A PROJECT REPORT ON

“Customer awareness and perception about the green marketing of automobile”

Submitted towards the partial fulfillment of the POST GRADUARE DIPLOMA IN

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
(Approved by AICTE, Govt. of India)
(Equivalent to MBA)

ACADEMIC SESSION
2009-20011

Subject – Software Training & Report Writing

DECLARATION CERTIFICATE

We hereby declare that the work, which has been presented in report entitled “Customer
awareness and perception about the green marketing of automobile”, has truly been
an effort of our own.
This is the project which not only made us to understand the know how of the automobile
industry and its effect on the environment, but also let us to unveil the actual scenario,
which could not have been seen and would surely have been neglected in its absence.
Though, it is obvious to note that Internet has been a staunch support in the preparation of
the project, but only for collection of secondary data.
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The rest of the effort is from our end, as the knowledge gained through this is
incomparable.

CERTIFICATE FROM HEAD

Hereby it is certified that the project work entitled “Customer awareness and
perception about the green marketing of automobile” is a work carried out by
candidates is correct to best of my knowledge.

It is certified that all the subjective matter carry out by them is verified truly
authentic. The project report has been approved as it satisfies the academic requirements
in respect of Project Work.

2
--------------------------------
Dr. Tapan Kumar Nayak
(Course Co-ordinator, STRW),
IMS, Ghaziabad.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Declaration Certificate 2
2. Certificate From Head 3
3. Abstract 6
4. Acknowledgement
5. Introduction
6. Importance of green marketing
7. Challenges in green marketing
8. Green marketing mix
9. Moving towards green marketing
10. Present trends in green marketing
11. Strategy formulation
12. Features of green marketing
13. Segmentation
14. Strategies
15. Research objective
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16. Justification of study
17. Literature review
18. Research methodology
19. Data analysis
20. Summary
21. Policy implication
22. Conclusion
23. Limitation of study
24. Annexure
25. Bibliography

List of Tables/ diagrams/ charts:

1. Pie chart for awareness about Green Marketing of Automobile

2. Pie chart for willingness to pay 5% extra of current price for Green
Automobile

3. Pie chart for perception about Green Marketing promoting long-term

benefit

4. Bar chart for acceptance of Green Automobiles in rural market, as

compared to likelihood of higher acceptance in urban Area

5. Bar chart Acceptance in four-wheeler and two-wheeler segments

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 ABSTRACT

Though green issues convince all human activities, few academic disciplines have
integrated green issues into their literature. Businesses have begun to adapt their behavior
in an attempt to address society's "new" concerns. Some businesses have been quick to
accept concepts like environmental management systems and waste minimization, and
have integrated environmental issues into all organizational activities. One business area
where environmental issues have received a great deal of discussion in the popular and
professional press is marketing. As society becomes more concerned with the natural
environment, businesses have begun to modify their behavior in an attempt to address
society's "new" concerns. Some evidence of this is the development of journals such as
"Business Strategy and the Environment" and "Greener Management International," which
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are specifically designed to disseminate research relating to business' environmental
behavior. One business area where environmental issues have received a great deal of
discussion in the popular and professional press is marketing. Terms like "Green
Marketing" and "Environmental Marketing" appear frequently in the popular press. Many
governments around the world have become so concerned about green marketing
activities that they have attempted to regulate them. Green issues is new for all company
because they did not have any practiced of its before. Here the research will find out how
customers are reacting after having a concept like green product. in view of the growing
concern over the environment related aspects across the world the marketers are
attempting to address the green issues by way of increased attention to 'cradle to cradle'
products instead of 'cradle to grave' products. The need for green products is gradually
increasing on account of persistent raise in the concern for eco friendliness. Further the
research provides an in-depth understanding of the extent of awareness as regards the
green product, source of awareness, preference and level of satisfaction.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would sincerely like to thank our project guide Dr. Tapan Kumar Nayak, for
enabling us to successfully carry out the project work through his constant guidance,
endless support and continuous involvement in the project.
Finally, we owe a great deal of sincere thanks to the faculty members who have
been of great support from time to time along with our friends, who kept encouraging us all
along.
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Akanchha nayak (09017)
Akanksha aggarwal (09018)
Akanksha awasthi (09019)
Akanksha garg (09020)

INTRODUCTION

Remarkable competition is going on among the consumer, industrial and service

products. Since society becomes more anxious with the natural environment, businesses
have started to adjust their behavior in an attempt to address society's "new" concerns.
People are conscious about the less environment friendly product due to their own welfare
that is why this issue is very modern topics. Although environmental issues influence all
human activities, few academic disciplines have integrated green issues into their
literature. This is especially true in case of marketing. As society becomes more
concerned about the natural environment, businesses have begun to modify their behavior
in an attempt to address society “new” concerns. Some businesses have been quick to
accept concepts like environmental management systems and waste minimization, and
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have integrated environmental issues into all organizational activities. This research tried
to unearth the relation between green marketing and its realization towards the customer.

The like “Green Marketing” and “Environmental Marketing” appear frequently in the
popular press. Many governments around the world have become concerned about green
marketing activities and they have attempted to regulate them. People are conscious
about the less environment friendly product due to their own welfare that is why this issue
is very modern topic in today’s world.

According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of

products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing
incorporates a broad range of activities, including

• Product modification,
• Changes to the production process,
• Packaging changes, as well as
• Modifying advertising.

Yet defining green marketing is not a simple task where several meanings intersect
and contradict each other; an example of this will be the existence of varying social,
environmental and retail definitions attached to this term. Other similar terms used are
Environmental Marketing and Ecological Marketing. The legal implications of marketing
claims call for caution. Misleading or overstated claims can lead to regulatory or civil
challenges. In the USA, the Federal Trade Commission provides some guidance on
environmental marketing claims.

The term green marketing came into prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The American Marketing Association (AMA) held the first workshop on "Ecological
Marketing" in 1975. The proceedings of this workshop resulted in one of the first books on
green marketing entitled "Ecological Marketing" Thus green marketing incorporates a
broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production
process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising.

My definition which encompasses all major components of other definitions is:

"Green or Environmental Marketing consists of all activities designed to generate and
facilitate any exchanges intended to satisfy human needs or wants, such that the
satisfaction of these needs and wants occurs, with minimal detrimental impact on the
natural environment." This definition incorporates much of the traditional components of
the marketing definition that is "All activities designed to generate and facilitate any
exchanges intended to satisfy human needs or wants".

So, in simple terms Green marketing refers to the process of selling products and/or
services based on their environmental benefits. Such a product or service may be
environmentally friendly in it or produced and/or packaged in an environmentally friendly
way.

The obvious assumption of green marketing is that potential consumers will view a
product or service's "greenness" as a benefit and base their buying decision accordingly.
The not-so-obvious assumption of green marketing is that consumers will be willing to pay
more for green products than they would for a less-green comparable alternative product -
an assumption that has not been proven conclusively, specially the mild effect which it had
had on consumers has washed away by the present recession (2008-09) only.

Green marketers though argue that it is a way to use the environmental benefits of
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a product or service to promote sales. Many consumers will choose products that do not
damage the environment over less environmentally friendly products, even if they cost
more. With green marketing, advertisers focus on environmental benefits to sell products
such as biodegradable diapers, energy-efficient light bulbs, and environmentally safe
detergents.

People buy billions of dollars worth of goods and services every year—many of
which harm the environment in the way they are harvested, made, or used.
Environmentalists support green marketing to encourage people to use environmentally
preferable alternatives, and to offer incentives to manufacturers that develop more
environmentally beneficial products.

IMPORTANCE OF GREEN MARKETING

Man has limited resources on the earth, with which she/he must attempt to provide
for the worlds' unlimited wants. There is extensive debate as to whether the earth is a
resource at man's disposal. In market societies where there is "freedom of choice", it has
generally been accepted that individuals and organizations have the right to attempt to
have their wants satisfied. As firms face limited natural resources, they must develop new
or alternative ways of satisfying these unlimited wants. Ultimately green marketing looks at
how marketing activities utilize these limited resources, while satisfying consumers wants,
both of individuals and industry, as well as achieving the selling organization's objectives.

When looking through the literature there are several suggested reasons for
increased use of Green Marketing. Five possible reasons
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• Organizations perceive environmental marketing to be an opportunity that can be used to
achieve its objectives
• Organizations believe they have a moral obligation to be more socially responsible
• Governmental bodies are forcing firms to become more responsible
• Competitors' environmental activities pressure firms to change their environmental
marketing activities

• Cost factors associated with waste disposal, or reductions in material usage

forces firms to modify their behavior
• Opportunities

Goals of Green Marketing

• Eliminate the concept of waste.

• Reinvent the concept of product.
• Make prices reflect actual and environmental costs.
• Make environmentalism profitable.
• Bringing out product modifications.
• Changing in production processes.
• Packaging changes.
• Modifying advertising.

Need of Green Marketing: An Anthropological View

Issues like Global warming and depletion of ozone umbrella are the main for the
healthy survival. Every person rich or poor would be interested in quality life with full of
health and vigor and so would the corporate class. Financial gain and economic profit is
the main aim of any corporate business. But harm to environment cost by sustain business
across the globe is realized now though off late. This sense is building corporate
citizenship in the business class. So green marketing by the business class is still in the
selfish anthological perspective of long term sustainable business and to please the
consumer and obtain the sanction license by the governing body. Industries in Asian
countries are catching the need of green marketing from the developed countries but still
there is a wide gap between their understanding and implementation.

