Maria Correia is an Assistant Lecturer in Project Management and Associate Course Director for the BSc Project Management Integrated Degree Apprenticeship at Coventry Business School.

She holds an Executive MBA at distinction level from the University of Northampton (UoN) (UK), and a 1:1 BSc in Management & Marketing from the University of the Algarve (UAlg) (Portugal).

Her research has been focused on Sustainability Marketing, having presented her work in the UoN Research Conference 2018 and published an article on Sustainability in 2019. Other research interests include sustainable tourism and cross-cultural management.

Maria’s 20+ years’ professional experience includes diverse roles in the tourism and banking industries, with a focus on customer relationship management. Prior to becoming a full-time academic, she worked for 15 years in a leading international bank as a relationship manager and financial advisor, creating and implementing strategies for improving customer satisfaction, SMART goals, and quality and assurance processes.

Maria is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy/Advance HE and a certified trainer in academic practice in Portugal (IEFP CAP).

Her teaching experience stems from designing and delivering modules such as Risk Management, Project Management, and Strategic Management; developing and facilitating workshops on academic skills; coaching and mentoring. She currently teaches Risk Management and Project Management and is actively involved in quality and assurance processes.

Sustainability awareness has become increasingly important to society and a matter of interest by scholars and professionals. Stakeholders have also been demanding sustainable organisational strategies, products and services. Therefore, the role that sustainability plays in organisations and how they are incorporating sustainability into their strategies assumes vital importance. Since marketing plays an important role in how companies communicate with their customers and stakeholders, it could be argued that sustainability marketing must receive a special focus on executives. Above all, if not properly marketed, companies that have been integrating sustainability into their strategies may not be considered as sustainable organisations and therefore, may lose market value.

This study aims to assess the actual situation in terms of sustainability awareness of the marketers and sustainability professionals. Through mixed-method research, it investigates the drivers and barriers to sustainability marketing strategies and the marketing mix being implemented on those strategies. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted with top-executives on marketing and sustainability, and a quantitative analysis complemented by a qualitative one was employed.

The research’s findings indicate that brand reputation and customer satisfaction seems to be the main drivers for pursuing a sustainability marketing strategy. Likewise, stakeholder's commitment was indicated as an important driver. Main barriers encompass the pressure for short-term profits and the difficulty to measure sustainability results. Moreover, a comprehensive sustainability marketing mix focused mainly on Promotion, Product and Place are being implemented by marketers.

Findings from this research have implications for the marketing practitioners and academics, on the drivers and barriers to sustainability marketing mix implementation.

Sustainable tourism