The recent movements like ‘Black Lives Matter’ and its impact on brands like Fair & Lovely provides a perfect backdrop to this course that investigates the inter-relationship between marketing and society. For the last fifty years, the marketing function has focused only on customers, brushing aside the emerging views of stakeholders. More products and projects are facing criticism than ever before and the changing definition of marketing incorporates more of stakeholder views and orientation.
Corporations are increasingly being challenged to act in ways that serve the best interests of society. Many companies are aggressively seeking strategies that can allow them to “do well by doing good,” leaving a positive “footprint” on the world and avoiding actions that could harm consumers, employees, investors, competitors, suppliers, and the general public. Some of these actions, like Unilever’s ‘Sustainable Living’ programme are trying to define new markets based on principles of sustainability. Others use Corporate Community Initiatives to pilot new products. Thus poverty, water and global warming are forcing companies creating green markets (Ikea, Wal-mart and Wal-green).
Being sustainable and considering stakeholders is thus becoming central to business strategy and marketing as we will see in the case of Intel and Kimberley Clarke. There is an emerging consensus about this need to communicate and market a company and its products/services/projects/brands to wider stakeholders like governments, NGOs, regulators and the community members.
The course helps future managers develop an understanding of the nuances and complexities in climate change, innovation and sustainability driven market transformations by answering the following questions:
• Who are the stakeholders and why are they important for marketing?
• Whats the cost of neglecting stakeholders?
• How should brands look at society for their own survival?
• How to align sustainability strategy with business/marketing strategy?
• How to differentiate a company/brand in the marketplace using sustainability based innovations?
• Why is it difficult to create green, environment friendly products?
• How to market at the bottom of the pyramid?