Green Marketing
Assessment of Green Marketing in Lebanon
By Eva Hajo and Hussin Hejase*
Green marketing is a global term which indicates marketing eco-friendly products. As per Mr. J. Polonsky (1994), green marketing can be defined as, “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.” 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.
While green marketing is growing greatly as increasing numbers of consumers are willing to back their environmental consciousnesses with their dollars, it can be dangerous. The public looks for credibility when businesses claim to offer green products. That is, 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 (Pirakatheeswari, Dec. 2010).
In Lebanon and since 1997 when one of the first academic thesis was written on the topic “assessment of green marketing and management in Lebanon” (Taleb, 1997), many studies followed and numerous businesses were created to offer green food and green technology solutions. However, green marketing continues to be addressed today in a limited manner and mostly to pursue public opinion to respect the green environment of Lebanon.
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The current work has been conducted in the American University of Science and Technology, Beirut, Lebanon. Ms. Eva Hajo completed her MBA and Dr. Hussin J. Hejase is Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics.
Meanwhile, and based on the growing Lebanese population that is interested in the conservation of the image of green Lebanon, the opportunity is available to create a new need for green products in the market. A helping factor to the aforementioned concept of green products is the increasing influence of the concerned Lebanese who are acquainted with the demands of the western culture, especially as related to the purchasing habits governed by the trend towards healthy products and environmental consciousness. The concerned Lebanese are then the main target of the current project.
The most important aspect for any new business is to be unique and to create a new need in the market. In other words, the national Lebanese market has not faced any significant shift that is environmentally friendly except on two dimensions: the first is related to healthy foods or green foods, and the second is related to green energy alternatives. Moreover, keeping Lebanon green campaigns are the only serious campaigns that were targeted toward the Lebanese regular consumers with the purpose to revive their environmental consciousness.
Then, one may observe that a dedicated green marketing campaign is necessary to create and build on consumers who are, by their nature, environmentally conscious and dedicated to whatever dimension of environmental social responsibility.
According to Pirakatheeswari (Dec. 2010), for green marketing to be effective, one has to do three things; be genuine, educating customers, and giving them the opportunity to participate. Exhibit 1 provides more details in this respect.
In red box
Exhibit 1 Steps for green marketing to be effective
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 positive environmental action.
A typical definition of a green product is a nontoxic, durable, made from recycled material or minimally packaged product. The production of any product requires energy, consumes resources and create by-products and emission through the whole cycle of its production, storage, usage and eventual disposal, this makes no product completely green. The evaluation of a green product is relative, that is, it is of less impact on the environment compared to another (Ottman, 1993, p. 89).
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 (Dodds, 2007). The proceedings of this workshop resulted in one of the first books on green marketing entitled "Ecological Marketing" (Karl, Henion, Thomas & Kinnear, 1976).
In 1987, a document prepared by the World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need” (World Bank, 2001), this became known as the Brundtland Report and was another step towards widespread thinking on sustainability in everyday activity. Two tangible milestones for wave 1 of green marketing came in the form of published books, both of which were called Green Marketing. They were by Ken Peattie (1992) in the United Kingdom and by Jacquelyn Ottman (1993) in the United States of America.
According to Ottman (1993), from an organizational standpoint, environmental considerations should be integrated into all aspects of marketing — new product development and communications and all points in between. The holistic nature of green also suggests that besides suppliers and retailers new stakeholders be enlisted, including educators, members of the community, regulators, and NGOs. Environmental issues should be balanced with primary customer needs.
The past ten years have shown that harnessing consumer power to effect positive environmental change is a challenging act. The "green consumer" movements in the U.S. and other countries have struggled to reach the appropriate target of consumer population and to remain in the forefront of shoppers' minds. While the continuous 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 (GreenPro, 2010). The lack of legal standards or a public consensus about what ‘green’ exactly includes is one of the big challenges of ‘green marketing’ (Burchell, 2009).
Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) may be defined as “the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life”
(Dolnicar & Pomering, n.d., p. 1). Another definition according to Mohr, Webb, and Harris (2001, p. 47) defines Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as "a company's commitment to minimizing or eliminating any harmful effects and maximizing its long-run beneficial impact on society."
