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Sustainability Research Paper

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Research Paper
“Communicating Sustainability”
Strategic marketing views sustainability through a market focused approach and considers it as a strategic resource that leads to competitive advantage for the organization and to superior performance (Hult 2011). Market-focused sustainability integrates the customer (and other important stakeholders) into marketing strategy making and implementation. This has the opportunity to create a marketing strategy that is valuable, rare, inimitable, and difficult to substitute (Barney 1991). These sustainability-driven organizations create unique idiosyncrasies that positively affect their standing in the marketplace, offer an opportunity for market segmentation, and deliver value to customers …show more content…

In addition, stakeholders may understand the public relations benefits of sustainable activities, but may even be opposed to spending too much on CSR activities, as this reduces stock dividends since such activities can take away from the corporate bottom line. Also, employees need to be educated and engaged for buy-in to occur and is necessary for true sustainable activities within a company to fully extend its potentials. Therefore, incorporating sustainable innovation and management into CSR reports will signal that a firm is committed to the cause and be portrayed as an authentic and legitimate sustainable company. Social networks can draw a complete picture about the narrative of a sustainability initiatives and include the market stories to explain the connections among products, benefits, and usage conditions (Rosa et al. 1999). In addition, stakeholders buy-in from all sides (customers, shareholders, employees) is necessary to establish authentic sustainability within a firm. Equally substantial is broadcasting these values to the firm’s customers, employees, and shareholders through appropriate mediums of communication. I suggest that traditional media is less effective in conveying authentic sustainability and that other mediums such as social media and CSR reports are a more

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