Sustainability and Social Marketing Issues in Asia

This case highlights the green agriculture initiative of the Honliv High Tech Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. towards agriculture environmental protection and better life. In this process, the Honliv Company confronted many difficulties, such as addressing the green transformation concerns of the team, identifying the sustainable agriculture target, the project selection of red globe grape products, the planning of a demonstration vineyard and green marketing. Nevertheless, with the Red Globe Grape of the “Honliv brand” had won the certification of China’s “Grade A” green food mark, and its green marketing initiatives, such as the “picking and demonstration model” had won people’s identification. The company was awarded the honorary titles of “Red Globe grape planting demonstration base with the Chinese characteristics” and “pollution-free science and technology demonstration unit of Chinese fruits and vegetables.” By discussing the Honliv Company’s experience and difficulties during the sustainable agriculture transformation process, one can realize the importance of green agriculture initiatives for creating a better life for humans.

The environmental impact of energy supply is growing which has a significant impact on regional and global environmental issues. As a solution for this, both developed and developing nations paying attention to convert their energy productivity by using renewable energy like wind and solar energy. Sri Lankan government also aims to obtain the full amount of electricity required from local renewable sources by the year 2050 under the project called “sooryabala sangramaya” (the battle for solar energy). Currently, Sri Lanka’s power generation sector is heavily dependent on imported fuels, such as petroleum and coal, resulting in growing detrimental impacts on the country’s sustainable socioeconomic development. With the growing market of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology, Sri Lanka is turning its attention towards generating the total amount of electricity required from solar power by promoting the installation of arrays of PV panels on the rooftops of households, religious places, hotels, commercial establishments and industries. It also aims to deploy solar PV for sustainable rural development, mainly focused on uplifting people living in remote areas in the country. This chapter discusses how Sri Lanka has initiated a rooftop solar PV adoption program to lessen imported fuels’ socioeconomic and environmental impacts. Moreover, this case demonstrates that the adoption of rooftop solar PV brings many socioeconomic benefits to its consumers.

This is a case study about the green agenda of Urban Hijau, a social enterprise which promotes urban farming as a way to a foster sustainability. It narrates how it started and progressed through the introduction of various sustainable farming systems. The landscape of farming with its opportunities and challenges such as embracing permaculture as a farming philosophy, and food security are presented. The case ends with questions which Urban Hijau has to address in order to sustain its social enterprise. Can a small urban farm contribute significantly to the food industry? If so, how? Is Urban Hijau on the right track?

This case highlights the journey of the Capital University of Science and Technology (CUST) to adhere to the green organization initiatives. In 2016, the government of Pakistan announced its adherence to the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) 2030 and asked the regulatory bodies to improvize accordingly. Following this announcement, the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the main regulatory body in Pakistan, instructed all universities to fulfill their responsibility toward environment and align themselves with UN-SDGs 2030. As a response to this call, in 2017, CUST decided to shift toward sustainability by making changes in its policies and strategic planning. The emphasis was vital to attract Gen Z, gain international recognition, and align with the Pakistan regulatory body of (HEC). In doing so, the management decided that the campus should go green. The installation of solar panels on campus was one such green initiative through which the university was able to produce 3,650 units per day. After a long and decisive struggle, the university has achieved eighth position in Universitas Indonesia-GreenMetric World Ranking 2020 and making the regulatory authority happier.

