Since its first debut during the 1970’s, the concept of green marketing has acquired a new and increasing significance for the business world. Due to the recent revival of environmental consciousness among consumers, many firms have, indeed, realised the importance of green marketing as a strategy for gaining competitive advantage over the rivals in the industry. The purpose of this study is to examine how strategic green marketing can be developed and how it can be exploited by business firms to achieve competitive advantage. The paper, then, particularly focuses on the opportunities provided by the introduction of green innovations to reach this aim. In order to fulfil these objectives, a qualitative case study analysis was conducted of three Italian SMEs belonging to different industries. Interviews allowed the author to gain insight as to how companies develop their green marketing strategies and which outcomes did they get. The comparison between theories and interviews revealed that green market strategies differ for each firm and how the latter should be derived from enterprises’ individual characteristics, objectives and resources. The results indicate that by emphasizing the green attributes of their products and business through different marketing mix tolls, the companies achieve a differentiation advantage over their competitors. Furthermore, the findings outlined as the introduction of green innovation helped companies to gain a sustainable competitive advantage by both providing companies some cost benefits and enhancing their differentiation advantages.
Dalla sua prima comparsa durante gli anni 70, in concetto di green marketing ha via via acquisito un crescente significato per il mondo del business. In seguito alla nuova“coscienza ecologica” dei consumatori, maturata in seguito ai diversi disastri ambientali che hanno caratterizzato la nostra epoca, molte imprese hanno, infatti, compreso il potenziale strategico rappresentato dal green marketing nell’acquisizione di un vantaggio competitivo. Lo scopo di questa tesi è quello di esaminare come una strategia di green marketing possa essere sviluppata ed utilizzata ai fini di ottenere una posizione di vantaggio competitivo. Il lavoro si focalizza poi, in particolare, sulle diverse opportunità fornite dall’introduzione di tecnologie green per raggiungere questo fine. Per ottenere questi obiettivi, è stato eseguito uno studio qualitativo su tre PMEs Italiane appartenenti a diversi settori industriali. Per mezzo delle interviste condotte, l’autore ha potuto così ottenere precise informazioni sulle diverse strategie di green marketing attuate e sui conseguenti risultati. Comparando i dati teorici ed empirici raccolti, è emerso come le strategie di green marketing implementate differiscano per ogni impresa e come queste dovrebbero essere sviluppate in base alle peculiari caratteritiche, obiettivi e risorse di ogni azienda. I risultati indicano poi che grazie alla promozione in chiave “green” delle proprie attività e prodotti, tramite diversi strumenti di marketing mix, le imprese abbiano acquisito un vantaggio di differenziazione sui propri concorrenti. In fine, lo studio sottolinea come l’introduzione di tecnologie green abbia aiutato le imprese a costruire una posizione di vanatggio competitivo sostenibile, rafforzando il loro vantaggio di differenziazione e offrendo diversi benefici anche in termine di costi.
Green Marketing and Competitive Advantage: focus on Green Innovation
DEMERGASSO, SARA COSTANZA
2013/2014
Abstract
Since its first debut during the 1970’s, the concept of green marketing has acquired a new and increasing significance for the business world. Due to the recent revival of environmental consciousness among consumers, many firms have, indeed, realised the importance of green marketing as a strategy for gaining competitive advantage over the rivals in the industry. The purpose of this study is to examine how strategic green marketing can be developed and how it can be exploited by business firms to achieve competitive advantage. The paper, then, particularly focuses on the opportunities provided by the introduction of green innovations to reach this aim. In order to fulfil these objectives, a qualitative case study analysis was conducted of three Italian SMEs belonging to different industries. Interviews allowed the author to gain insight as to how companies develop their green marketing strategies and which outcomes did they get. The comparison between theories and interviews revealed that green market strategies differ for each firm and how the latter should be derived from enterprises’ individual characteristics, objectives and resources. The results indicate that by emphasizing the green attributes of their products and business through different marketing mix tolls, the companies achieve a differentiation advantage over their competitors. Furthermore, the findings outlined as the introduction of green innovation helped companies to gain a sustainable competitive advantage by both providing companies some cost benefits and enhancing their differentiation advantages.È consentito all'utente scaricare e condividere i documenti disponibili a testo pieno in UNITESI UNIPV nel rispetto della licenza Creative Commons del tipo CC BY NC ND.
Per maggiori informazioni e per verifiche sull'eventuale disponibilità del file scrivere a: unitesi@unipv.it.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/7754