CHALLENGES IN GREEN MARKETING

• NEED FOR STANDARDIZATION

It is found that only 5% of the marketing messages from “Green” campaigns
are entirely true and there is a lack of standardization to authenticate these claims.
There is no standardization to authenticate these claims. There is no
standardization currently in place to certify a product as organic. Unless some
regulatory bodies are involved in providing the certifications there will not be any
verifiable means. A standard quality control board needs to be in place for such
labeling and licensing.

• NEW CONCEPT
Indian literate and urban consumer is getting more aware about the merits of

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 Green products. But it is still a new concept for the masses. The consumer needs to
be educated and made aware of the environmental threats. The new green
movements need to reach the masses and that will take a lot of time and effort.
By India’s ayurvedic heritage, Indian consumers do appreciate the importance of
using natural and herbal beauty products. Indian consumer is exposed to healthy
living lifestyles such as yoga and natural food consumption. In those aspects the
consumer is already aware and will be inclined to accept the green products.

• PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE

The investors and corporate need to view the environment as a major long-
term investment opportunity; the marketers need to look at the long-term benefits
from this new green movement. It will require a lot of patience and no immediate
results. Since it is a new concept and idea, it will have its own acceptance period.

• AVOIDING GREEN MYOPIA

The first rule of green marketing is focusing on customer benefits i.e. the
primary reason why consumers buy certain products in the first place. Do this right,
and motivate consumers to switch brands or even pay a premium for the greener
alternative. It is not going to help if a product is developed which is absolutely green
in various aspects but does not pass the customer satisfaction criteria. This will lead
to green myopia. Also if the green products are priced very high then again it will
loose its market acceptability.

BENEFITS OF GREEN MARKETING

Today’s consumers are becoming more and more conscious about the environment
and are also becoming socially responsible. Therefore, more companies are responsible
to consumer’s aspirations for environmentally less damaging or neutral products. Many
companies want to have an early mover advantage as they have to eventually move
towards becoming green.
Some of the advantages of green marketing are:
• It ensures sustained long-term growth along with profitability.
• It saves money in the long run, though initially the cost is more.
• It helps the companies market their products and services keeping the environment
aspects in mind. It helps in accessing the new markets and enjoying the competitive
advantage.
• Most of the employees also feel proud and responsible to be working for an
environmentally responsible company.

Golden Rules of Green Marketing

1. Know Your Customer:

Make sure that the consumer is aware of and concerned about the issues that your
product attempts to address, (Whirlpool learned the hard way that consumers wouldn’t pay
a premium for a CFC-free refrigerator because consumers dint know what CFCs were.).

2. Empower Consumers:
Make sure that consumer feel. By themselves or in concert with all the other users of
your product, that they can make a difference. This is called “empowerment” and due to

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this main reason consumers will buy greener products.

3. Be Transparent:
Consumers must believe in the legitimacy of the product and the specific claims made
in regard.

4. Reassure the Buyer:

Consumers must be made to believe that the product performs the job it’s supposed to
do-they won’t forego product quality in the name of the environment.

5. Consider Your Pricing:

If you’re charging a premium for your product-and many environmentally preferable
products cost more due to economies of scale and use of higher-quality ingredients-make
sure those consumers can afford the premium and feel it’s worth it.

6. Thus leading brands should recognize that consumer expectations have

changed.
It is not enough for a company to green its products; consumers expect the
products that they purchase pocket friendly and also to help reduce the environmental
impact in their own lives too.

“Green” Logistics

Is in the process of coming onto corporate radar screens, but companies need to
see a cause and effect on profitability before they commit much more than superficial
efforts toward green logistics. Everyone knows how important this is, but market analysts
and investors likely won’t add much about green logistics into the “plus” column until it
starts to impact overall profitability.

It continues activity and hype around “green” supply chains. From a supply chain
perspective, most companies are focusing on the low-hanging fruit: optimizing their
transportation operations, LEED certified buildings, minimizing/eliminating packaging, and
considering carbon-footprint in network design (Llama soft, Ilog, Infor, Carbon View,
Maersk Logistics, and IBM all have solutions in this area). However, a lot more work is
required on the standards front, which is starting to occur. Also, in my opinion, large-scale
progress in this area won’t occur in the US and elsewhere without government intervention
(e.g., regulations, tax/financial incentives, etc).

GREEN WASHING

In spite of its growing popularity, the green marketing movement faced serious
setbacks in the late 1980s because many industries made false claims about their
products and services. For instance, the environmental organization Corp Watch , which
issues annually a list of the top ten "green washing" companies, included BP Amoco for
advertising its "Plug in the Sun" program, in which the company installed solar panels in
two hundred gas stations, while continuing to aggressively lobby to drill for oil in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge. Green marketing can be a very powerful marketing strategy
though when it's done right. In a similar kind of case Chad’s green marketing campaign
bombed because he made the mistake of packaging his environmentally friendly product
in Styrofoam, emitting CFC’s.

Without environmental labeling standards, consumers could not tell which products

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and services were truly beneficial. Consumers ended up paying extra for misrepresented
products. The media came up with the term "green washing" to describe cases where
organizations misrepresented themselves as environmentally responsible. So, While
green marketing was growing greatly as increasing numbers of consumers were willing to
back their environmental consciousnesses with their dollars, it can be dangerous. The
public tends to be skeptical of green claims to begin with and companies can seriously
damage their brands and their sales if a green claim is discovered to be false or
contradicted by a company's other products or practices. Thus, in other words presenting
a product or service as green when it's not is called green washing.

THE GREEN DILEMMA

The past decade has shown that harnessing consumer power to effect positive
environmental change is far easier said than done. 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. While public opinion polls taken since the late
1980s have shown consistently that a significant percentage of consumers in the U.S. and
elsewhere profess a strong willingness to favor environmentally conscious products and
companies, consumers' efforts to do so in real life have remained sketchy at best. One of
green marketing's challenges is the lack of standards or public consensus about what
constitutes "green," according to Joel Makeover, a writer on green marketing. In essence,
there is no definition of "how good is good enough" when it comes to a product or
company making green marketing claims. This lack of consensus -- by consumers,
marketers, activists, regulators, and influential people -- has slowed the growth of green
products, says Makeover, because companies are often reluctant to promote their green
attributes, and consumers are often skeptical about claims.

Despite these challenges, green marketing has continued to gain adherents,

particularly in light of growing global concern about climate change. This concern has led
more companies to advertise their commitment to reduce their climate impacts, and the
effect this is having on their products and services

GREEN MARKETING – ADOPTION BY THE FIRMS.

Green marketing has been widely adopted by the firms worldwide and the following
are the possible reasons cited for this wide adoption:

1) OPPORTUNITIES -
As demands change, many firms see these changes as an opportunity to be
exploited and have a competitive advantage over firms marketing non-environmentally
responsible alternatives. Some examples of firms who have strived to become more
environmentally responsible, in an attempt to better satisfy their consumer needs are:

• McDonald's replaced its clam shell packaging with waxed paper because of
increased consumer concern relating to polystyrene production and Ozone
depletion.
• Tuna manufacturers modified their fishing techniques because of the increased
concern over driftnet fishing, and the resulting death of dolphins.
• Xerox introduced a "high quality" recycled photocopier paper in an attempt to
satisfy the demands of firms for less environmentally harmful products.

2) GOVERNMENTAL PRESSURE –

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 As with all marketing related activities, governments want to "protect" consumers
and society; this protection has significant green marketing implications. Governmental
regulations relating to environmental marketing are designed to protect consumers in
several ways,

1.Reduceproduction of harmful goods or by-products

2.Modify consumer and industry's use and/or consumption of harmful goods
3. Ensure that all types of consumers have the ability to evaluate the environmental
composition of goods

Governments establish regulations designed to control the amount of hazardous

wastes produced by firms.
New Delhi, the India's capital was getting polluted gradually at a very fast pace till
Supreme Court of India forced a change of fuel on it. In 2002, a directive was issued to
completely adopt CNG in all public transport systems to curb pollution.
One of the more recent publicized environmental regulations undertaken by
governments has been the establishment of guidelines designed to "control" green
marketing claims. These regulations include the Australian Trade Practices Commission's
(TPC) "Environmental Claims in Marketing - A Guideline, the US Federal Trade
Commission's (FTC) "Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims" and the
regulations suggested by the National Association of Attorneys-General. These
regulations are all designed to ensure consumers have the appropriate information, which
would enable them to evaluate firm's environmental claims.

3) COMPETITIVE PRESSURE –
Another major force in the environmental marketing area has been firms' desire to
maintain their competitive position. In many cases firms observe competitors promoting
their environmental behaviors and attempt to emulate this behavior. In some instances this
competitive pressure has caused an entire industry to modify and thus reduce its
detrimental environmental behavior. For example, it could be argued that Xerox's "Revive
100% Recycled paper" was introduced a few years ago in an attempt to address the
introduction of recycled photocopier paper by other manufacturers. In another example
when one tuna manufacture stopped using driftnets the others followed suit.

4) SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY-
Many firms are beginning to realize that they are members of the wider community and
therefore must behave in an environmentally responsible fashion. This translates into firms
that believe they must achieve environmental objectives as well as profit related
objectives. This results in environmental issues being integrated into the firm's corporate
culture. There are examples of firms adopting both strategies. Organizations like the Body
Shop heavily promote the fact that they are environmentally responsible. While this
behavior is a competitive advantage, the firm was established specifically to offer
consumers environmentally responsible alternatives to conventional cosmetic products.
This philosophy is directly tied to the overall corporate culture, rather than simply being a
competitive tool.

Fund managers and corporate developers too, are taking into account the
environmental viability of the company they invest in Venture Capitalists are investing in
green business because they believe it's a growth opportunity. Britain based HSBC
became the world's first bank to go carbon neutral late last year and is now turning its
11000 buildings in 76 countries worldwide into models of energy efficiency." our customers
have told us that they decide where they shop based on whether the business is a good
14
neighbor . "Says David North, Tesco’s community director.

