Experiencing the Macromarketing Dimensions of Sustainability:Lessons Learned from Field Trips to the Ultra Novel

Abstract

This paper seeks to determine the value of field trips that help establish macromarketing and sustainability scholarship in mainstream business/marketing education. It explores the experiences of postgraduate marketing and business strategy students undertaking a field trip to the “World’s Greenest Football Club,” Forest Green Rovers. It responds to the call to establish the macromarketing viewpoint within business and management education and provides contemporary insight into the hitherto unexplored use of field trips for postgraduate students. Through student focus groups the study identifies the importance of selecting field trip locations where the complex and interwoven interplay of meso, micro, and macro activities can be critically evaluated through multiple stakeholder interactions. In addition, it points to the value of students experiencing “ultra-novel” organizations and situations to motivate learning, stimulate critical debate, and thereby facilitate cognition of macromarketing systems and sustainability.