Seminar: Sustainable Marketing: Research and Practice

In this seminar, students will deal with the broad topic of sustainability from a business case perspective and with a focus on marketing. We will discuss how the proposed trade-off between sustainability and profit can be synergized so that businesses, the environment, and society benefit equally from sustainability management. We will take a critical look at the role of marketing as part of the problem and part of the solution. The kick-off session will provide students with a basic understanding of the topic. It is organized around four questions about sustainability and marketing aiming to answer how businesses can thrive in a more challenging, uncertain, and carbon-restricted world:

(1) What are we talking about?

• The triple bottom line: People, Planet, Profit
• Trade-offs and growth mindset
• Managing wicked problems

(2) What’s in it for business?

• Economic potential of sustainability
• Business cases for sustainability

(3) How to get there?

• Purpose and value creation
• Sustainability strategies
• Sustainable business models

(4) Why is marketing essential?

• Value delivery and extraction
• Consumer behavior
• Marketing mix and sustainability communication

After an introductory session, students are offered a choice of topics for their seminar paper. They will present and discuss their results in class.

• Understand the foundations of sustainable development and sustainability marketing
• Critically reflect the role of marketing in business, society and environment
• Gain a broad overview of current topics in sustainability marketing
• Understand opportunities and limitations of sustainability marketing

• Kick-off session
• Individual work on seminar paper and presentation (support will be provided)
• Final presentation and discussion in class

30% final presentation and participation in discussion