TY  - CHAP
AB  - Purpose The purpose of this chapter is fivefold. First, it highlights that, despite apparent progress, business in general, and marketing in particular, has made little impact upon environmental sustainability. Second, it offers four explanations for the persistent challenges that contribute to this lack of meaningful progress. Third, it presents two theoretical lenses (i.e., assemblage theory and socio-ecological systems theory) for viewing environmental sustainability from new perspectives. Fourth, it offers a mid-range theory, biomimicry, to bridge the gap between these higher-level theories and managerial decisions on the ground. Finally, it offers implications and ideas for future research based on these persistent challenges and new perspectives.Methodology/approach Our paper is theoretical in focus. We offer a conceptual analysis of persistent challenges facing business efforts in environmental sustainability and suggest useful lenses to integrate marketing decisions more closely with our natural environment.Findings We present biomimicry as an actionable framework that seeks inspiration from nature and also explicitly grounds marketing decisions in the natural world.Practical Implications Our paper draws attention to the challenges facing firms seeking to achieve better performance in environmental sustainability. In addition, it offers a set of fresh theoretical perspectives as well as future issues for scholarly research in this domain.Originality/value Our work is designed to be provocative; it articulates reasons why business efforts in environmental sustainability do not scale to meaningful impact upon our planet and explores theoretical lenses by which those efforts could be more impactful.
VL  - 13
SN  - 978-1-78635-282-8, 978-1-78635-281-1/1548-6435
DO  - 10.1108/S1548-643520160000013010
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S1548-643520160000013010
AU  - Mohr Jakki J.
AU  - Price Linda L.
AU  - Rindfleisch Aric
PY  - 2016
Y1  - 2016/01/01
TI  - Marketing’s Quest for Environmental Sustainability: Persistent Challenges and New Perspectives
T2  - Marketing in and for a Sustainable Society
T3  - Review of Marketing Research
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 29
EP  - 59
Y2  - 2024/04/19
ER  -