The Economic reforms ushered in early 1990’s across the world triggered the current expandeddevelopmental path which is essentially consumption oriented. In effect it goes against the principle of sustainability. The marketing strategies of a firm assumed a greater role and significance in a competitive economy to create and expand the market base continually so as to maximize its profits. They influence the purchase decisions of the consumers through its various tools andtechniques. This ultimately leads to consumerism or consumption on a scale that supports the constantly expanding market base. And, this brings the issue of sustainability of various resource endowments to the forefront of analysis. The extraction-production-consumption streams pose many and varied forms of environmental hazards. As resource endowments are finite and depleting, the marketing strategies of enhancing consumption for short term gain by ignoring their impacts onenvironment has become increasingly questionable. The marketing strategies of the corporate can only be sustainable if they are adequately complemented by appropriate environmental protection measures and resource exploration strategies on a scale that mitigate the immediate dangersof depletion. The paper therefore tries to make a few critical observations on various facets of marketing strategies in a competitive economy. The paper also advocates the need to integratethe sustainability aspects with the formulation of marketing strategies to ensure firm’s long-term survival. It also pleads that it is better to match demand with supply rather than the current practice of supply with demand in the interests of environmental and resource base sustainability and to achieve their compatibility with globalization. It also addresses the intervening period between now and the future when resource base will be expanded to a near inexhaustibility through S&T.
The three appendices at the end give an empirical assessment/validation.