Sustainable Marketing : Challenges faced when implementing sustainable marketing strategies

Abstract: Purpose: There is an increasing interest in sustainability, literature testifies that more and more customers are requesting sustainable products. This increasing request impacts companies that are therefore forced not only to provide sustainable alternatives but also turn their business into a more sustainable one. Due to the relatively newness of this topic there is a need to investigate how sustainable marketing strategies impact companies in the business-to-business sector. This paper is a single case study that presents how an international business-to business company is implementing sustainable marketing strategies, in their process to build a circular economy company. This research aims to describe how sustainable marketing strategies affect the implementation process of a B2B company who is moving towards a circular economy business model. Design/methodology/approach: The study has been conducted using a single case study, employing an abductive approach. Semi-structured interviews, observations, documentation and field notes were collected in a large B2B company in Sweden. Findings: The following challenges have been found to affect the implementation process of sustainable marketing strategies: terminology, communication channels, price strategy, culture, greenwashing, lack of performance measurement, lack of managerial involvement, lack of rewarding system, long decision process, poor use of cross-functional teams, lack of a clear plan, marketing strategies, proactive vs reactive. Originality/value: Since sustainability has been studied mainly in the business-to-consumer sector, this paper contributes to the existing literature because it provides an overview on how an international business-to-business company implements sustainable marketing strategies. Furthermore, the study also brings up the challenges that obstacles the implementation, giving useful insights to companies that would like to approach sustainability more or are in the process of implementing sustainability. Additionally, this paper highlights the importance of involving management and employees around the world and creating a single coherent understanding of sustainability in order to reflect such cohesiveness also in the marketing strategy. Paper type: Single case study.