An example of a firm that does not promote its environmental initiatives is Coca-
Cola. They have invested large sums of money in various recycling activities, as well as
having modified their packaging to minimize its environmental impact.

While being concerned about the environment, Coke has not used this concern as
a marketing tool. Thus many consumers may not realize that Coke is a very
environmentally committed organization. Another firm who is very environmentally
responsible but does not promote this fact, at least outside the organization, is Walt
Disney World (WDW). WDW has an extensive waste management program and
infrastructure in place, yet these facilities are not highlighted in their general tourist
promotional activities.

5) COST OR PROFIT ISSUES –

Firms may also use green marketing in an attempt to address cost or profit related
issues. Disposing of environmentally harmful by-products, such as polychlorinated
biphenyl (PCB) contaminated oil are becoming increasingly costly and in some cases
difficult.
Therefore firms that can reduce harmful wastes may incur substantial cost savings. When
attempting to minimize waste, firms are often forced to re-examine their production
processes. In these cases they often develop more effective production processes that not
only reduce waste, but reduce the need for some raw materials. This serves as a double
cost savings, since both waste and raw material are reduced.

In other cases firms attempt to find end - of - pipe solutions, instead of minimizing
waste. In these situations firms try to find markets or uses for their waste materials, where
one firm's waste becomes another firm's input of production. One Australian example of
this is a firm who produces acidic waste water as a by-product of production and sells it to
a firm involved in neutralizing base materials.

GREEN CODE

G: generalizes with care. Consumer behavior will not necessarily be consistent

across different product types, and particular market segments may respond to certain
issues on the green agenda but not others.

R: remembers, the validity of a piece of market research is not related to the

degree to which it supports your preferred option.

E: explores the context from which market research data comes. Be clear on
the nature of the sample used, the questions asked, the way in which responses were
recorded and the time and place from which the responses come.

E: ensures that where market research is crossing international borderlines,

that the terminology and interpretation remains consistent. Terms like ‘environment’,
‘green’ and ‘conservation’ do not always translate precisely between languages.

N: neutrality is important. Ensure that when you pose questions to consumers,

that they can make any response without being made to feel guilty or uncomfortable, and
ensure that your own preconceptions about the green agenda (such as an assumption that
green products will cost extra) are not encoded within the questions.

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 GREEN MARKETING MIX

PRODUCT

Entrepreneurs wanting to exploit emerging green market either: Identify customers’

environmental needs and develop products to address these needs or will develop
environmentally responsible products to have less impact than competitors.
The increasingly wide variety of products on the market that support sustainable
developments are:

• Products made from recycled goods, such as Quick AND Tuff housing materials
made from recycled broccoli boxes.
• Products that can be recycled or reused.
• Efficient products, which save water, energy or gasoline, save money and reduce
environmental impact.

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 • Products with environmentally responsible packaging, McDonalds, for example,
changed their packaging from polystyrene clamshells to paper.
• Products with green labels, as long as they offer substantiation.
• Certified products, which meet or exceed environmentally responsible criteria.
• Organic products-many customers are prepared to pay a premium for organic
products, which offer promise of quality. Organic butchers, for example, promote
the added qualities such as taste and tenderness.
• A service that rents or loans products-toy libraries.

Whatever the product or service, it is vital to ensure that products meet or exceed the
quality expectation of customers and is thoroughly tested.

PRICE

Pricing is the critical element of the marketing mix. Most customers will only be
prepared to pay a premium if there is a perception of additional product value. This value
may be improved performance, function, design, visual appeal or taste. Environmental
benefits will be often be the deciding factor between products of equal value or quality.
Environmentally responsible products, however are often less expensive when
product life cycle coast are taken into consideration, for example fuel-efficient vehicles,
water efficient printing and non-hazardous products.

PLACE

The choice of where and when to make products available will have significant
impact on the customers you attract. Very few customers go out of their way to buy green
products merely for the sake of it. Marketers looking to successfully introduce new green
products should position them broadly in the market place so they are not just appealing to
a small green niche market.

The location must also be consistent with the image you want to project and allow
you to project your own image rather than being dominated or compromised by the image
of venue. The location must differentiate you from the competitors. This can be achieved
by in-store promotions and visually appealing displays or using recycled materials to
emphasize the environmental and other benefits.

PROMOTION

Promoting products and services to target markets include paid advertising, public
relations, sales promotions, direct marketing and on-site promotions. Smart green
marketers will be able to reinforce environmental credibility by using sustainable marketing
and communication tools and practices. For example, many companies in the financial
industry are providing electronic statements by email; e-marketing is rapidly replacing
more traditional marketing methods and printed materials can be produced using recycled
materials and efficient processes such as waterless printing.
Retailers, for example are recognizing the value of alliances with other companies,
environmental groups and research organizations. When promoting their environmental
commitment to reduce the use of plastic bags and promote their green commitment, some
retailers sell shopping bags and promote their green commitments.

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 MOVING TOWARDS GREEN MARKETING

The era of green marketing has begun. It has already been granted wide
acceptance by all stakeholders. However, there is a need to lay down the standards and
practices, in order to bring in objectivity in the judgment of various national and
international agencies. This will not only encourage the activities of green marketing but
shall also provide the much needed level playing fields to all.

DEVELOPMENT OF ISO 14000 SERIES OF STANDARDS.

ISO has been developed to help any company in any country to meet the goal of
sustainable development and environmental friendliness. The ISO 14000 family of
standards ( i.e. ISO 14001, 14004, 14010, 14011 and 1412) were published as an official
document in 1996.
The ISO series aims to provide guidance for developing a comprehensive approach to

18
environmental management and for standardizing some key environmental tools of
analysis such as labeling and life cycle assessment.

ECO-LABELING INITIATIVES

Eco label provide information regarding the environmental performance of products.

The objective of eco-labeling is to provide authentication to genuine claims regarding the
environmental impact of products and processes by manufacturers.
In India the government has introduced the eco-mark scheme since 1981. The
objectives of the scheme are:
• To provide incentives to manufacturers and importers to reduce the adverse
environmental impact of products.
• To reward genuine initiatives by companies to reduce adverse impact of
environmental impact of products.
• To assist consumers to become environmentally responsible in their daily lives by
providing them information to take account of environmental factors in their daily
lives.
• To encourage citizens to purchase products which have less environmental impact.

ECO-LABELLING SCHEMES IN INDIA

The Ministry of environment and forest of government of India has prescribed the
following criteria for products:
• That they cause substantially less pollution than comparable products in production,
usage and disposal,
• That they are recycled and/or recyclable whereas comparable products are not.
• That they contribute to a reduction on adverse environmental health consequences.
• That they comply with laws, standards and regulations pertaining to the
environment.
• That their price is not exorbitantly higher than comparable products.

ECO-MARK IN INDIA

Under the concept, products which are less harmful to the environment or have
benign impact on environment through the various stages of development-manufacture,
packaging, distribution, use and disposal or recycling may be awarded the Eco-Mark.
An earthen pot has been chosen as the logo for Eco-Mark scheme in India. The familiar
earthen pot has renewable resource like earth, does not produce hazardous waste and
consume little energy in making. As a symbol it puts across its environmental message. Its
image has the ability to reach people and help to promote a greater awareness of the
need to be kind to the environment. The logo Eco-Mark scheme signifies that the product
which carries it does least damage to the environment.

SHIFTING TO A GREEN ERA

The color GREEN, until recently was associated all over the world with emerald. In
the modern age, however, GREEN is getting associated with sustainable development.
Being green is no longer a matter of choice; its marketing is a must, or else enterprise may
run the risk of losing customers, employees and shareholders. It has become almost a
necessity to maintain a green lifestyle.
The possibility of oceans rising and claiming coastal lives, climate change, and polluted air
and water are beginning to gain momentum towards the green movement.
Today there is an increasing concern among the business houses towards the challenges

19
poised by the environment. Green consumerism is playing a catalytic role to bring in
environmentalism and make business green oriented. Also it has been noticed that there
has been an increasing trend of consumers demanding for a “Green Image” of an
enterprise. The most feasible option available for the business houses is to put into
practice the process of “Green Manufacturing”. It involves product recovery activities as
well as reverses logistics.
Product recovery concept is applied on the returned product so as to translate it to a
usable one, for example remanufacturing, refurbishing or even recycling. Whereas reverse
logistics focuses on inbound supply and distribution of used goods and inventory.
Companies like ABB, MUL, Ranbaxy and many more have taken up green projects. They
sponsor huge amount and in return earn a lot of goodwill, low cost publicity, and an
environment conscious image. Scores of such enterprises have responded to
environmental concerns with several strategic versions of green business, which are
enumerated below:

• Adopting products/packages to make them environmentally sound.

• Making realistic environmental claims about existing products through the
advertisements.
• Linking brands with environmental causes to create goodwill.
• Introducing entirely new range of products explicitly designed to appeal
environmentally conscious consumers.

For business houses seeking environmental sustainability, green supply chain

management (GSCM) has emerged as a vital tool. Green supply is attracting a particular
interest among researchers and practitioners in operations and supply chain management.
It integrates environmental thinking into traditional supply chain management that includes
product design, material sourcing as well as selection, process of manufacturing, delivery
of final products to the customers and most importantly end of life product management
after its proper usage.
The major areas addressed by GSCM are:

• The upstream activities of an organization that comprises evaluation of supplier’s

environmental performance.
• Downstream actions that include activities related to the disposal of surfeit stock,
particularly the recovery and recycling opportunities.
• Within the organization, GSCM might include design for the environment with the
suppliers.
• While in the logistics, JIT or Quality Management conjoins with environmental
criterion.

