Review article
SUSTAINABLE B2B MARKETING
Dubravka Sinčić Ćorić
orcid.org/0000-0002-1834-5491
; Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Sustainable marketing stands for marketing activities that take into consideration (1) environmental responsibility – which is represented by a balance between business activities and natural environment, (2) social responsibility – which denotes a company that takes care about all stakeholders, and (3) economic prosperity based on sustainability principles. Research on sustainable marketing proved that these activities have many positive consequences with regard to business-to-consumers markets. However, in the light of business-to-business markets, the conclusions are not unison. The fact is that for many years companies considered sustainability initiatives a cost, with only enhanced reputation among end consumers, as a positive outcome. Organizational buyers, who dominantly decide based on rational factors, were not ready to pay premium price for a sustainable offer. It can be observed that, due to regulatory and public pressures, these attitudes change, ending up with more and more organizations operating on business-to-business (B2B) markets seeking for sources of sustainability along their value chain. This paper represents an analysis of published theoretical and empirical research, with an aim to determine theoretical grounds and concepts connected to B2B sustainable marketing. The paper analyses dimension of sustainable marketing, the sustainable marketing orientation concept, as well as challenges that B2B companies face in sustainable marketing implementation.
Keywords
sustainability; sustainable marketing; business-to-business (B2B) markets; sustainable marketing orientation
Hrčak ID:
260173
URI
Publication date:
9.7.2021.
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