This case discusses the journey of SELCO Foundation, a Bengaluru based not-for-profit organization. It provides key learning and insights for social transformation and poverty alleviation. With the vision of “creating inclusive development pathways that were socially and environmentally sustainable,” the Foundation fostered and scaled ecosystems for democratization of access to clean energy and sustainable solutions for the marginalized communities. Using decentralized renewable energy (DRE), SELCO’s initiatives had established linkages between SDG7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG4 (Quality Education), SDG8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). Throughout its journey, it continuously challenged normative development paradigms and perceptions about gender issues, poverty, and sustainability as a whole through a people-centric approach; empowering individuals, communities, and institutions. The recent COVID-19 pandemic landed a massive blow to the country’s socioeconomic structure. SELCO Foundation’s teams deployed in remote locations for livelihood interventions programs had faced a multitude of challenges due to COVID-19 lockdown. As a response to COVID-19 crisis, SELCO Foundation rallied its resources to support relief efforts across India. It leveraged its expertise in energy by deploying a pan India network of grass-root partners; community-sourced innovations to ramp-up last mile healthcare infrastructure, build community resilience programs, and strengthen existing capabilities. Leveraging sustainable solutions as a medium, SELCO’s transformative work extended beyond access to clean energy, and sought to address complex issues such as healthcare, education, reduction in drudgery in manual jobs, creating opportunities for dignified work and more. Through this case study, this chapter discusses the emergence, journey, and initiatives of SELCO Foundation. It explores a practice-based pedagogy of social transformation, and challenges faced in ecosystem building during the times of the pandemic. The chapter initiates a discussion for a way forward for the social enterprise in times of uncertainties and stringencies in order to continue impacting underprivileged lives to the best.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a complete medical healthcare system that encompasses acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, herbal medicine, diet, tui na massage, and exercises (tai chi and qigong) among other traditional therapies. It uses herbs and natural resources to produce the traditional medicines and focuses on maintaining the balance between body and mind. As such, many aspects of TCM can be considered as green and sustainable. While there is market demand for TCM in some countries and among some communities, some others are still not aware of TCM. Moreover, there are fewer discussions in the academic platforms on TCM. This case highlights the scenario of TCM based on Malaysia’s perspective and discusses its challenges and prospects.

The impact of conflict and violence is not only limited to the conflict region itself, but it usually extends to neighboring countries and regions. The Syrian conflict is an example of border-sharing countries hosting a million refugees and re-adapting to the new situation. This case highlights the corporate social responsibility initiative of a Lebanese businessman and business owner in 2019. It explains how this businessman and his company reacted to the waves of Syrian refugees moving to his city in Lebanon. More particularly, it describes the pro-active reaction of the company during the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon and how this reaction has transformed from a donation-based to business-based solution and rearranged its priority to help Syrian refugees. The philanthropic experience of the company before the refugee crisis was donation-dominated. The case also outlines the forms the company and its owner have designed to provide traditional aids (shelters, food, and clothes) and creating jobs for refugees. It shows the need to change the managerial behavior and perspectives due to the unusual situation of conflict. This situation has created a unique experience of corporate social responsibility in Lebanon as an example of a refugee-hosting country.

This case discusses Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam’s (BIBD) social responsibility initiative. Social marketers are committed to people’s health and well-being; they are not profit-oriented and are seeking a larger market share than commercial marketers. One such example is “Community for Brunei” the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative by BIBD. It is an online marketplace designed to help small businesses, highlighting different social and philanthropic causes that are important to Bruneians’ nurturing identity. BIBD assists the country’s small, medium, and micro entrepreneurs to actively and competitively expand their businesses through the Brunei community. It aims to help ease and transform the marketplace for struggling entrepreneurs during the pandemic. The Brunei Community Platform uses technology to bring communities together and provide an online ecosystem with integrated digital payment gateways as part of their efforts to encourage a digital society driven by a cashless economy. Other than a digital marketplace, the Community for Brunei has evolved into a social charitable platform conducting charity drives in collaboration with other non-government organizations as well as a donation platform enabling the community to donate and give back to the nation in difficult times such as the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of BIBD’s overall commitment to maintain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, events related to Community for Brunei also guards urban areas to ensure its safety, resilience and sustainability. BIBD’s CSR projects also promotes sustainability in consumption and clean production patterns, and takes urgent action by responding to climate change and its impact. The key takeaways of BIBD’s digital platform Community for Brunei is not only to accept but to fully embrace digitization of today’s businesses to not only continue thriving in this very restricted and scarcely resourced environment but to also open up opportunities to enter their goods and services into the global market. It has also become a community-driven and socially responsible platform providing a place for the society to give back to the community.

This case discusses the issue and challenges faced by MoveInSync during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative that contributed to the employees’ wellbeing. India was significantly hit by the pandemic and the impact has been severe. The corporate sector of India irrespective of the company size has worked for hand in hand with the government to contribute to handling the pandemic. One such company is MoveInSync which offers transport and security operations to enhance employee commute space. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacting their business operations, MoveInSync continued its CSR effort to help the needy and cared for its own employees.

