FACTORS AFFECTING GREEN MARKETING IN INDIA

INTRODUCTION

GREEN MARKETING - Green marketing products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. It
incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production
process, (sustainable packaging), as well as modifying advertising.

Green, environmental and eco-marketing are part of the new marketing approaches which do not just
refocus, adjust or enhance existing marketing thinking and practice, but seek to challenge those
approaches and provide a substantially different perspective.

In more detail green, environmental and eco-marketing belong to the group of approaches which seek
to address the lack of fit between marketing as it is currently practiced and the ecological and social
realities of the wider marketing environment.
 LITERATURE REVIEW

Cateora Graham, in International Marketing, has drawn a parallel line between green marketing and
product development. The author has cited a variety of examples where the importance of green
marketing has been laid focus on. Green marketing is a term used to identify concern with the
environmental consequences of a variety of marketing activities. It very evident from the author’s
research and examples the packaging and solid waste rules are burdensome but there are successful
cases of not only meeting local standards but also being able to transfer this approach to other markets.

Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller in Marketing Management has initiated the topic by discussing
about the relevance of green marketing in the past few decades and has also discussed the explosion of
environmentally friendly products. However, according to the author from the branding perspective
green marketing programs have not been very successful. Marketers tried and failed with green sales
pitches over the last decade because of certain obstacles which the movement encountered. The
consumer behaviour is such that most consumers appear unwillingly to give up the benefits of other
alternatives to choose green products.

Along with definitions from different sources, the authors Debraj Dutta and Mahua Dutta, of
Marketing Management, have given an explanation of what is green marketing. According to the
authors green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities including the modification of product,
production process and packaging. The authors have also discussed a few literature sources that have
focused on green marketing and its relevance in today’s era. It was evident that the possible reasons
because of which organizations engage in green marketing.

K.K.Shrivastava & Sujata Khandai, the author of Consumer Behaviour in Indian Context, has discussed
green marketing legislation in association with the multinational corporations. These face a growing
variety of legislation designed to address environmental issues. Global concern for the environment
extends beyond industrial pollution, hazardous waste disposal and rampant deforestation to include
issues that focus directly on consumer products.

Kenneth E. Clow & Donald Baack the authors of Integrated Advertising, Promotion and Marketing
Communication. According to the authors the marketers need to be aware of the threats and
opportunities associate with four trends in the natural environment namely shortage of raw materials,
increased cost of energy, increased pollution levels and the changing roles of government. New
regulations hit certain industries very hard and also that consumers often appear conflicted about the
natural environment.
Jacquelyn A. Ottman the author of Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation, has explained green
marketing from an organizational standpoint, environmental considerations should be integrated into
all aspects of marketing new product development and communications and all points in between.
According to the author environment should be balanced with primary customer needs. The so-called
"green consumer" movements in the U.S. and other countries have struggled to reach critical mass and
to remain in the forefront of shoppers' minds. The lack of consensus by consumers, marketers, activists,
regulators, and influential people has slowed the growth of green products.

Prof. Sanjit Kumar Dash author of Green Marketing: Opportunities & Challenges has mentioned that
all activities designed to generate and facilitate any exchange intended to satisfy human needs or wants
such that satisfying of these needs and wants occur with minimal detrimental input on the national
environment. The evolution of green marketing involves (three phases) from this article. First phase was
termed as "Ecological" green marketing, and during this period all marketing activities were concerned
to help environment problems and provide remedies for environmental problems. Second phase was
"Environmental" green marketing and the focus shifted on clean technology that involved designing of
innovative new products, which take care of pollution and waste issues. Third phase was "Sustainable"
green marketing. It came into prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000.

In the Strategic Marketing and Green Marketing, the Green Imperative is impossible to ignore, and
companies are scrambling to understand how to develop business models that are more sustainable.
After an objective analysis of all product, process, and policy issues associated with your company as
well as performing an assessment of your current marketing strategy, we can develop a comprehensive
sustainability and corporate responsibility strategy to increase ROI. The organization will then become
more efficient through environmental and social responsibility, achieve superior competitive advantage
and brand differentiation, as well as enhance your brand image in the marketplace.

In accordance with the Strategic Marketing - Brand Development and Green marketing the brand
image is derived from marketing strategy. We can develop the brand identity and mold the company's
image within the framework of the strategic marketing plan. This strategy and design teams develop the
marketing communications materials around maintaining a positive, distinctive, and consistent brand
image in the marketplace.