According to Mohr & Webb (2005, Summer) even before the problems of well known corporations like “Enron” became open to the public, there was evidence of a growing discontent among the American public about the way companies conduct business. A Business Week cover story described Americans as "uneasy about Big Business". Their Public Poll found that 72% of Americans say they believe that business has too much power over American life. Furthermore, 66% of those polled agree that companies care more about making large profits than about selling safe, reliable, quality products. At the same time, pressure for companies to take on more responsibilities in their communities seems to be rising. Moreover, Mohr and Webb reported that in 1999, a worldwide survey found that two-thirds of consumers surveyed wanted companies to contribute to broader societal goals. Moreover, the Cone Corporate Citizenship Study conducted in 2002 found that 89% of Americans agreed that, following the recent corporate scandals, "it is more important than ever for companies to be socially responsible."
One broad framework used to categorize CSR initiatives includes actions under the domains of employee relations and diversity programs, ethical materials sourcing, product design, marketing programs, the environment, human rights, and corporate governance (Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini & Co. Inc., 2006 cited in Dolnicar & Pomering, n.d., p. 1). For example, under the title of corporate social responsibility goes a range of activities such as decreasing the environmental impact of products and production processes, avoiding child labor, stimulating employee volunteerism and donating money to charities. Moreover, according to Hietbrink (2010), several studies have found that the aforementioned activities generally improve corporate reputation and make stakeholders more willing to buy from the company, work for the company and invest in the company. In particular, CRS is becoming more and more important in supply chain management with the increase in the number of companies taking CRS into their account in their purchase decisions.
Hietbrink (2010) also found that the main motive for focusing on the supply chain CSR seems to be pressure from external sources more specifically consumers, who increasingly look beyond the activities of the companies they purchase their products from, to the suppliers of those companies. The consumers’ impression is affected by the activities of the company they are buying from and its suppliers. Yet consumer concerns aren’t the only motives for companies to address CSR in there system. Moral obligation and personal conviction are also strong motives to implement such a system.
As an example of corporations who took CSR activities seriously is the ALL Nippon Airway group that built its group around three main categories of CSR activities namely, management, environment, and society. The group built a model to represent the implementation of all activities insinuating a green tree and named it “Sustainable Development Tree.” All activities implemented are drawn in green and gaps are presented as dry brown leaves (ANA.co, 2005). Figure1 is a representation of such a model.
Figure 1 Sustainable Management Tree
Source: ANA.co (2005). ANN (All Nippon Airways) CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Activities. Retrieved December 21, 2011, from http://www.ana.co.jp/eng/aboutana/corporate/ir/pdf/annual/05/05_09.pdf
The Added Value of CSR
While quality, price and convenience are still the uppermost in consumers' purchasing decisions; a product's greenness is fast becoming a must at the self. Thus, marketers are realizing that developing environmentally sound products not only provides an opportunity to do the right thing, but also enhances corporate and brand image, saves money, and opens new markets for product catering to consumers' needs to maintain a high quality of life
Benefits to consumers.
Though consumers always show interest in helping the environment, there is always a gap between that desire and their actions. Many consumers believe that companies sponsor green initiative primarily for marketing purposes. To adopt environmental purchase behaviors, consumers require a better understanding of how consumers benefit from sustainable practices. Some benefits consumers see in sustainable consumption are saving money and providing value, personal health, and emotional and spiritual benefits where consumers feel better about themselves in preserving the environment for future generations (Rawlins, Sain & Filippi, 2009).
Benefits to marketers.
Many companies are incorporating sustainability not only to be responsible players in a global community, but also as part of their strategy for growth and as a means of increasing their bottom line. Sustainable consumption for corporations helps decrease the company’s operating costs, improve its corporate image through public relations (PR), and enhance employee’s engagement within the corporation (ibid).
The Green Consumer
According to Ryan (2006, November) “green consumers” may not be all the same, an understanding of some of their common characteristics can help business operators examine the market for environmental products and services. Common attitudes and beliefs of these consumers as described by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) are shown in Exhibit 2 below.
In Red Box:
Exhibit 2 Green consumers
· Commitment to green lifestyles
· Critical of their own environmental practices and impact
· Looking for companies that incorporate green practices
· Overstate their green behavior
· Want environmental protection to be easy
· Tend to distrust companies environmental claims
· Lack knowledge about environmental issues, but eager to learn
Source: Ryan (2006, November, p.1).
