Post-growth Marketing

Most of what students learn in conventional marketing courses assumes a background story that is rarely made explicit: that economies can and should keep growing, that firms should keep expanding, and that “good marketing” is marketing that helps drive that growth. At the same time, we are entering a world marked by ecological breakdown, social inequality, and growing doubts about whether further economic growth is either feasible or desirable.
This post-growth marketing module starts from that tension. We will ask a simple but uncomfortable question: what happens to marketing if we stop taking economic growth for granted? From there, we will look at why many “green” and “sustainable” marketing efforts fail to change much, and how the growth paradigm constrains what organisations, brands, and consumers can imagine as possible or desirable.
Post-growth and degrowth debates have emerged across ecological economics, political ecology, postcolonial thinking, and social movements as attempts to rethink prosperity beyond the pursuit of ever-increasing consumption and production. These perspectives invite us to reconsider what counts as value, whose needs are prioritised, and how economic activities are organised within ecological limits. For marketing, they open up a space to imagine different roles for brands, markets, and consumers: not simply as engines of demand and growth, but as part of broader efforts to sustain livelihoods, care, and collective well-being within a finite planet.

1. Identify and critically assess key limitations of the growth paradigm, using the main vocabularies and foundational concepts of degrowth and post-growth theory.

2. Analyse how post-growth ideas challenge conventional views of organisations, business, and innovation, and evaluate examples of post-growth organisational and innovation models.

3. Design a basic marketing plan for a post-growth organisation that is consistent with degrowth principles and with the critiques of growth and conventional marketing discussed in the course

In presenza

The first block of this course will be dedicated to introducing key theoretical ideas and critiques that postgrowth poses for conventional marketing thinking and practice. We will start at the macromarketing level, considering marketing management as a practice embedded in – and structured by – broad ecological, social and economic system dynamics. 

The second block of the course focuses on the role of creativity, science, technology, and organisational forms in shaping pathways beyond the growth paradigm. It examines how innovation and organisational design can be re-oriented toward ecological integrity, social justice, and democratic participation. 

The third block will be an exploration of the traditional marketing plan, delving into the potential and constraints that its structure and tools can pose for post-growth organisations. 

Components

Assessment is based on both an individual written exam (50% ) and a group assignment (50%). The group assignment involves the production of a marketing plan for a postgrowth organisation chosen by the students. The format for group coursework will be an oral presentation (20 min approximately). While the assessed component of the group work is an oral presentation, each group must submit a written report (2.500 words) where they elaborate on their (orally presented) marketing plan. Part III of the module will be oriented to the production of the plan, with tutor-guided practical activities that will be directly relevant to the group assignment.

Written exam

During the exam, the use of notes, books, the Internet, generative AI, and any other type of document is not permitted. Students are expected to know what we covered in class. As such, they must attend at least 60% of the classes. 

Group assignment

The group project is designed to assess whether you can translate post-growth ideas into a concrete marketing proposal and defend your decisions. It involves an oral presentation (approximately 20 minutes) supported by a written report (maximum 2,500 words). The assessed component is the oral presentation. The written report is not graded separately, but it is compulsory: it provides space to expand on the arguments you will cover in the presentation and will be read in advance by the tutors so they can prepare questions and check that your plan is consistent with the post-growth critiques discussed in the course.