The business enterprises can have several benefits by greening their supply chain.
Some of them are:

• Risk Reduction and Adapting of Regulation:

Enterprises with green practices of SCM can keep themselves free of being
prosecuted due to unethical and anti-environmental practices.

• Sustainability of Resources:
The greening of SCM helps in effective utilization of enterprise resources.
The enterprises shall purchase green input resources for environment friendly
production process to produce eco friendly outputs.

• Production Process and Competitive Advantage:

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 GSCM helps the business houses in positioning the products differently in
the minds of the target set of buyers. It will not only attract profitable customers for
the organizations, but also bestow competitive edge over its rivals, thereby
strengthening brand image.

• Cost Reduction and Increased Efficiency:

Effective utilization of GSCM may fetch reduction of transaction cost as well
as promote recycling of raw materials. Moreover the production of hazardous
substances can be engraved, which may avert enterprises from being penalized for
violating environmental clauses.

STAKEHOLDERS IN GREEN MARKETING

They are all the people or groups whose lives or environment are affected by the
project, but who receive no direct benefit from it. These can include the team’s families,
people made redundant by the changes introduced, people who buy the product and the
local community.

FRAMEWORK FOR PROPER IDENTIFICATION OF STAKEHOLDERS

• Identifying appropriate stakeholders

• Specifying the nature of their interests
• Measuring the stakeholder interest
• Predicting what each stakeholder’s future behavior will be to satisfy his/her stake
• Evaluating the impact of the expected behavior on the project team’s latitude in
managing the project politics.

PRESENT TRENDS IN GREEN MARKETING IN INDIA

• Organizations Perceive Environmental marketing to be an Opportunity that

can be used to achieve its objectives.
Firms have realized that consumers prefer products that do not harm the natural
environment as also the human health. Firms marketing such green products are
preferred over the others not doing so and thus develop a competitive advantage,
simultaneously meeting their business objectives.

• Organizations believe they have a moral obligation to be more socially

responsible.
This is in keeping with the philosophy of CSR which has been successfully adopted
by many business houses to improve their corporate image.
Firms in this situation can take two approaches:

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  Use the fact that they are environmentally responsible as a marketing tool.
 Become responsible without prompting this fact.

• Governmental Bodies are forcing Firms to Become More Responsible

In most cases the government forces the firm to adopt policy which protects the
interests of the consumers. It does so in following ways:

 Reduce production of harmful goods or by –products

 Modify consumer and industry’s use and /or consumption of harmful goods; or
 Ensure that all types of consumers have the ability to evaluate the environmental
composition of goods

• Competitors’ Environmental Activities Pressure Firms to change their

Environmental Marketing Activities
In order to get even with competitors claim to being environmentally friendly, firms
change over to green marketing. Result is green marketing percolates entire industry.

• Cost Factors Associated With Waste Disposal or Reductions in Material

Usage Forces Firms to Modify their Behavior
With cost cutting becoming part of the strategy of the firms it adopts green marketing in
relation to these activities. It may pursue these as follows:

 A Firm develops a technology for reducing waste and sells it to other firms.
 A waste recycling or removal industry develops.

Corporate Environmental Management, Strategy and Practices

Environmental Management

There are three categories of Environmental Management

• Crisis-oriented
• Cost-oriented, and
• Enlightened

The firms with crisis-oriented management handle environmental conflicts on a “fire-

fighting’” basis. These firms have no environmental policy strategy for compliance with
laws and regulations and have no separate environmental unit in the firm.

The firms with cost-oriented management accept environmental regulations as a cost

of doing business, and make efforts to comply with them as efficiently as possible. These
firms establish company policy, separate units, and procedures for environmental
compliance.

The most important factors that led towards the development of “enlightened”
environmental management are: strong commitment of the top corporate responsibility for
the environment can affect short-term as well as long-term profits; and the realization of
the fact that costs for environmental responsibility can be minimized and even some profits
can be made.

Five development stages of environmental management as given below:

 The “beginner” who provides no protection from environmental risk

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  The “fire-fighter” who provides minimal protection
 The “concerned citizen” who provides moderate protection
 The “pragmatist” who provides comprehensive protection
 The “pro-activist” who provides maximum protection

GREEN HOUSE AS REDUCTION MARKET

The emerging greenhouse gas reduction market can potentially catalyze projects
with important local environmental, economic, and quality-of-life benefits. The Kyoto
Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), for example, enables trading between
industrial and developing nations, providing a framework that can result in capital flows to
environmentally beneficial development activities. Although the United States is not
participating in the Kyoto Protocol, several US programs enable similar transactions on a
voluntary and regulatory basis.

While international trade in greenhouse gas reductions holds substantial promise as

a source of new funding for sustainable development, this market can be largely
inaccessible to many smaller-scale projects, remote communities, and least developed
localities. To facilitate participation and broaden the benefits, several barriers must be
overcome, including: a lack of market awareness among stakeholders and prospective
participants; specialized, somewhat complicated participation rules; and the need for
simplified participation mechanisms for small projects, without which transaction costs can
overwhelm the financial benefits of participation. If the barriers are adequately addressed,
greenhouse gas trading can play an important role supporting activities that benefit
people’s lives and the environment.

One of the most popular trend in the business is emission trade or Emissions
trading (or emission trading) which is an administrative approach used to control pollution
by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants. It
is also called cap-and-trade. A central authority (usually a governmental body) sets a limit
or cap on the amount of a pollutant that can be emitted. Companies or other groups are
issued emission permits and are required to hold an equivalent number of allowances (or
credits) which represent the right to emit a specific amount. The total amount of
allowances and credits cannot exceed the cap, limiting total emissions to that level.

Companies that need to increase their emission allowance must buy credits from
those who pollute less. The transfer of allowances is referred to as a trade. In effect, the
buyer is paying a charge for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having
reduced emissions by more than was needed. Thus, in theory, those who can reduce
emissions most cheaply will do so, achieving the pollution reduction at the lowest cost to
society. There are active trading programs in several air pollutants. For greenhouse gases
the largest is the European Union Emission Trading Scheme. In the United States there is
a national market to reduce acid rain and several regional markets in nitrogen oxides.
Markets for other pollutants tend to be smaller and more localized.

The New “Green” Revolution

Global Warming is the phenomenon of increase in Earth’s temperature caused by burning

of fossil fuels and other pollutants in the air. As per the predictions by IPCC
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) it is predicted that the global temperature is
likely to increase by 1.1 to 6.4 degrees Celsius “between” 1990 to 2100.
The key causes of global warming are summarized below:

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 • Carbon dioxide emitted from the Power Plants, Cars, airplanes and other
industries.
• Methane emitted from landfill, petrochemical factories and steel and fertilizer
plants.
• Nitrogen dioxide emitted from waste combustion, agriculture water pollution and
sewage.
• Other harmful gases emitted by industries, and manufacturing units, which are
causing depletion of Earth’s ozone, layer.
• Deforestation is another major contributor towards global warming. The
destruction of tropical forests is throwing millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere. These forests are the main source of absorption of carbon dioxide,
which we are losing at a great speed each year with increased deforestation.

For a long time now the effect of man’s industrialization and technological progress ha
s quietly yet continuously eked away at the delicate balance of the planet’s atmosphere
and ecosystem, but within the last 30 or so years the place of this damage has markedly
accelerated.

It is presently estimated that 700 tons of carbon dioxide are pumped into the earth’s
atmosphere every second of the day. Carbon dioxide is the chief contributor to the
greenhouse gases. It is these greenhouse gases, which cause global warming.

Green Warming – Proposed Solution

The solution to this problem lies in “Going Green” in our thoughts, behavior and
actions.
The consumers and corporations need to focus on clean and environment friendly
products and services. To elaborate on the “Green” terminology:

1. “Green Product” is non-toxic and is made from recycled material. There is no

absolute green product. However the products, which consume less energy, cause
less pollution and are biodegradable, belong to this category. Thus “Green” is a
relative term.
2. “Green Service” fulfills the philosophy of sustainable development, improving and
maintain the quality of life for people without compromising the environment.
3. “Green washing” is the process of making products and services “Green” in all
respects.

To make products and services green the businesses need to focus on bringing the
green in various aspects such as:

• Supply Chain
• Packaging
• Raw Material
• Product Innovations

It is not enough just to develop a brand or a logo, or invest in an advertising campaign,

and then position a product as Green before consumers.
Like any other new concept, marketers must first educate the public about going green,
ensure product credibility, and establish trust. Moreover, since “Green” aspect of the
product is not a tangible attribute that the consumers receive the consumer has to be
convinced about the benefits of the green benefits of the product.
It is also important to understand how companies across the globe are innovating and

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creating “Green” products.

“GREEN RAW MATERIAL”

This refers to using recycled material or using material, which does not have a
negative impact on natural resources like resulting in problems such as deforestation and
pollution.
Example: Gridcore Systems International – demonstrated the use of Recycled Building
Material. The company was looking for an alternative building material in-order to reduce
the impact on environment. While researching they discovered space board, a new type of
building panel developed by the Forest Products laboratory. Space board can be
manufactured from various recycled or agricultural fibers, and due to a honeycomb the
interior design is just as strong as and several times lighter than conventional fiberboard.

