Ten Page Report

1st YEAR MCOM, BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Individual Assignment

Topic/Theme : Sustainable Marketing

Author : Setlogane Manchidi

Student Number : 201037597

Date : 14 April 2011

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The task at hand requires the author to present a report on sustainable marketing. This report is to have a clear focus on the following:

1. The meaning of sustainable marketing;

2. The implications thereof for marketing management; and

3. Using practical examples to illustrate how the marketing strategies of organisations are affected.

As a starting point, it is important, right at the beginning of this report to introduce the concept of sustainability, triple bottom line or sustainable development - the notion of the triple bottom line as commonly referred to by others. Although sustainability may mean different things to different people, common definitions do exist. According to the report of the Brutland Commission (1987),

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Taking the above definition further, Donald Fuller (1999), states that in a business context, sustainable development means taking a triple bottom line approach so that the business measures its success not just on financial performance, but on its environmental and social performance too. The goal or aim of all this, is to meet the needs of this generation without jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

The Sustainability Integrated Guidelines for Management (SIGMA) as published in 2003, states that sustainability may be best defined as the capacity for continuance into the long-term future – clarifying that anything that can be done on an indefinite basis is sustainable and that anything that cannot is unsustainable.

According to Investec’s 2008 journey to sustainability report, sustainability is about...