School of Business, Economics and Law 2021

University of Gothenburg

Research Project

Sustainable Marketing Management

1 Research project - objectives
The aim of the case study is to produce a critical analysis of the sustainability aspects of
the marketing activities within a given company thereby emphasizing the practical
aspects of sustainable marketing management. Thus, the objective of the research
project is to present, analyze and discuss how theoretical concepts, models and tools
are applied, or can be applied in a specific company. The research project is the
examination of learning outcome three:
apply relevant theories within the area of sustainable marketing to a case company.
Attention should be given to both a critical examination as well as a constructive
discussion of the processes and activities studied.

You will be asked to carry out a case study in groups of five to eight persons. The
groups will be formed at the beginning of the course and you should choose your own
case company. The research report should show the ability of the student to use a
scientific approach to questions and problems by delivering conclusions based on the
results of the study and with references to existing theory. You need to demonstrate
theoretical knowledge and it is therefore important that you relate your findings to
theory and not merely state the theory. In other words, you should show the ability to
apply theory when discussing your results. You are required to go beyond reproducing
the text book version of the theory and instead produce a synthesis of various theories
and concepts related to the results.

2 Case study research

In this research project you are asked to do a case study on a company that you identify
yourself. Your task is to study some activities and processes within the areas of
marketing strategy, market communications, product development and purchasing from
a sustainability perspective. Depending on the company and industry in question
different focus and perspectives will appear. Case studies, used as the pedagogical tool,
have been chosen because they come close to real life situations and they allow for a
good mix between theory and practice.

3 Criteria for assessment

The evaluation of the projects will be based on your ability to synthesize various
theories and concepts with the empirical data, but also on your presentation. In other
words, the evaluation of the research project report focuses on the use of relevant
literature when analyzing data. Thus it is central for the quality of the project that you
use not only literature supplied in the course but also look for relevant literature
yourself. The library has a computerized search system that will help you find all the
reference material you may need.

When assessing the research projects the following parts will be evaluated:
 Background and formulation of research questions
 Methodological awareness
 Case description – empirical presentation
 Theoretical analysis and discussion of results based on relevant literature
 Conclusions and recommendations

The report will be given the grade Pass or Fail.

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All team members are equally responsible for doing a scientific project of high quality.
If the research project is not approved a possibility for revision will be allowed. Overall
research project feedback will be given when the research project is orally presented.

4 Presentation of research projects

Written report
The project report should be 10-15 pages (single-spaced, normal margins, font size 12
Times New Roman). It should be handed in by the latest at 23.59 the 26th of October
2021 on Canvas on the course website.

Oral presentation
Research projects will be presented at seminars on 27th of October. Please prepare your
presentation visually.
Below you find the schedule for the group presentations on October 27nd.. At each of
the time slots, all participants of the 3 groups (see below) must attend during the whole
session (compulsory). They present their own project (10 minutes) and discuss it with
the other 3 groups (10 minutes), who should be active as discussants.

8.00-10.00 Group 1-3

10.00-12.00 Group 4-6

13.00-15.00 Group 7-9

15.00-17.00 Group 10-12

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6 Disposition of project report
Below is a suggestion for the layout of the final research report:

- Abstract
- Background description
- Research questions and purpose of project
- Theoretical framework
- Methodology discussion
- Case description
- Theoretical discussion
- Conclusions and recommendations

Please note that this is only a suggestion and alternative layouts can be used as long as
they are logically presented and contain the required elements.

Abstract
The research report usually starts with a summary (approx. 0.5 page), which should be
representative for the whole work, i.e. it should include the following parts:

 Problem background
 Purpose of the study
 Research methodology
 The research results
 Conclusions

Chapter 1 – Background description

- presentation of research project
- presentation of your case/company and the industry
- discussion of the sustainability problems and the sustainable challenges
associated to the case company and industry

Chapter 2 - Research Questions and Purpose

Discussion of relevant sustainable marketing problems. Both theoretical arguments and
practical insights are needed when developing case-relevant research questions.

- formulation of research questions

- purpose of project

Chapter 3 – Theoretical framework

It is important to use scientific literature in the project work. In this section, you present
the main theories and concepts that you will later use in your analysis. It is important
that you go beyond reproducing the text book version of the theory and instead produce
a synthesis of various theories and concepts related to the results. The reader of the
report does not want to read summaries of different articles and text books, but instead
wants to find an integrated framework clearly related to your research question.

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Chapter 4 – Methodology discussion
The methodology chapter should deal with both the theoretical and the practical aspects
of the case study method used in the study. You should refer to some books on case
study to get the suitable theoretical basis. The practical aspects of the methodology
should focus on "What you have done and how you have done it".

Chapter 5 - Case description

The case description should provide the reader with a detailed description of the
activities and processes within the case company that are related to the research
questions.

Chapter 6 - Analysis
The analysis should focus on the case results, i.e. the case description should be
analyzed by using the theoretical framework developed in Chapter 3. This discussion
should show the ability of the students to use a scientific approach to questions and
problems by delivering arguments based on the results of the study and with references
to existing theory. You need to demonstrate knowledge and proficiency in using
theories. It is important that you relate your findings to theory and not merely state the
theory. In other words, you should show the ability to apply theory when discussing
your results. This is the most difficult part of your project, but also the most important
part. Make sure that you really use your theoretical framework and do in-depth
analyses. A reoccurring problem in project reports is too shallow analysis with the
authors quickly jumping from one argument to the next. Focus, focus, focus is the key
to a successful theoretical discussion.

Chapter 7 - Conclusions and Recommendations

In this final part of the report, you deliver a short answer to your research question
based on your theoretical discussion. You should have something to say at this point
that provides an interesting answer to your research question. End the report with a few
short and concrete recommendations for how to improve the studied situation (usually
0,5 pages, max 1 page).

Chapter 8 – References
A list of the used references.

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