Important information

A penalty of five marks will be deducted for late submissions that are made within the first hour after the deadline. Submissions that are more than one hour late but within the first 24 hours of the deadline will incur a penalty of ten marks. After the first 24 hours have passed, ten marks will be deducted for every 24 hours (or part thereof) that the submission is late for a total of 5 days. After 5 days it is treated as a non-submission and given a mark of zero. The consequences of non-submission are serious and can include de-registration from the University.

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The word count for this assignment is 3,000 words.

You must state on the front of your assignment the number of words used and this will be checked.

The main text for this assignment must be word-processed in Arial, font 12, double spacing, minimum 2cm margins all around.

What does this mean for you?

Markers will mark your work up to the word count maximum plus 5% and then will stop marking; therefore all words which are in excess of the word count plus 5% will not be marked.

Where your word count is more than 5% below that specified, it is likely that this will result in a lack of analytical depth or relevant content, which will be reflected in the mark assigned.

What is in the word count?

- the main text, including in-text reference citations and quotations.

- Appendices. These may be used to include supporting data, which may be too detailed or complex to include as a Table. They are not a device to incorporate material, which would otherwise cause you to exceed the word limit.

- Title page

- Contents page

- Abstract/executive summary

- Tables, figures, legends

- Reference lists

- Acknowledgements

Summative assignment

Please read this entire document before starting the assignment. If there is anything you do not understand, then please contact the module leader. The purpose of the assignment is to assess your knowledge and understanding of the materials covered in the module and your ability to apply the theories and concepts to a highly complex and dynamic area of marketing.

Summative assessment outline

The task above is to critically examine the sustainability and ethical marketing approaches of one organisation of your choice. Use sustainability and ethical marketingtheories to  analyse the organisation of your choice to produce a critical essay.

● Collect evidence from a range of sources (including academic articles, market reports, sustainability reports, respected newspapers etc.) on the sustainability and ethical marketing approach and performance of your chosen organisation.

● Analyse this evidence using the academic theories, concepts and models covered in the taught programme, from the reading list and from your wider academic reading sources.

● From this critical analysis consider what you learned (three key lessons) and the implications for the development of sustainability and ethical marketing approaches in the organisation. Make recommendations based on your analysis. Develop a new sustainability marketing strategy and sustainability marketing mix. Recommendations for changes in marketing practice and strategy should be made from a perspective of improved levels of sustainability and ethical marketing performance. These recommendations should stem from the analysis, be realistic and based on evidence.

You may incorporate your mid-term (formative) research information where relevant.

An answer should include the following:

● A clear argument for why ethics and sustainability are important. Definitions of key concepts. Some reflection on the antecedents of sustainability marketing would also be useful here.

● Justification for choosing the organisation (why is it a relevant case for an analysis of ethics and sustainability; what is the relevance of this choice for you as a consumer and marketer?).

● Introduction to your selected organisation (i.e. context information: the socio-ecological background; organisation’s social and environmental issues and challenges). Identification of key stakeholders (stakeholder mapping) to provide some background to the chosen organisation.

● Analysis of the organisation’s marketing from an ethical and sustainability perspective (e.g. how did they respond to the issues identified above; performance – from an ethical and sustainability perspective; highlight their current strategy and key issues remaining; you need to justify with evidence what their current problems are). The essay should capture both the social and environmental aspects, but the students should scope and scale their work to outline their key focus of investigation (i.e. you may choose to focus on current environmental aspects or on social aspects, but you will still need to provide an overview of the socio-ecological context). The essay should also outline the consumer context.

● Students should apply a range of theories, models and concepts to analyse the evidence gathered. These may include, but not be limited to ethical theories; ethical consumerism frameworks; perspectives on ethical/sustainable consumer behaviour; consumer-citizen; triple bottom line; sustainability transformation; sustainability marketing mix; corporate social responsibility; consumer vulnerability; social marketing; issue literacy; sustainable marketing strategy and values and objectives etc. The application of such theories and concepts should be illustrated throughout your work.

● Identify three key learning lessons for you as a marketing student from the case you analysed. Make recommendations (i.e. a new strategy) from your analysis regarding an improved approach to sustainability and ethical marketing. This part of the answer should also utilise the theories discussed above, particularly the sustainability marketing mix. Recommendations should be realistic and based on evidence.

● Conclusions

● Important: The essay should be based on evidence from a range of sources, including the reading list (journals, think tank reports, NGO reports, sustainability reports etc.) on sustainability and ethical marketing approaches and performance in the chosen organisation. You can choose any organisation from the list above, from any global region, but you need to ensure you can find data on this organisation. It does not have to be a UK based organisation.