Introduction: special issue on examining marketing's unintended consequences

摘要

Typically, firms engage in successful marketing activities with outcomes beneficial to both the firm and its various stakeholders. However, an increasing number of situations occur where successful marketing activities impact on stakeholders, such as consumers and society, in an unanticipated negative manner. While firms have focused on the financial benefit to the organisation (i.e., profits and competitive advantage), they have tended not to fully consider the total set of benefits and costs to all stakeholders involved in the wider exchange network. The dilemma and challenge for organisations in today's marketing environment is not only to produce profits and benefits for their shareholders but also to manage their affairs in such a way that, at the very least, they are not detrimental to society (Abratt and Sacks, 1988).