“GREEN” IN MANUFACTURING

This focuses on using renewable energy for production and minimizing air and
water pollution during the manufacturing process.
Example: Energy Star is helping businesses and consumers save money and check
pollution. Energy star has its own pre defined parameters and gadgets which conform to
the energy efficiency standards. The businesses that join hands with energy star sign an
MOU and upgrade their facility as per the requirement outlined by Energy Star. There are
about 2,400 corporations, hospitals, schools and other organizations, which are energy
star compliant in the US today.
The real estate developers, architects and environmentalists across the globe are working
together to create the next wave of modern eco-friendly projects: green buildings and
manufacturing facilities. They are using energy conservation appliances and recycling
building products and water harvesting techniques in their projects.

“GREEN” IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

This refers to either environment friendly or environment efficient products as

demonstrated by the following examples.
Example: Kodak’s Recyclable Camera When Kodak created its first disposable camera
it also solved the waste disposal problem by initiating a ‘camera take back’ scheme during
picture processing. This not only reduced the waste disposable problem, it also saved
Kodak the manufacturing costs for new cameras. This made it completely recycled
camera.
Example: Philips Earthlight Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs With relentless efforts
on research and development the company was successful in producing compact
fluorescent light bulbs, which are the most energy efficient bulbs.

“GREEN” BY USING ALTERNATIVE INGREDIENTS TO REDUCE HEALTH RISKS:

Example: AFM Safecoat and Safe choice Paints to meet the markets demand for non-
toxic paints, the California based company invested in Research and Development and
developed a full line of non-toxic coatings, paints, stains and adhesives.

“GREEN” IN SUPPLY CHAIN

Example: McDonald’s is often blamed for polluting the environment because much of

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their packaging finishes up as roadside waste. It must be remembered that it is the
uncaring consumer who chooses to dispose of their waste in an inappropriate fashion.
With the intent to cut costs and work on eco-friendly image and practices McDonald’s tried
to reduce the amount of material disposed by its stores. McDonalds asked the supplier to
do away with the cartons for napkins. The supplier suggested a better way and came up
with dimpling pattern on napkins, which enabled the supplier to pack 25% more napkins in
one box and reduction in shipping cost accordingly. McDonalds also allied with
Environment Defense Fund (EDF) and created a waste reduction plan. It also made a
Paper Task Force to focus on paper waste reduction and better solid waste management.
Some food chain retailers are working on Green Procurement program to help
purchasing officers to buy products and services that have a lower environmental impact
than comparable products and services.

“GREEN” IN PACKAGING

Packaging is a key element of marketing mix for promoting “Green washing”. It can
also be an effective tool to display the “Green” component of the product.

Natural Package for a Natural Product

When creating product materials, markets need to remember that a “Green” product
is appealing to consumers for its benefits to the environment and for its roots in natural
resources. There should be a consistent look for the product package, or materials that
appear natural, not glossy or extravagant.
“Green” consumers tend to appreciate consistence in package and product. They will
appreciate the usage of recycled paper and other environment friendly materials. That will
help manufacturers/suppliers gain customer loyalty and product credibility.

Third Party Certification Seal on Package

In order to win consumer trust and for product credibility many companies go in for
a third party certification. This helps build trust and acceptability by the consumer.
A third party seal guarantees the consumer that the product fulfills its promise and is true
to his claim. One such third party in the USA is the Green-e Program of the Center for
Resource Solutions. Certification provides an independent third-party review of the
program similar to the ISO 9000 or CMMI Six Sigma level of certifications, which mat help
build consumer confidence. Once a green product earns certification, they can publicize
this achievement and promote their certification through the use of the Green-e logo on
their marketing materials and website.

“GREEN” IN SERVICES

With increased demand for value-based marketing, there is also growing demand of
“Green” services. Global customers are not only interested in cost cutting through
outsourcing but are also looking for energy efficient IT operations.
Example: ITC Infotech is a good example to understand how to package the services
“Green” ITC Infotech is a Bangalore based independent Subsidiary of ITC Ltd. At
corporate level ITC is working to establish itself as a carbon free company. The company
is working on “Triple Bottom Line” i.e. social, economic and environmental capital. The
company is involved in many community driven initiatives. It is one of the 10 companies
globally and first one from India to start publishing sustainability report in compliance with
G3 guidelines of Global Reporting Initiative. The company is investing in large-scale
plantations to wash away its carbon positive image. It is also focusing on water harvesting

26
and working towards zero solid waste by recycling.
36 Cigarette warehouses were converted to make ITC Infotech’s global development
campus in the heart of Bangalore. The company has used recycled material and
virtualization tools for optimizing energy usage in its data centers. It is also working on
digital infrastructure to connect the rural farmers to the Internet using solar panels for
power, so that the Indian farmers can get information on crop research and monitor
weather trends. The company is using these as a service differentiator and positioning
itself as Green service Provide. The corporate image of ITC Ltd. is further enhancing the
True Green Image.

Green Strategy Formulation

As in formulation of green strategy, a firm may evolve it from a SWOT analysis or

Environmental Audit.

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

1. Marketers get access to new markets and gain an advantage over competitors that
are not focusing on “greenness.”
2. Marketers can charge a premium on products that are seen as more eco-
responsible.
3. Organizations that adopt green marketing are perceived to be more socially

27
 responsible.
4. Green marketing builds brand equity and wins brand loyalty among customers.

E.g. research and development capabilities for clean processes and green products and
human resources committed to environmental protection.

WEAKNESS

1. Most customers choose to satisfy their personal needs before caring for
environment.
2. Overemphasizing greenness rather than customer needs can prove devastating for
a product.
3. Many customers keep away from products labeled “Green” because they see such
labeling as a marketing gimmick, and they may lose trust in an organization that
suddenly claims to be green.
E.g. products cannot be recycled, and hazardous wastes) of a company.

OPPORTUNITIES

1. Marketing to segment which are becoming more environmentally aware and

concerned. These consumers are demanding products that conform to these new
attitudes.
2. Organizations perceive green marketing to be a competitive advantage, relative to
the competitors. Firms, therefore, strive to improve upon their societal awareness.
This complements the increase in consumers’ socially conscious behavior and will
therefore give them an advantage over competitors who do not address these
issues.

E.g. offering an environmental friendly product and saving resources, and relating them to
internal strengths.

EXTERNAL THREATS

1. Uncertainty as to the environmental impact of present activities, including that is

perceived to be less environmentally harmful.
2. Uncertainty as to which green marketing activities are acceptable from a
government perspective.
3. The possibility of a backlash from consumers or government based on existing
green marketing claims, threat one and two above may cause backlash to arise.
E.g. competitors gain market shares with green products and increased environmental
regulations).

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT

It is a management tool, which can be used to assess the environmental

performance of the company and its units and to identify the weak points. EA is comprised
of a systematic, documented, periodic and objective environmental performance
evaluation and facilities.

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Green Products and its Characteristics

These products that are manufactured through green technology and that caused
no environmental hazards are called green products. Promotion of green technology and
green products is necessary for conservation of natural resources and sustainable
development.
We can define green products by following measures:

• Products that are originally grown

• Products those are recyclable, reusable and biodegradable
• Products with natural ingredients
• Products containing recycled contents, non-toxic chemical
• Products contents under approved chemical
• Products that do not harm or pollute the environment
• Products that will not be tested on animals
• Products that have eco-friendly packaging i.e. reusable, refillable containers etc.

THE FUTURE OF GREEN MARKETING

There are many lessons to be learned to be learned to avoid green marketing

myopia, the short version of all this is that effective green marketing requires applying
good marketing principles to make green products desirable for consumers. The question
that remains, however, is, what is green marketing’s future? Business scholars have
viewed it as a “fringe” topic, given that environmentalism’s acceptance of limits and
conservation does not mesh well with marketing’s traditional axioms of “give customer
what they want” and “sell as much as you can”.
Evidence indicates that successful green products have avoided green marketing myopia
by following three important principles:

CONSUMER VALUE POSITIONING

• Design environmental products to perform as well as (or better than) alternatives.

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 • Promote and deliver the consumer desired value of environmental products and
target relevant consumer market segments.
• Broaden mainstream appeal by bundling consumer desired value into
environmental products.

CALIBRATION OF CONSUMER KNOWLEDGE

• Educate consumers with marketing messages that connect environmental attributes

with desired consumer value.
• Frame environmental product attributes as “solutions” for consumer needs.
• Create engaging and educational internet sites about environmental products
desired consumer value.

CREDIBILITY OF PRODUCT CLAIMS

• Employ environmental product and consumer benefit claims that are specific and
meaningful.
• Procure product endorsements or eco-certifications from trustworthy third parties
and educate consumers about the meaning behind those endorsements and eco-
certifications.
• Encourage consumer evangelism via consumers social and internet communication
network with compelling, interesting and entertaining information about
environmental products.

STRATEGIES FOR GREEN COMMUNICATION

• Make environmental messages consistent with the company’s existing voice in the
market place.
• Empower consumers to get involved to make a difference.
• Enlist cultural icons to tell the story.
• Show that environmental initiatives lead to better quality products.
• Be ready to experiment publicly, even if it doesn’t always lead to success.
• Price environmentally preferable products comparable to conventional ones.
• Link environmental innovations to other benefits, like quality and durability.
• Thanks customers for making good, green choices, and tell them how they are
making a difference.
• Seek recognition from peers and activists groups and challenge competitors to join
in.
• Green products shouldn’t be any different from regular ones in branding, price, use
or performance.

UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER PERCEPTION

Arbon labels show consumers the “Carbon Content” of an individual product. An
item’s content is the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted from very stage of its
production and distribution, from source to store. This is also known as “embedded
carbon”, or a carbon footprint. Today’s consumer is more ethically and environmentally
aware than ever before, and increasingly so with regard to the consumption of food and
drink. In the media, on the shelves, the focus on reducing our carbon footprint is constantly
present, and the push to understand where our food is from increasing.
Carbon labeling is a really recent development. The focus on reducing carbon footprint
is constantly present, and the push to understand what they are purchasing and
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consuming. But to make it a success, the understanding regarding:
a) What they are purchasing?
b) How are they prioritizing- between organic, fair trade, carbon friendly and so on?
c) Whether the consumers are getting what they want to purchase?

