The Centre for Global Management and Responsible Leadership (CGMRL), XLRI - Xavier School of Management, in collaboration with La Trobe Business School, Melbourne, Australia recently organised ‘International Conference on Responsible Marketing’.
The two-day conference was inaugurated by Anand Sen (President, TQM and Steel Business, Tata Steel). In his address, Sen emphasised the need to promote responsible consumption and reduce wastage. The key note addresses were delivered by Oswald Mascarenhas, SJ (JRD Tata Chair Professor of Business Ethics at XLRI), who spoke on “Responsible marketing in a turbulent market”, and B Hariharan (Vice President, ITC Hotels), who explained how ITC is “designing and marketing responsible luxury”.
Elaborating on the conference, Pingali Venugopal, coordinator, CGMRL, said, “Sustainability has become a major concern for the UN. Marketing is being blamed for all the ills in society — be it excessive consumption, environmental degradation or unethical behaviour such as price wars, selective advertising, and deceptive marketing. It is in this context, we organised the conference with the aim to consolidate research in this area and develop a framework for responsible marketing.”
“Socially responsible marketing is critical of excessive consumerism and environmental damages caused by corporations. It is based on the idea that market offerings must not be only profit-driven, but they must also reinforce social and ethical values for the benefit of citizens, including those in the bottom of the pyramid. Responsible marketing also means that these values are communicated and enforced by everyone in an organisation. While marketers who are pursuing a socially-responsible agenda understand that such efforts do not automatically translate into increased revenue or even improved public image, research and experience suggest that organisations that consistently exhibit socially responsible tendencies may eventually gain a strong reputation that could pay dividends in the form of increased customer loyalty,” he added.
On the occasion, Anand Sen and E Abraham, SJ Director, XLRI, launched an ‘e-waste policy’. This policy has been developed by CGMRL as an offshoot of the conference on e-waste management organised by it in January 2016. XLRI has tied up with JUSCO to dispose its e-waste in an environmentally friendly manner. After the policy’s launch, X-Lead and Sigma, the student bodies of XLRI, spearheaded e-waste collection and a disposal drive on campus.
E Abraham said, “We are happy to associate with the La Trobe Business School, Melbourne, Australia for the conference. Like XLRI, the first B-school in India to endorse the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) under the UN Global Compact, La Trobe Business School is the first in Australia.”
The conference discussed the theoretical underpinnings of the multi-dimensional nature of sustainability, the ethical issues of buyer and seller information asymmetry, consumer awareness, knowledge and behaviour towards sustainable consumption. Subsequently, the conference focussed on experiences of the companies involved in responsible marketing as well as the involvement of larger organisations in cause-related marketing and corporate social responsibility.
Around 56 papers, from different business schools in India, Australia, USA, Canada and the neighbouring countries, were presented at the conference. Researchers felt that consumers are aware of sustainability and environmental concerns, however, price still governs behaviour and there is a need to work on better technologies and education to promote sustainable consumption. Companies, on their part, are working towards building a culture of sustainability within their organisations though there could be a conflict with short term profitability. Strategies to build sustainable practices in organisations were discussed.
A two-day faculty development programme on responsible marketing was also conducted to help faculty and doctoral students develop curriculum and cases to teach responsible marketing. The faculty development programme, attended by 19 participants, was conducted by faculty both from XLRI and LaTrobe University.