A study of ethical green marketing

This thesis examines the extent and scope of influence of ethical and green issues on organisational decision making strategies. It further analyses companies' approach to such themes and the manner in which ethical and green marketing is implemented. Associated concepts such as corporate social responsibility, sustainable development and so forth, as well as the background to the emergence and growth of interest in environmentalism and the relevant ethical perspectives are explored. A comprehensive review of the literature carried out over almost 10 years and spread over a number of chapters is further complemented by the findings of case studies based on organisations participating in this research programme, in 1999, 2003 and 2005. The result is an invaluable insight into major ethical and green theories and concepts as well as their possible implementation by the firms in question. This compares and contrasts theory with practice and is also used for triangulation purposes.

The findings indicate that, overall, organisations are either increasingly implementing green policies or are seriously considering their application to their operations and activities. Driving forces of company greening policies were also discussed in this thesis. Although the majority of organisations agree with the notion that `good ethics are good for business', there was no indication of an industry wide paradigm shift. Higher levels of consumer cynicism and suspicion of `green-washing' was also noted. Marketing managers have a major task to educate and, convince consumers and promote green products as those that are of high quality, value for money, accessible and simultaneously green. A further social responsibility of marketing managers is to move beyond product focused greening and to formulate and implement holistic marketing strategies that encompass all components of marketing and business.