Study Findings on the Basis of Literature Regarding Consumer Behavior:

I. Consumers show different attitudes to issues like:
a) Food quality is shoppers’ most important concern. Price is also very important for
those on lower incomes.
b) Whether health, environmental and social issues are very important in relation to
the food they buy.
c) Concerns for health, environmental and social issues vary with household income
or not.
d) Concern for health, environmental and social issues increase with age or not.
e) Women do most of the shopping, and they are more concerned about health,
environmental and social issues than men.
f) Attitudes vary regionally, and there is particularly strong concern in the South West.

II. Familiarity with labels for different consumers is different: How familiar are you with
each of the following types of information on product packets on the basis of:
a) Most people are at least somewhat familiar with most forms of product information.
b) Familiarity with the product information is much higher among people who think the
issues are very important.

III. Use of labels had different perceptions for different consumers: use of the following
types of information when making decisions about what consumers buy is different
for every consumer on the basis of:
a) Product information is used by many consumers.
b) There is a clear link between concern about health, environmental and social issues
and use of relevant product information.
c) The gap between attitudes and behavior is wider in relation to environmental and
social issues that in it is with the mainstream health.
d) There is little variation with income, except organic labels are used more by people
with higher incomes.
e) Product labeling is generally used more by older people.
f) Women use nutrition information more, but broadly similar numbers of men and
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 women use organic and Fair trade information.
g) Different patterns of use in different regions.

IV. Use of other sources of information is different on the basis of:

a) Product packaging information is used often by many more people than most other
sources of information.

V. Barriers to greater integration into shopping behavior on the basis of changing

patterns of consumption mean that increasingly consumers are considering the
social, environmental and health issues associated with production and
consumption:
a) “Products too expensive” is the number one barrier.
b) “Takes too much time” is the second biggest barrier to choosing healthy food.
c) “I don’t know enough about it” is the second biggest barrier to choosing
environmentally friendly and socially responsible food.
d) Other barriers are significant or not, like:

 Unavailability of products (either altogether, or of sufficient quality).

 Lack of understanding about the issues in general.

 Difficulty in understanding the product information.

 Concerns about the reliability of the product information.

‘Environmentally Conscious Behavior’ (ECCB) is consumer behavior based on some
awareness of the environmental impacts associated with a product or service, and a
desire to reduce those impacts. Many researchers in the field of consumer’s psychology
and market research have demonstrated a substantial growth in ECCB across a range of
markets. It has been demonstrated through case studies that how product developers and
marketers have capitalized on this positive attitude and effectively differentiated their
product in terms of their ‘environmentally friendly’ character.
The term environmental consciousness does not have a standardized definition in the
body of academic literature; the reason can be due to arousal of the term out of political
and everyday language. Environmental consciousness is the desire to protect flora and
fauna, a willingness to scrutinize the consequences of economic activity and a willingness
to combine long-term with short-term planning.
What drives Environmentally Conscious Consumer Behavior
It has been proved through research across a wide range of academic disciplines
including economics, psychology and sociology, that there are many different motivations
and influences that drive consumer behavior. For every individual, the ultimate purchasing
decisions and rationale to reinforce what is environmentally “correct” will vary. While
individuals have deferring levels of need, values and knowledge related to various
resources and their uses, no single answer on ‘what is better” will satisfy the value and
beliefs of all people. Purchasing habits fluctuate over time with every generation, but

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because of increased access to new technology and uncertainty due to world events and
insecure futures, the consumer trends of generations have changed. In order for
businesses to appeal to these Environmentally Conscious Consumers, it is important to
understand

• Who are environmentally conscious consumers.

• What are the factors influencing their purchasing decisions and behavior.

• What are the buying habits and how they have changed.
Environmentally Conscious Consumer Behavior
The proposed framework presents Environmentally Consciousness Consumer
Behavior (ECCB) as a process involving consumer environment, constructs, mediators
and outcomes. The underlying influencers of ECCB are complex and different approaches
to consumer motivation account for them in various ways.

Green Buyers and Green Consumers

Research about the identity and nature of green consumer has been the central
character in the development of green marketing, as business attempt to understand and
respond to external pressures to improve their environmental performance. Marketing
practitioners and academics are attempting to identify and understand green consumers
and their needs, and to develop market offerings that meet these needs.

SEGMENTATION OF GREEN CONSUMERS

• True-Blue Greens- The most environmentally active segment of the society.

• Greenback Greens- Those most willing to pay the highest premium for green
products.

• Spouts- Fence-sitters who have embraced environmentalism more slowly.

• Grousers- Uninvolved or disinterested in environmental issues, who feel the issues

are too big for them to solve.

• Apathetic- The least engaged group who believe that the environmental
indifference is main stream.
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 Apart from this Natural Marketing Institute(NMI) divides the market into following
categories:

• Lohas- Very progressive on environment and society, looking for ways to do more;
not too concerned about price.

• Naturalites- Primarily concerned about personal health and wellness, and use
many natural products; would like to do more to protect the environment.

• Conventional- Practical, like to see the results of what they do; interested in green
products that make sense in the long run.

• Drifters- Not too concerned about the environment, figuring we’ve got time to fix
the environmental problems; don’t necessarily buy a lot of green products.

• Unconcerned- Have other priorities, not really sure what green products are
available and probably wouldn’t be interested anyway; they buy products strictly on
price, value, quality and convenience.
Consumer Information and Education
If managers believe that consumers view greenness as a motivating variable, they
should invest in conveying information through advertising, direct mailing, brand labels, in-
store displays and pamphlets. The important points to be noted here are:
a) Firms willing to provide clear, comprehensive and credible information must ensure
that consumers have low cost to access it.
b) Governmental policies and stakeholder initiatives can be important in reducing
consumers’ search, information or transaction costs.
c) Regulators can publish and disseminate it to the media by press releases and post
it on the internet.
d) Stakeholders can use the media as well as use their organization-specific vehicles
such as newsletters.

Green marketing can be successfully implemented by use of ICT in cost effective

way:

• By developing compelling, concise messages, plan innovative ways to repeatedly

deliver, identify appropriate links within network of political, legislative, non-profit
organization and media, develop concept based programs and events.

• Utilize extensive relationship with local and national media to get a client’s message
to the right media targets.

• Identify venues, plan tours, identify audiences, and organize meals, speakers and
press.

• Strategies and plan joint PR initiatives as well as joint advertising campaigns and
events to cross-promote companies and organization campaigns.

• Help develop identify and branding for print, broadcast and digital mediums.

• Consulting and creation of a corporate design, brochures, leaflets, info materials.

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 • Develop web sites, e-mail campaigns, and banner advertising.
Identify and Target the Green Consumer
According to David Wheeler, the green consumers are distributed somehow like
this: Green Consumer, who no matter what will only buy the green product. Green
Activists that may not be able or willing to pay more, or to travel the distance to the
specialist store where the offered product is, but try to promote the product and try to buy it
any time they can, when the budget and the opportunity allow them. Latent Greens, who
are willing to pay more for the product if the properties of the product, are same as of the
others. Inactive, who only would buy a green or social product if the price and properties
are the same that the non-denominational ones.

Thus to take the advantage of the emerging green market,

a) It is important to understand who green consumers are and the factors influencing
their purchasing decisions and behavior.
b) Target products to women who generally buy on behalf of men and families.
c) Use the influence of children (green consumers of the future) to encourage parents
to try green products.
d) Offer samples and incentives to try products, effectively communicate assurance of
quality-for example quality of performance, look, feel, fit, comfort, durability, etc.
e) Linking environmental attributes (energy efficiency or toxic substance reduction)
with other benefits such as lower price, convenience or quality of life improvements,
emphasis on personal benefits by using terms such as ‘safe’, ‘non-toxic’, ‘cost
effective’, rather than ‘biodegradable’ or ‘ozone friendly’, making use of the
product simple- for example, minimize or eliminate refilling bottles, select
mainstream distributors where possible, offer one-stop shopping and eye-appealing
displays, reinforce product benefits with evidence of corporate environmental
performance and improvements.

For green marketing to be effective, you have to do three things; be genuine, educate
your customers, and give them the opportunity to participate.

1) Being genuine means that:

a) that you are actually doing what you claim to be doing in your green marketing
campaign and
b) that the rest of your business policies are consistent with whatever you are doing that's
environmentally friendly. Both these conditions have to be met for your business to
establish the kind of environmental credentials that will allow a green marketing campaign
to succeed.

2) Educating your customers isn't just a matter of letting people know you're doing
whatever you're doing to protect the environment, but also a matter of letting them know
why it matters. Otherwise, for a significant portion of your target market, it's a case of "So
what?" and your green marketing campaign goes nowhere.

3) Giving your customers an opportunity to participate means personalizing the benefits of

your environmentally friendly actions, normally through letting the customer take part in
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positive environmental action.