MAPNA Operation and Maintenance Company was established in 2003 to provide long-term services in the energy sector in Iran. This company delivered comprehensive solutions including operation and maintenance, overhaul and repair, commissioning, performance test and training in the fields of power and oil and gas. By 2021, the company had provided long-term operation and maintenance services in more than thirty power plants in Iran and had implemented more than 200 projects worth more than 300 million USD. MAPNA Operation and Maintenance Company believed that a sustainable and responsible management could be achieved through integrated management of the economic, social and environmental impacts of the business. This approach became more apparent when the company provided services countrywide, and they interacted with a wide range of stakeholders. In this context, efforts were made to create common values for both the organization and society. Some of the company’s long-term projects were in less developed areas of the country. One of the social issues in those regions was creating jobs for jobless people and preparing them to work in order to have a better life. The company policy in providing manpower for such projects was to employ indigenous manpower, training them and creating sustainable jobs for them. After hiring local workforce, the company provided professional and general training programs to improve their skills and knowledge. Also, the company was committed to prepare a healthy and safe work environment for employees to learn and comply with ethical and social norms and develop a sustainable environmental attitude by increasing the efficiency of using natural resources and controlling environmental pollution. Work-life balance programs were implemented to ensure a productive presence in the workplace and to maintain a healthy and meaningful family relationship for employees. This case aims to elaborate more on the challenges of the sustainable activities of the long-term projects that MAPNA Operation and Maintenance planned and implemented in terms of its corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship specifically in less developed areas.

This case highlights the issues and challenges of implementing solid waste management program in Polytechnic University of the Philippines – San Pedro Campus. As a local government-funded educational institution with an enrollment of over a thousand students, management of solid waste has been a concern with lack of manpower as one of the main reasons. The Campus Administration believed that solid waste management requires a collective effort of its stakeholders including the students. These students do not only contribute to the waste generation in the campus, but they can also suffer from the ill effects of poor waste management even in their communities. All of these are hugely attributed to their inadequate awareness about proper waste disposal and lack of initiative to implement changes. From a social marketing perspective, shaping students’ ability to recognize the magnitude of these issues and take corrective measures to solve them will benefit not only the campus but also the community at large.

This chapter illuminates why and how a group of local social entrepreneurs improved farmers’ living conditions and contributed to the preservation of Kerinci Seblat National Park (KSNP) through sustainable coffee farming. KSNP is the largest national park on the Island of Sumatra and is a UNESCO world heritage site. However, since 2011, it has been listed as a “World Heritage in Danger” due to illegal logging, encroachment, and poaching of KSNP land. To save KSNP and improve the living conditions of the people around the national park, a group of local social entrepreneurs gathered in 2014 and devised a vision of “preserving the nature by empowering the community” by establishing Koperasi Alam Kopi Kerinci (ALKO cooperatives). The cooperative started to recruit seasoned farmers and younger people who wanted to become agripreneurs. The coffee supply chain was strengthened by educating farmers about good farming practices and coffee traceability technology, so Kerinci coffee could compete in the export market. After seven years of collaborative work, by early 2021, the initiative empowered 516 farmers who cultivated 410 hectares of coffee plantations in 24 villages with a total production of 350 tons of Arabica specialty Kerinci coffee. Ninety-five per cent of coffee productions were exported with premium prices to Belgium, Norway, France, the Netherlands, England, New Zealand, the USA, China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Farmers started to enjoy the fruit of their hard work. Some illegal loggers stopped poaching KSNP and started to plant coffee outside KSNP. The endeavor to preserve the nature and empower the community has started to show good results.

This case highlights a brave Syrian man’s act toward social responsibility. Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel, an ambulance driver established an animal sanctuary to save and take care of the animals who were victim of the Civil War in Aleppo, Syria. Instead of finding a safer place for himself, he preferred to take care of the animals who were left behind by their owners. But it was not an easy task for him to handle alone and thus he sought help and donation from others. He and his team not only created the animal sanctuary, but also established orphanage and children playground with the money they received. During this process, Alaa faced lots of challenges, but he did not give up his duty toward animals and the other needy. This case teaches that we have responsibility toward the nature and animals too.