ANNOUNCEMENTS
Incorporation of sustainability is imperative in organizations for its long term survival and it has the potential to drive profits for the firm as well. A firm can incorporate sustainability into its business processes and derive value from sustainability. With this lens, this paper aims at elucidating the barriers of incorporating sustainability in firms and the example of one such firm, an original equipment manufacturer in the energy sector to understand the business side of the topic, and the barriers to incorporating sustainability in consumers purchasing behavior to understand the consumer perspective on the same. The study is based on both primary and secondary sources of data from journals and articles of IFC, WEF and CCSI and research papers and incorporates a descriptive as well as diagnostic research design.
The findings of this study portray the barriers to incorporation of sustainability by both ends of the market as in the business and consumer, the business to business and business to consumer marketing levers that can be applied to overcome those barriers. The barriers to incorporation of sustainability on firms include sustainability being set as too low a priority, lack of resources and capability to incorporate sustainability, less number of people accountable for it, lack of engagement, sustainability department being too small or disconnected to other departments, lack of information, conflict between short term profits and long term sustainability, organizational structure not fit for the same and integration of sustainability incentives in the performance management systems. On the other hand the barriers to sustainable products sale on the consumer’s side include lack of awareness, green stigma, price, time & readiness, lack of trust in claims and efficacy of sustainable products, difficulty in changing behavior and requirement of knowledge and expertise. This study advocates that despite existing barriers to incorporation of sustainability in firms and consumer buying behavior, internal sustainable business practices and certain value addition levers can be utilized to gain from sustainability and firms can capitalize on opportunities from sustainability and marketing can help overcome barriers on the consumer’s end.
Keywords: original equipment manufacturer, sustainability, barriers, marketing levers, value addition levers.
