Chapter 8: Sustainability Marketing – The Economic Perspective

After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

Although a number of frameworks exist that are concerned with sustainability, the widely used approach to represent sustainability is the triple bottom line which includes the three pillars of sustainability – economic, social and ecological (Adams, 2006). Essentially, this approach proposes that sustainability can only be achieved when all these pillars are promoted equally. This approach helps in fully categorizing all the relevant sustainability dimensions, but it is not easy to operationalize as it does not have an analytical basis for decision-making with regard to any trade-offs that may exist among the three dimensions of sustainability. Thus, application of the basic concept of sustainability varies according to the framework used. For instance, within environmental framework, sustainability is referred to as the ability of biological systems to maintain their processes and functions over a long term. This perspective emphasizes on the natural capital and highlights that most of the natural resources are irreplaceable.