Page 1 of 13
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 5
May 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 221
The Nexus of Green Marketing and Sustainable
Development: A Review Paper
Admasu Abera Lalisho1 and Tagesse Mathewos Sugebo2
1MSc Student of Business Economics and Management Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic
2Head, Department of Public Administration and Development Management Faculty of Business and
Economics, Wachemo University, Ethiopia
Abstract
Many consumers are environmentally
conscious, seeking eco-friendly products
and services from organizations that are
socially responsible. Now days, many
organizations or companies are cognizant
about the contribution of green marketing to
sustainable development. Taking into
account this, this paper reviews the
conceptual links between green marketing
and sustainable development. Besides, the
paper addresses the terms and concepts of
green marketing and sustainable
development, the importance of green
marketing, the challenges of adopting green
marketing in general and the practices of
green marketing in Ethiopia in particular.
To meet these objectives exploratory and
descriptive methods were employed with
secondary sources of data collection. The
review reveals that organizations or
companies that adopt green marketing with
eco-friendly environment substantially
increase profits and enjoy competitive
advantages over those marketing non- environmentally responsible alternatives.
Despite the importance, green marketing
faces challenges including avoiding
marketing myopia and long gestation period
require patience perseverance are among
others. Considering the importance of green
marketing, the entire attention should be
given to its proper implementation to sustain
the development.
Key Words: Eco-friendly Environment,
Environment Protection, Green Marketing,
Sustainable Development.
Introduction
As a 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
businesses have been quick to accept
concepts like environmental management
systems and waste minimization, and have
integrated environmental issues into all
organizational activities (Polonsky, Michael
Jay, 1994). In order to meet stricter
environmental standards, both marketers and
consumers are becoming increasingly
sensitive to the need for switch in to green
products and services. As a result, green
marketing has emerged which speaks for
growing market for sustainable and socially
responsible products and services (Polonsky,
M. J. & Rosenberger P., 2001).
According to Peattie (2001), the evolution of
green marketing has three phases. First
phase was termed as "Ecological" green
Page 2 of 13
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 5
May 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 222
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. In other words, this phase led
to the discovery or the invention of products
that would improve the environment or at
least not increase the already existing
problems. Third phase was "Sustainable"
green marketing. This phase came into
existence and prominence by the late
nineties and early twenties. It can be said
that green marketing is a holistic concept
which involves eco–friendly practices at all
the stages such as the production, designing,
marketing and selling (Mohammad Azam,
2014). Accordingly, the core concept of this
paper lies on the third phase that reviews the
association of green marketing and
sustainable development.
The contemporary interpretation of
sustainable marketing is that it should deal
positively with the ecological environment
and be sensitive to the needs of future
generations. Sustainability has been defined
as sustainable development. Sustainable
development was defined by the Bruntland
Commission Report (1987) as "meeting the
needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs" and has been discussed
extensively since that time.
Green marketing is relatively new focus in
business endeavors and came into
prominence in the late 1980s and early
1990s (Ottman, 1998). Similarly, green
marketing has gained wide acceptance
among several companies as being a viable
competitive strategy. As noted by Shrum, et
al., (1995), the term "green" is often used
interchangeably with "pro-environmental."
According to Mohanasundaram V. (2012),
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.
Objectives of the Paper
The main purpose of this paper is to review
scholarly works on the conceptual link
between green marketing and sustainable
development. Additionally, the concern of
this paper is to achieve the following
specific objectives. These include:
- To introduce the terms and concepts of
green marketing and sustainable
development;
- To examine the importance of green
marketing in the effort of realizing
sustainable development;
- To investigate the challenges of adopting
green marketing so as to assure
sustainable development;
- To discuss the practices of green
marketing and sustainable development
in Ethiopia
Methodology of the Paper
This paper attempts to scrutinize the
conceptual issues associated with green
marketing and sustainable development. The
Page 3 of 13
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 5
May 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 223
study employed exploratory type of
research. This is to provide a clear guidance
for empirical research. It is also descriptive
where the focus is on fact finding
investigation with adequate interpretation.
For this purpose, secondary sources of data
were employed. Secondary data were
collected through journals, thesis,
newspapers, magazines, books, conference
and proceedings.
Green Marketing
The misconception of green marketing by
majority of people makes its definition very
critical; yet defining green marketing is not
a simple task. Indeed the terminologies and
definitions used in this area are varied
(Polonsky M. J., 1994). According to
Polonsky majority of people believe that
green marketing refers solely to the
promotion or advertising of products with
environmental characteristics. Terms like
phosphate free, recyclable, refillable, and
ozone friendly and environmental 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 broader concept, one
that can be applied to consumer goods and
industrial goods and services.
Different scholars and associations have
defined green marketing in different ways.
According to the American Marketing
Association (AMA), green marketing can be
defined in three different ways. First, green
marketing is the marketing of products that
are presumed to be environmentally safe
(retailing definition). Second, Green
Marketing is the development and marketing
of products designed to minimize negative
effects on the physical environment or to
improve its quality (social marketing
definition). Third, Green Marketing is the
efforts by organizations to produce,
promote, package, and reclaim products in a
manner that it is sensitive or responsive to
ecological concerns (environmental
definition) (Karl E., et al., 1976).
Green, environmental and eco-marketing are
part of the new marketing approaches which
do not just refocus, adjust or enhance
existing marketing thinking and practice, but
seek to challenge those approaches and
provide a substantially different perspective
(Belz F., Peattie K., 2009). Similarly, green
marketing approach seeks to address the
lack of fit between marketing as it is
currently practiced and the ecological and
social realities of the wider marketing
environment.
The concept of green marketing is the
business practice that considers consumers
concerns with regards to preservation and
conservation of the natural environment
(Coddington, 1993). Green marketing that
has been previously and primarily focused
on the ecological context has been shifted to
more sustainability issues in the marketing
efforts and main focus now is in socio- economic and environmental context
(Charter et al., 2002; Simintiras et al., 1994).
Today green marketing has incorporated a
broad range of activities, including product
modification, changes to the production
process, packaging changes, as well as
modifying advertising (Aparna C. and Samir
G., 2013).
