Sustainable Marketing As A Competitive Advantage And A Case Study On Glass Sector In Turkey

Evrim Ildem Develi
ISTANBUL KÜLTÜR UNIVERSITY, ISTANBUL/TURKEY
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/eraz.2018.889

4th International Conference – ERAZ 2018 – KNOWLEDGE BASED SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, Sofia- Bulgaria, June 7, 2018, CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans, Belgrade, Serbia; Faculty of Business Studies, Mediterranean University – Podgorica, Montenegro; University of National and World Economy – Sofia, Bulgaria; Faculty of Commercial and Business Studies – Celje, Slovenia; Faculty of Applied Management, Economics and Finance – Belgrade, Serbia, ISBN 978-86-80194-12-7

Abstract

In today’s economy, business is very competitive. The firms have to be part of ecosystem. In ecosystem sustainability is important in order to protect and save the environmental system. In this manner, as a human being, as a firm, as a member of society there should be paid respect to mother earth. To be respectful to earth and environment the firms are responsible for sustainability of knowledge, technology, resources and reducing costs. This sustainability also causes competitiveness among firms. One has to be better than other, because it has to be preferable between the other same ones. That firm has to use it’s resources in most effective way, thus the resources are limited and also behave in harmony with the ecosystem. To create this system the firm has to get in touch with it’s ecological customers, and has to use sustainable marketing strategies.
With this article the reader is going to find out what is sustainability and how a firm behave in sustainable marketing as being competitive in ecological global system through literature and a firm case study. With first part of article it’s tried to express what’s said on sustainability and marketing as competitiveness within literature. Sustainable development is development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (UNCWED–United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development 1987,p.8). Sustainable marketing then, “is marketing within, and supportive of, sustainable economic development (van Dam and Apeldoom 1996,p.46;Hunt 2011, p.7). In the second part as a view of sustainability, the resource–advantage theory of competition and its relation with sustainable marketing is explained. The resource–advantage theory (R-A) is a general theory of competition. In Hunt’s article which is on sustainable marketing, equity and economic growth: a resource-advantage, economic freedom approach, Hodgson’s (1993) taxonomy is used to explain R-A theory. This theory is an evolutionary, disequilibrium-provoking, process theory of competition, in which innovation and organizational learning are endogenous, firms and consumers have imperfect information and entrepreneurship, institutions, and public policy affect economic performance (Hunt 2011, p.9). To Hunt, whose studies on sustainability and marketing is the basic ones in literature, many owners, executives, managers, and employees of firms, as well as many consumers, often act in accordance with the prescriptions of sustainable marketing theory. So there are intersects with R-A theory in several ways in sustainable marketing. The 7 ways of it will be explained in the full text article. As a last part of the article there is the survey about one of the big sized companies of Turkey on glass industry becomes the main case of this study on sustainable marketing. To point out the strategy and policy of the firm on sustainability, a depth-interview has been done with the coordination office of sustainability. The firm has the wisdom of being a part of the international ecosystem. Within it’s strategy and policy on management, production and supply chain it seeks financial continuity integrating with natural resources, raw materials, consumption, customers, employees and values. The findings gathered from the dept-interview are going to be explained in full text article in detailed.