Moreover, Ryan (2006, November) mentioned that the IISD offers some broad generalizations regarding the demographic characteristics of green consumers. Exhibit 2 shows the suggested characteristics.
Americans are becoming increasingly concerned about the environment. The percentage of Americans who worry about the environment “a great deal” or “a fair amount” has increased from 62% to 77% between 2004 and 2006. Moreover, according to Green Futures, a UK organization focused on sustainable development, three in ten American adults are now considered “green consumers.” These consumers brought 229 billion dollars of spending power to the U.S. market in 2005. Successful products have included: Energy Star appliances, energy efficient electronics, environmentally friendly household products, energy efficient windows and alternative transportation. Also included are organic foods, fair trade coffee, organic cotton and hemp apparel, natural skin and personal care products (Ryan, 2006, November, p.1).
Green consumers are mainly driven by the fact of keeping their lives and their loved ones free from harm. In fact, green consumers differ from their colleagues in important purchase dimension. These consumers are better informed, more discerning, and more willing to act in the best interest of the whole community. They seek products that are typically durable, made from recycled material and minimally packaged. They are usually educated, affluent, and motivated by cost-effective, easy-to-execute environmental solutions. In sum, it is essential to study and analyze the psychological and sociological factors behind their purchase decisions.
Motives of a Green Consumer
Though individuals express their concern in personal ways; green consumers, are motivated by universal needs which can be translated by marketers into new purchasing strategies with implication for the ways products are developed and marketed.
In his book, “Environmental Marketing Management”, Peattie (1995) elaborated about the different consumers’ needs and expectations that are considered to be fundamental in the building of consumers’ expressions and perceptions after experiencing the value-added features and benefits of desired products. However, to make the consumers’ experience valid, one has to identify the drivers that lead the consumers to execute a green purchase.
a. The need for information: green consumers contribute to environmental clean-up and preservation mainly through purchasing products that are perceived as environmentally friendly. In making their decision, they want information about how to identify green products and where to get them. For example, reading product labels and capturing advertising messages from television, newspapers, magazines, radios and other media communication (p. 87).
b. The need for control: nowadays consumers see the world as risky; that’s why green consumers need to control such a world for which they feel highly responsible. Consequently, the strategy they use is to concentrate on environmental factors and take preventive measures in their purchasing decisions. For example, they only buy natural cleaning, recyclable products that assure environmental compatibility. In conclusion, green consumers are scrutinizing the product at every phase of its lifecycle (p. 89).
c. The need to make a difference: green consumers want to feel that they are making a difference in cleaning up the environment. They feel guilty when faced with environmental ills that they can control but they are not. They see themselves as being able to do little about serious environmental problems caused by mankind. Consequently, the strategy used to make a difference is to avoid products such as aerosol sprays, disposable diapers, and packaging; this creates a shift in their purchasing behavior from all those products that are considered environmentally harmful (p. 91).
d. The need to maintain a life style: consumers claim to be willing to do their part in cleaning-up the environment, but their behaviors indicate they are not ready to make trade-offs in their life styles because they feel it's basically the large companies, not them, that are causing the majority of the environmental problems, who should take the necessary actions. This explains the difficulty consumers face to make lifestyle changes. Besides, although consumers are obviously concerned about the environment, many of them refuse to sacrifice product's attributes such as performance and price convenience in exchange of greenness. That's why some consumers are convinced that if an environmental friendly product doesn’t meet their expectations, is viewed as a waste of money. It is clear that resistance to paying a premium is not surprising; some consumers simply cannot afford it (p. 91).
Motives of a Green Organization
According to the Eco-Buy report (2009), organizational green purchasing landscape is defined by the intent and drivers (see Figure 3)for green purchasing as well as the barriers. Despite the existence of significant organizational drivers, green purchasing can be constrained by a range of barriers. These barriers can create a bottle-neck that limits green purchasing outcomes, as shown in Figure 2. Recognizing and understanding each of the elements of this landscape will allow governments and organizations to better promote the positive aspects and develop real solutions to overcome the barriers. Figure 2 Green purchasing bottle-neck
Source: Eco Buy (2009, August). Green Purchasing in Australia, p.10.
Figure 3 Major drivers of organizational green purchasing
Source: Eco Buy (2009, August). Green Purchasing in Australia, p.10.
