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HA HU1Q - Marketing Strategies in Sustainability

Faculty
Norm A. Borin, California Polytechnic State University

Course Coordinator
ISUP Secretariat

Prerequisite/progression of the course

Introductory marketing course is preferred.

Course content, structure and teaching

This course will develop skills and competencies in developing sustainable marketing strategies and tactics. Key topic areas include:

  • Understanding of the interrelationship amongst profit, people and planet;
  • Marketing’s role in consumption and resource utilization;
  • Individual impact on resources;
  • External forces that create problems/opportunities for sustainable marketing strategies;
  • The pricing impact of full product costing;
  • Sustainable distribution strategies;
  • Green marketing communication;
  • Sustainable product design.
The course's development of personal competences

Types of personal and interpersonal competences that the student will develop and practice during this course.

  1. Oral presentation;
  2. Written presentation;
  3. Critical thinking;
  4. Time management.
Learning Objectives
  • Understand the triple bottom line
  • Come to see yourself as having an integral impact on how businesses respond to sustainability goals
  • Understand how customers can be segmented based on sustainability
  • Understand the various manufacturer and retailer strategies regarding sustainability
  • Create a life cycle analysis
  • Evaluate the pricing/ quality and labeling of green products vs. non-green products
  • Develop a promotional message that directs consumers to a sustainable product
  • Frame useful questions when considering how marketers can create more sustainable businesses
  • Use a sustainable product / service development checklist or a sustainable design process to develop a new product or service concept
Teaching methods

Lectures, case discussions, individual presentations, in-class exercises, videos.

Examination

The final exam which will be a project/home assignment based on a case (written individually, 10 A4 pages).

Re-take exam: Project/home assignment (written individually), 10 A4 pages.

Recommended literature

Strategies for the Green Economy, Joel Makower. McGraw Hill Publishing

Most other materials will be available on the web and free. These may include;

International Institute for Sustainable Development www.iisd.org/greenstand/default.htm

Green Gauge Report: Bad http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2005/11/23/115411/33

Environmental Protection Agency. Waste Educational Materials www.epa.gov/osw/education/student_res.htm

Story of Stuff www.storyofstuff.com

Footprint Chronicles www.patagonia.com/web/us/footprint/index.jsp

Notes on Life Cycle Analysis www.umich.edu/~nppcpub/resources/compendia/CORPpdfs/CORPlca.pdf

Eco-promising: Communicating the environmental credentials of your products and services http://www.forumforthefuture.org/node/2051


Last updated by ISUP Secretariat 29/01/2010