Green Marketing and Social Networks have discussed the problems related to the idea of greening the
world through marketing. The article has discussed that organizations are not running charities and
their main objective should be to align their own objectives with that of the protection of the
environment. And if it is really delivered the environmental goods will deliver positive results for the
organization. The programme already lists quite a few problems with the various environmental targets
and actions described by retailers.

David Wigder the writer of Reframing Global Warming across the Political Spectrum provides a
different approach towards green marketing from this article. The author says that the green marketers
are challenged to efficiently reach consumers and effectively impact their attitudes and
behaviors. Marketing Green’s mission is to provide industry professionals with practical strategic
marketing advice on how to build green brands and motivate mass market adoption of more
sustainable products. Today, there is a common perception that Democrats are more pro-environment
than Republicans.

Kilbourne, W.E. (1998) discussed the failure of green marketing to move beyond the limitations of the
prevailing paradigm. The author identified areas that must be examined for their effect in the
marketing/environment relationship, namely economic, political and technological dimensions of the
cultural frame of reference.

Prothero, A. (1998) introduced several papers discussed in the July 1998 issue of 'Journal of Marketing
Management' focusing on green marketing. This included a citation of the need to review existing
literature on green marketing, an empirical study of United States and Australian marketing managers, a
description of what a green alliance look like in practice in Great Britain, ecotourism and definitions of
green marketing.

Sanjay K. Jain & Gurmeet Kaur (2004) in their study of environmentalism which had fast emerged as a
worldwide phenomenon discussed business firms too have risen to the occasion and have started
responding to environmental challenges by practicing green marketing strategies. Green consumerism
has played a catalytic role in ushering corporate environmentalism and making business firms green
marketing oriented. Based on the data collected through a field survey, the paper made an assessment
of the extent of environmental awareness, attitudes and behaviour prevalent among consumers in
India.

Brahma, M. & Dande, R. (2008), The Economic Times, Mumbai, had an article which stated that, Green
Ventures India is a subsidiary of New York based asset management firm Green Ventures International.
The latter recently announced a $300 million India focused fund aimed at renewable energy products
and supporting trading in carbon credits.
WHY ARE FIRMS USING GREEN MARKETING?

While looking through the literature there are several suggested reasons for firms increased use of
Green Marketing. Five possible reasons cited are:

1. Organizations perceive environmental marketing to be an opportunity that can be used to achieve its
objectives [Keller, 1987; Shearer, 1990].

2. Organizations believe that they have a moral obligation to be more socially responsible [Davis,1992;
Freeman and Liedtka,1991; Keller,1987; McIntosh, 1990; Shearer, 1990;].

3. Governmental bodies are forcing firms to become more responsible [NAAG, 1990;].

4. Competitors environmental activities pressurize firms to change their environmental marketing

activities [NAAG,1990;] and
5. Cost factors associated with waste disposal or reductions in material usage forces firms to modify
their behavior [Azzone and Manzini,1994;].

Robert Dahlstrom (2011) examined that Green Marketing has positive influences on many players in the
economy. The environment, developing economies, consumers, corporate strategy, the product,
production processes, and supply chain benefit from green marketing and adoption of green marketing
strategies. Green marketing firms establish strategic alliances with government, local communities,
nongovernmental organizations, industry experts, and competitors.

Philip Kotler & Kevin Lane Keller (2011) - Companies that mound (introduce) “green programs” can face
two main problems :-

a) Consumers may believe that product is of inferior quality because of being green and

b) Consumers feel the product is not really that green to begin with.

The study by Altaf Khan(2011) about the Indian companies practicing the Green Marketing Concepts as
follows :

• Samsung Electronics has adopted modern environmental conservation activities, such as the
developing of environmental-friendly products and service and maintaining a safe and pleasant working
environment at factories, based on Green Management and the Life-Cherishing philosophy.

• Tuna manufacturing company has modified their fishing techniques because of the increased concern
over drift-net fishing and the resulting death of dolphins.

• Toyota, the most popular automobile industry, introduced the Prius, which is the first hybrid car that
is more environmental-friendly compared to other cars.
• Xerox, the pioneer photocopier company introduced a - high quality recycled photocopier in an

attempt to satisfy the demands of firms for less environmentally harmful products.