This study confirmed that green consumers tend to be better educated, earn higher incomes, and hold professional/white collar jobs making them a very desirable target market.
Ottman (1998, pp. 22-29) described the categorized green consumers based on their level of consciousness, awareness, responsibility and reaction.
a. True blues are consumers who believe that they personally can make a difference in curing the environmental problems. True blues are mainly politically and socially active and dedicate time and energy for environmental safe practices and try to convince others to do the same.
b. Greenbacks are the consumers who worry about the environment and support environmentalism but they are too busy to change their life styles. Unlike true blues, greenbacks are not politically active; however they are ready to express their beliefs and eager with happiness through their wallets. Greenbacks show a high percentage of green purchasing.
c. Sprouts are the third kind of consumers, who represent the swing group that can go either way on any environmental issue. They are willing to engage in any environmental activities from time to time but only if it requires little effort. They read labels for greenness; however they won’t choose a product because it’s green if it’s more expensive than the other products on the shelf. They are only willing to pay up to 4% extra on greener products.
d. Grousers do not believe that individuals play a significant role in protecting the environment; they feel the responsibility belongs to governments and large corporations. They usually complain that they are too busy; it’s hard to get involved, that green products cost too much and are very expensive and their contribution won’t make a difference. Their overall attitude that it’s someone else’s problem why bother.
e. Basic Browns are simple not convinced that environmental problems are all that serious. They don’t make any excuse for their inactivity, they simply don’t care. Basic browns have the lowers median income and the lowest level of education in the United States. They simply have many things to worry about other than the environment.
The Marketing Perspective
According to Baker and Sinkula (2005), many management schools are already arguing that few of the economic, organizational, and marketing principles can persist for very long into the future because they are simply not environmentally sustainable. Still, many firms are able to balance societal concerns with market opportunities. They are able to "leverage environmental issues as marketing propositions for transactional exchanges". In some cases, this type of behavior is merely a calculated response to external pressure. In other cases, it reflects cultural values that include good corporate (and world) citizenship. In the latter case, the desire for profit is tempered by the desire to do the right thing. Managers in such firms might be described as entrepreneurs who are, at the same time, environmental advocates. It is the author’s position that true “Enviropreneurial Marketing” (EM) is not manifest simply by recognition of the importance of environmental concerns and/or a need to respond to them but by a commitment to develop marketing strategies that balance organizational and societal concerns (p. 462).
Sustainable Consumption
According to the Canadian Center for Pollution Prevention (2009), Sustainable Consumption (SC) requires the consumer to consider issues that may be less personal, such as the impact of products or services on our environment and on the well‐being of others (p. 4). Moreover, Rawlins, Sain & Filippi (2009) state that marketers need to create innovative products and educate the consumer about the value of sustainable consumption. The message to the consumer needs to be that sustainable consumption is not about consuming less or doing without, it is about consuming differently, consuming efficiently, and having an improved quality of life. For example, Sinichenko & Johansson (2010, August) found that issues such as affordability, convenience, product availability, product performance, skepticism, and force of habit, often delay the consumer from buying products/services that support sustainable consumption (p. 4).
Rawlins, Sain & Filippi (2009) add that the consumer, who is aware and concerned about environmental issues, will only alter his/her behavior if it is cost-efficient and convenient. This provides marketers with the opportunity to position their environmentally safer products/services to address this need in the consumer. If marketers promote a sustainable lifestyle in a positive manner, they may be able to persuade the consumer to alter their patterns and buy environmentally safer products. Marketers need to show the consumer that this type of lifestyle fits into and fulfills their current value system and push consumers toward smarter consumption patterns. The green mindset has shifted focus from green as a “save-the-world” lifestyle choice to green as a way to save money. There is now an emphasis on the value of green products. Previously, green behavior has been marketed to consumers as a compromise and a need for the consumer to do with less, such as take fewer flights or recycle more. The shift to “green + value” provides consumers with motivation to change behavior, as seen in the rise of oil prices resulting in sales increases of hybrid and smaller cars. Marketers need to make consumers feel they are making smart choices by purchasing greener products/services. There should be more of a focus on the actions consumers can make at home to help the environment and save money (Rawlins, Sain & Filippi, 2009).
