketing, 72(1), 16–26.
18. Rao, V., Agarwal, M. K., & Dahloff, D. (2004). How is manifest branding strategy related to the intangible value of a corporation? Journal of Marketing, 68(October), 126–141.
19. Read Q., Brown S., Cuéllarc A., Finn S., Gephart J., Marston L., Meyer E., Weitz K. & Muthb M. (2020). Assessing the environmental impacts of halving food loss and waste along the food supply chain. Science of The Total Environment, 712, 136-255. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136255
20. Rivera, X.C.S., Leadley, C., Potter, L., Azapagic, A. (2019). Aiding the Design of Innovative and Sustainable Food Packaging: Integrating Techno-Environmental and Circular Economy Criteria. Energy Procedia, 161. doi: 10.1016/j.egypro.2019.02.081
21. Roe, B., Qi, D., Bender, K. (2020). Some issues in the ethics of food waste. Physiology & Behavior, 219, (112-860). Doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.112860
22. Sudbury-Riley, L., & Kohlbacher, F. (2016). Ethically minded consumer behavior: Scale review, development, and validation. Journal of Business Research, 69(8), 2697–2710.

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.