Sustainable marketing management - Functional thinking, marketing vs. the environment & sustainable strategies

The aim of this essay is to describe and to discuss the implications of a functional orientation on product development and market communication. Therefore firstly, the definition as well as the reasons of the need of the implementation of functional orientation are shown. Secondly, the consequences and dangers of this approach on product development and market communication are presented and discussed.

Further, the goal of the second part is to work out and describe the concepts of dematerialisation as well as functional orientation from a sustainable perspective. Therefore, the term ‘dematerialisation’ is definded and a brief general overview about the current situation is given. Secondly, this approach as well as the approach of functional orientation will be presented and discussed out of a sustainable perspective.

Finally, the aim of the last elaboration is to work out the paradoxes between the theoretical approach of marketing, namely the foundations of marketing, and the concepts and values of a sustainable society. It will be conducted, what problems might appear when these two approaches are brought together. Therefore, first of all the theoretical foundations of marketing are named and described. Secondly, the concepts and values of a sustainable society are shown and discussed. After this, the problems which are occuring, when these two approaches are brought together, are presented.