The VRIN Framework in Sustainable Marketing: How Eco-Innovation Redefines Global Marketing Strategy for Plastic Reduction

This study outlines the impact of sustainable marketing frameworks on plastic waste mitigation and competitive advantage through a longitudinal analysis spanning 2014–2026 for Coca-Cola, Unilever, Adidas, and TerraCycle. By combining Stakeholder Theory, the Triple Bottom Line (TBL), Institutional Theory, and the Resource-Based View (RBV) using the VRIN (Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, Non-substitutable) criteria, the study analyses the critical asymmetry evident in “Substantive Integration” (e.g., Adidas’ use of 99% recycled polyester) against “Strategic Decoupling” (e.g., Coca-Cola’s support of a ‘World Without Waste’ initiative and its use of 2.94 M metric tons of virgin plastic). The study’s results indicate that without operational governance, sustainability assertions become rhetorical devices. The study offers a VRIN-based model to reconceptualize sustainable marketing as a mechanism of circular governance, whereby transformative plastic waste reduction is achievable when marketing focus is integrated within a circular system encompassing the entire firm.