STRATEGIES TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN GREEN MARKETING

I. PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION
Organizations are putting continuous efforts to differentiate their products and
services using green marketing practice. In a wide range of markets including retailing etc
companies have used eco performance to differentiate and to compete. Products with
poor eco performance can become targets for new substitution, as a result of this many
organizations are coming up with greener ideas to differentiate their products from
competitors.
CONSUMER VALUE POSITIONING- organizations can design environmental products to
perform as well as provide alternatives. In addition to this promoting and delivering the
consumer desired value of environmental products and target relevant consumer market
segments can help the organization to differentiate.
CALIBERATION OF CONSUMER KNOWLEDGE- Educates customers with marketing
messages that connect environmental product attributes with desired consumer value.
II. DESIGNING BIO-DEGRADABLE PACKAGING
36
 It is seen that promotion of green products strongly influences the consumers buying
decisions. It is one of the most important factors of product attractiveness. Thus it has
been indicated that bio-degradable packaging will affect in a strong and moderate way
respectively on their buying decisions.
As a marketing strategy the companies should modify the product packaging by using
only the recycle as well as handmade paper in packaging. Instead of being more
mechanized the companies must find creative ways reusing the waste products which are
harmful to the environment. Manufacturing companies which are using plastic for
packaging should meet certain standardization. For example Bisleri plastic bottles or the
water bottles can last only for 15 days and after that it generates certain chemicals which
are harmful and there is no reusability of this kind of plastic. Companies should modify
these kinds of packaging styles and find out some innovative ways to recycle it.
III. PRODUCT STRATEGY
In this strategy marketers can identify customer’s environmental needs and develop
products to address this issue, produce more environmentally responsible packages and
insure that products meet or exceed the quality expectation of customers. In addition to
that marketer can charge higher price with highlighting eco-friendliness of the products.
IV. DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
In case of this strategy obtaining dealer support to green marketing practice is
essential. The location must differentiate from competitors and it can be achieved by in-
store promotions and displays by using recycle materials to emphasize the environmental
and other benefits.
Even though distribution has no big involvement in green marketing, few consumers
are willing to get the services from places and distribution channels which are not cause to
environmental pollution.
V. LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS
Brands which aspire to be sustainable must “get their house in order” before they start
planning any green marketing initiatives. The best brands are performing life cycle
analysis- complex assessments which provide critical data on social, environmental and
economic impact of products through the supply chain production process and after the
purchase. Life cycle analysis tells a brand just how far it needs to go before it claims to be
sustainable. Consumers don’t expect perfection when it comes to sustainability but they
want to see that brands understand the scale of the problem, have a plan and are in the
process of implementing it.
VI. INCENTIVES AND STRUCTURAL FACTORS
Commercialization programs and incentives help get new technologies introduced
examples include fleet programs to cultivate strategic niche markets and by providing
financial incentives such as the advanced vehicle tax credit proposal in case of green
vehicle purchase.
Consumers can be motivated by incentives and awards to:

 Curtail – reduce the impact on the environment by modifying extant living patterns.

 Maintain – keep equipment in good working order.

Be efficient – undertake structural changes such as buying environmental friendly

37
equipment.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Henion and Kinnear were the first to discuss the Green Marketing. In their publishing
in 1976, Henion and Kinnear defined ecological marketing as “the study of positive and
negative aspects of marketing activities on pollution, energy depletion and non resource
energy depletion.”
As per Polonsky all activities designed to generate and facilitate any exchanges intended
to satisfy human needs or wants, such that the satisfaction of these needs and wants
occurs, with minimal detrimental impact on the natural environment”.
Polonsky (1994) noticed that unfortunately a majority of people believed that green
marketing refers solely to the promotion or advertising of products with environmental
characteristics. This also explains why the concept is often linked with terms like
phosphate free, recyclable, refillable, ozone friendly, he also claims the green marketing
also incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to
the production, packaging changes as well as advertising.
Some authors tend to reduce the green marketing to a few elements but others
seem to join Polonsky’s opinion and to attribute to the green marketing a lot of elements
and consider it like a real and complete strategy.

38
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.
Miller for instance (2008) claims that green marketing is a concept that, when
implemented effectively can improve the customer relationships, image in the market and
ability to reach the most targeted audience while helping grow the bottom line.
Moreover, according to miller, green businesses continue to evolve and new
companies are joining the trends. She adds that the green economy is valued at more
than $209 billion annually and is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2020.Others like Prakash
approach green marketing from the marketing- mix point of view. According to him green
marketing subsumes greening produts as well as greening firms, in addition to
manipulating the 4Ps of the traditional marketing mix.
The first to include the green marketing in the marketing mix was Bradley in 1989.
He was the first to use the term green marketing mix. He included the green marketing
inside the marketing mix and developed some studies to measure how green is a
company and explained some rules to insert into the marketing strategy.
According to the American Marketing Association green marketing is the marketing of
products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing
incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the
production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. It could be
concluded that defining green marketing is not a simple task where several meanings
intersect and contradict each other; an example of this will be the existence of varying
social, environmental and retail definitions attached to this term. As we know that the
emerging greenhouse gas reduction market can potentially catalyze projects with
important local environmental, economic, and quality-of-life benefits. The Kyoto Protocol’s
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), for example, enables trading between industrial
and developing nations, providing a framework that can result in capital flows to
environmentally beneficial development activities.
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,

39
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.

The American Wind Energy Association has associated green marketing with
wind energy. Green marketing can improve the environmental profile of the U.S. electricity
supply if marketers sell a power product that includes a substantial fraction of wind,
geothermal, biomass (including landfill gas) and/or solar resources. The generation of
power from these renewable resource technologies produces few or no air emissions, no
carbon. They will be most vulnerable in competitive markets and can most benefit from
consumer support. While "green" is difficult to define, and arguments can be made that
natural gas and large hydropower are less environmentally harmful than coal, oil, and
nuclear power, green-customer demand is unlikely to exceed the supply of large, existing
quantities of gas and hydro resources.

ANJA SCHAEFER (from THE OPEN UNIVERSITY-BBC):

She has mentioned that green marketing is there in a sizeable market segment of
green consumers who are willing to pay a little more for environmentally friendly products
from environmentally friendly companies. Producers and retailers will react to this green
demand and environmentally friendly practices will be pushed through the supply chain.
Green marketing dates back several decades now, with specialist manufacturers and
retailers such as Ben and Jerry’s, the Body Shop and so forth, leading the way.

GREEN MARKETING AND SOCIAL NETWORKS:

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.

40
 JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY

There are several suggested reasons for firms’ increased use of Green Marketing. In light
of above research, following important reasons may be cited:
1. Organizations perceive environmental marketing to be an opportunity that can be
used to achieve their objectives.
2. Organizations believe they have a moral obligation to be more socially responsible.
3. Governmental bodies are forcing firms to become more responsible
4. Competitor’s environmental activities pressure firms to change their environmental
marketing activities
5. Cost factors associated with waste disposal or reductions in material reduction in
material usage forces firms to modify their behavior.

41
 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

The objective of the study is to explore the basic parameter for development new
marketing strategy encompassing “Green Marketing” of Automobiles among the consumer
of the region chosen for this study. To be able to meet the particular objective we will
conduct research to measure the customer’s awareness and perception about green
marketing of automobile among the customers of various segments and to measure their
willingness to pay extra, if green marketing cost more.

42
43
44
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Research design for present study was planned and structured along with an
investigation strategy so as to find the answer to research question or objectives so as to
control the variances. The study was conducted during the period of March 2010.
Data Collection And Sources
Primary data will be collected by means of preparing a questionnaire and getting it
filled by a large sample space. These questionnaires will help in drawing conclusions
about the case. Secondary data will be gathered from the books, Internet sites, articles
and journals on green marketing. Any new information that could be a source of good
learning will be given prime importance. The other very important source is Internet.
Primary data collected will be analyzed with the help of various statistical tools.
These tools will be of two basic forms: tabular and graphical presentation. Under the
graphical presentation, tools such as pie-charts, histograms, line graphs, bar diagrams etc.
will prove to be handy.
With the help of the primary data so collected, along with the various statistical
tools, an analysis will be performed. A conclusion will be drawn based on this analysis.
These tools will thus provide a water tight conclusion for the case so framed.
The Study
The study, essentially exploratory in nature in which an attempt is made to
understand the awareness about green marketing of Automobile. According to Aaker at
(2003), an exploratory research should be used when looking about insights about specific
problem. This kind of research is useful when there is little preceding knowledge.
In this case, since there was little prior information about subject, that kind of research was
considered as more suitable kind of solution.
The study actually is qualitative and the survey is focused on understanding the consumer
perception & awareness about green marketing of automobile. The study comprises an
exploratory investigation to understand the awareness of green automobiles among the
respondent in the age group of 18-22 & in age group of 22 above.
The Sample
A selected sample size chosen is 80. Stratified random sampling method is used on
a sampling comprising of 80 randomly selected voluntary respondents. The respondents
includes post graduate student, academies.

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 DATA ANALYSIS
1. Awareness about Green Marketing of Automobile

No. of Respondents Percentage

Aware 48 60
Not Aware 32 40

CHI SQUARE TEST

To test the awareness between Respondents of age group 18-22 & 22 above.

Age group 18-22 22 Above

No of respondents 20 28
who are aware about
Green product.

Step 1: H°= There is no significant difference in the awareness level of people who are in
age group of 18-22 & 22 above.
HA= The awareness level of people about green automobiles in age group of 18-22 is less
than age group 22 above.

Step 2: Degree of significance (ɑ) = 5%

Step 3:
Degree of freedom (df)=2-1= 1

Step 4: X2tab = X0.05, df=1 = 6.314

Step 5: X2cal = Ʃ(O - E)2 /E (Where O=Observed Frequency And E=Expected Frequency)
46
Expected frequency can be calculated by:

Age O E (O-E) (O-E)/E

18-22 20 24 -4 1.3
22 Above 28 24 4 1.3

X2cal = 1.3+1.3=2.6

Step 6: 2.6>6.314 (i.e. X2tab > X2cal )

Hence H° is rejected & HA is accepted.

Step 7: Thus it can be concluded that awareness level of people about green automobiles
in age group of 18-22 is less than age group 22 above.

Interpretation:
It has been found that 60 % of respondants surveyed are aware of Green Marketing of
Automobiles. While there are lesses no. of respondants who are not aware about Green
Marketing of Automobiles. It suggests that there is significant awareness amongst
respondants about Green Marketing of Automobiles.

2. Willingness to pay 5% extra of current price for Green Automobile

No. of Respondents Percentage

Not wiling 50 62.5
Willing 5 6.25
Not sure 25 31.25
80

Interpretation:
It has been found that out of 80 respondents 50 respondents are not willing to pay 5 %
47
extra for acquiring Green product i.e. 62.5% respondents not willing to pay extra. 31.25 %
respondents are not sure whether they would pay extra or not. Only 6.25 respondents are
willing to pay extra for green product. It suggests that 5% extra price with reference to
current price cannot be the price tag.

3. Perception about Green Marketing promoting long-term benefit

No. of Respondents Percentage

Agree 61 76.25
Disagree 1 1.25
Not sure 18 22.5

Interpretation:
It has been found that 76.25 respondents are aware about long term benefit which
green products are likely to give.1.25 % respondents disagree with the above view. 22.5 %
respondents are not sure whether green marketing will provide long term benefit to
customer or not. It indicates that there is sufficient awareness regarding green products
promoting long-term benefits.

4. Acceptance of Green Automobiles in rural market, as compared to likelihood of higher

acceptance in urban Area?
In Rural Area

Frequency Percentage
Disagree 20 25
Agree 30 37.5
Not sure 30 37.5

In Urban Area

Disagree 4 1.25
Agree 47 58.75
Not sure 29 36.25

48
Series1: Rural Area
Series 2: Urban Area

Interpretation

It has been found that 25 % respondents are disagree with acceptnace about green
product in rural Area.While 37.5 % respondents are agree about acceptnace the green
product in rurla Area. Whilw only 4 respondents disagree when urban scenario is posed to
them. Approximately 36 % respondents are not sure about their opinion. 47 respondents
are agree about its success in urban Area as compared to 30 predisting its success in
rural market. It indicates that in urban market its acceptability is high.

5. Product Acceptance in four-wheeler and two-wheeler segments

Two Wheeler

Frequency Percentage
Disagree 24 30
Agree 27 33.75
Not sure 29 36.25

Four Wheeler

Frequency Percentage
Disagree 17 21.25
Agree 38 47.50
Not sure 25 31.25

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Series 1: Two wheeler
Seies 2: Four wheeler

Interpretation
It has been found that 30 % respondents disagree about acceptance of the product by
the owner of Two wheelers while only 21.25 % respondents in similar fashion when asked
to predict about four wheeler category. Approximately 33 % respondents were not sure
about their opinion. Out of total sample 47.50 % respondents agree about product
acceptance among the four wheeler category, and 33.75 % respondents do so in Two
whleeler category. It indicates that sample is of the opinion accaptance of green product
will be slightly higher with the owner of four Wheeler .

50
 SUMMARY

Terms like "Green Marketing" and "Environmental Marketing" appear frequently in the
popular press. Many governments around the world have become so concerned about
green marketing activities that they have attempted to regulate them. For example, in the
United States (US) the Federal Trade Commission and the National Association of
Attorneys-General have developed extensive documents examining green marketing
issues.

"Green or Environmental Marketing consists of all activities designed to generate and

facilitate any exchanges intended to satisfy human needs or wants, such that the
satisfaction of these needs and wants occurs, with minimal detrimental impact on the
natural environment".

Green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product

modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying
advertising.

Firms use green marketing in an attempt to address cost or profit related issues. In
implementing green marketing, consumers, corporate and the government play a very
important role. But there are few constraints in implementing it like lack of consumer
awareness, financial constraints, limited scientific knowledge, lack of stringent rules and
competitive pressures. Green product stresses the straight and tangible benefits provided
by greener design, such as energy efficiency or recycled content, rather than stressing the
environmental attributes them. Reducing the environmental impact of a product improves
the product's overall performance and quality in ways that are important, not just the most
dedicated and loyal green consumer, but to all consumers.

Therefore green product means any product, which is not hazardous for environment
and customer as well, and it also work as a future remedy of negative impact of a product.

Green marketing consists of all activities designed to generate and facilitate any
exchanges intended to satisfy human needs or wants, such that the satisfaction of these
needs and wants occurs, with minimal detrimental impact on the natural environment. It is
sorry to say, a greater part of people believe that green marketing refers solely to the
promotion or advertising of products with environmental characteristics. Terms like
Phosphate Free, Recyclable, Refillable, Ozone Friendly, and Environmentally Friendly are
some of the things consumers most often associate with green marketing. While these
terms are green marketing claims, in general green marketing is a much broader concept,
one that can be applied to consumer goods, industrial goods and even services. For
example, around the world there are resorts that are beginning to promote themselves as
"ecotourism" facilities, i.e., facilities that "specialize" in experiencing nature or operating in
a fashion that minimizes their environmental impact .Thus green marketing incorporates a
broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production
process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. Yet defining green
marketing is not a simple task. Indeed the terminology used in this area has varied, it
includes: Green Marketing, Environmental Marketing and Ecological Marketing. This early
definition has three key components, such as it is a subset of the overall marketing
activity; it examines both the positive and negative activities; and narrow ranges of
environmental issues are examined.

51
 POLICY IMPLICATIONS

The present study is limited to a particular geographic region. It surveyed limited

segments of potential buyers of green automobiles. Therefore, the authors suggest
that the scope of this study can be enhanced in future from regional to the national
level and more customer segments based on demography, social status, culture,
education level, gender etc., may be incorporated in it.

CONCLUSIONS
52
 Followings conclusions can be drawn from the study:

• Looking to the significant awareness about green marketing prevailing among the
customers, the firm must adopt suitable green marketing strategies.

• The middle aged segment, urban segment and four wheeler segments of the study
exhibit more awareness as compared to the younger people and people with rural
back ground as well as owners of two wheelers. Thereore, programmers creating
awareness about green products are needed in these less aware segments.

• The green technologies in the automobile sectors can not be allowed at the cost of
an increased price tag of the green products, only because they offer a sustainable
product. But to the contrary other methods like use pf economies of scale should be
used to avoid undue escalations of prices. This shall serve the dual purpose of
keeping the price low and also of that recovering the cost associated with
development of green technology.

• Finally ,it is felt that green marketing will lead to all round development of the
society.

This study is likely to help the marketers to design the marketing strategies so that benefits
of the green products are continuously demonstrated in their product promotions.
For eg: the green automobile can first be launched in the premium segment and then once
the infrastructure is in place, it can go for full market coverage.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

53
 1. DATA RELIABILITY - As the data will be collected from various sources the
accuracy of the data collected would be an area of concern. It would be an uphill task
to validate the data consistency of the collection of that data.

2. UNAWARENESS – People are unaware of the i.e. Green marketing

3. TIME CONSTRAINT – the time duration for doing the complete research on green
marketing is very limited. Green marketing a broad topic, which requires an in-depth
research and analysis. Due to the time period, research is very limited 4.Limitations
towards Positive Consumer Perception.
The three main barriers to consumers taking health, social and environmental issues like
carbon labeling into greater account are price, time and lack of knowledge.

1. The Limits of Consumer Understanding: Despite the very extensive coverage of

issues such as climate change, relatively few consumers are making the link between
these big issues and their day-to-day behavior. For those wishing to change consumer
behavior there is clearly a need to increase public understanding. If public
understanding of these linkages can be increased then the findings of their survey
would suggest that the behavior of large number of consumers could be changed
substantially quite quickly.

2. The Limits of Consumer Power: Changing consumer behavior is seen as a key

element in driving systematic change, particularly around sustainability and tackling
poverty and inequality. This research will also reflect some of the barriers through
which further changes in consumer behavior can be overcome. The real test is now for
action that will make a difference for all consumers, particularly those from lower
income households and it is everyone’s responsibility to make this happen.

54
 ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR GREEN MARKETING OF AUTOMOBILES

Consumer Detail
Name:-
Age:-
Occupation:-

Please fill up the following information

1.Are you aware about Green Marketing of Automobile?
o Yes

o No

2. Are you willing to pay 5% extra of current price for Green Automobile?
o Not willing

o Willing

o Not sure

3.Do you think Green Marketing promoting long-term benefit?

o Agree

o Disagree

o Not sure

4.Give your opinion about possible higher acceptance of Green Automobiles in rural
market, as compared to likelihood of higher acceptance in urban Area?
In Rural Market
o Agree

o Disagree

o Not sure

In Urban Market
o Agree

o Disagree

o Not sure

55
5. What do you think about Product Acceptance in four-wheeler and two-wheeler
segments?
Two wheelers
o Agree

o Disagree

o Not sure

Four-wheeler
o Agree

o Disagree

o Not sure

56
 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES

1. Kothari, C.R. (2004)”Research Methodology Methods & Techniques”,

New Age international New Delhi.

2. Ottoman, J. (1993) “Green Marketing Challenges And Opportunities

for the New Marketing Age”, Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC Business
Books

3. Codington ,w.(1993). “Environmental Marketing: Positive Strategies

For Researching The Green Consumer”, McGraw-Hill Inc New York

4. Kangun,N. and polonsky, M.J.(1994) “Regulation Of Envirommental

Marketing Claim: A comparitive prospective”. International Journal Of
Advertiing,13(4)

5. Websites:

Www.marketing prof .net/green

www.docstoc.com

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