Janikowski (2000) formulated the sustainable consumer behavior based on four principles from selection, minimization, maximization and segregation. It encompasses the behavior of choosing environmentally friendly products and services (selection), minimizing the range of consumption (minimization), maximizing functionality and extending life of the product (maximization) and segregating and recollecting the waste for recycling or reusing purpose (segregation). The sustainable consumption behavior is very much encouraged as it helps to improve the environment from further deterioration.
Furthermore, Rawlins, Sain & Filippi (2009) state that for an effective marketing message, marketers are to realize that consumers are increasingly looking beyond the brand level communication and want to see transparency, legitimacy and consistency in the corporate brand owner in matters of the environment and sustainability. Consumers already know the environmental problems they are facing, they no longer want to hear about them; instead they want to be part of the solution so they are looking for brands to help them. The key motivator for consumers needs to be personally relevant benefit, such as price or quality. Along with the benefit, the communication should lead the consumer with environmental bonus in a message coming at the brand level rather than the corporate level (Rawlins, Sain & Filippi, 2009).
Application of Green Marketing
According to Ottman (1998), in a product production cycle, sometimes the presumed greening of one attribute of the product can actually increase the overall environmental impact (p. 57). For example, it may cost more for the packaging or more for the transportation which is of an opposite impact. For this reason and even to prevent backlash from consumers, environmental groups, and other stakeholders, all of whom maybe quick to point out the shortcoming of products and packaging touted as green, a thorough approach to “greening” is required. A tool called life cycle inventory (LCI) can help.
A life cycle inventory (LCI) is the first step in conducting a full life cycle analysis of a product. It is a process that qualifies the use of energy, resources, and emissions to the environment associated with a product throughout its life cycle. It accounts for the environmental impact of raw-material procurement, manufacturing and production, packing, distribution and in-use characteristics straight through to after-use and disposal.
In the past 25 years a lot of organizations have performed life cycle inventories in a wild range of industries including paper, paperboard, glass, steel, aluminum, plastic beverage containers and delivery systems, building material, and transportation products.
Using life cycle inventory might have raised the issue of being used in favor of the sponsor or the supplier of a certain good to support its products more than others. However, given the current state of life cycle analysis and consumer understanding of environmental-related product issues, this is likely to be far in the future.
Life cycle inventory focuses on the raw material requirements, by-products, waste, and emissions associated with producing a product. However it can’t easily differentiate between alternative technologies for addressing the same consumer need and eventually many environmental concerns are not addressed by LCI. According to Marin Wolf, a consultant on life cycle inventory and green product development, LCI must be amplified with a holistic evaluation of a product’s total environmental impact. Renewable or sustainable energy use, habit destruction, biodiversity depletion, odors, visual pollution, noise pollution, toxicity, biodegradability, and other issues are of concern to environmentalists and consumers but can’t be evaluated by the quantitative approach of LCI and must be considered separately (Ottman, 1998, p. 61).
Strategies for Success
Developing environmental friendly products that consumers will buy is not an easy task for marketers because green products are designed to replace non green products in the nearest future, they should last longer, taste better and cost less if possible. Consequently, marketers should take their time to research and implement strategies that offer the most significant benefits to the environment and satisfy consumers' primary demands.
The following strategies, as suggested by Ottman (1998), are used to create a profitable new or improved products and packages that balance consumers’ needs with environmental considerations.
Minimize direct environmental impact
Use sustainable sources of raw material
Source-reduce products and packaging
Conserve natural resources, habits and endangered species
Use recycled content
Make product energy efficient
Maximize consumer and environmental safety
Make products more durable
Make products and packaging reusable and refillable
Design products for remanufacturing, recycling and repair
Make products safe and disposal
Make products and packaging compostable (Ottman, 1998, pp. 61-81)
With the help of the aforementioned strategies or guidelines, many marketers will expand by addressing specific environmental issues that are the most relevant to their consumers. Using this process, firms will be saving money, enhancing corporate and brand images, and ensuring future sales for their products.
Challenges & Barriers
According to the Terra Choice Group Inc. (2009), green washing is “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service (p.1). Through the supply chain of every single purchase, there is a hidden impact on the human health, environment and the society. While most products have green aspect, it doesn’t necessarily make them green products. It’s mainly about the shades of green and how to distinguish between them; it was found that a big majority of “green products” have some type of potential unproven products or misleading claims. Without proof that a standard has been met, claims such as environmentally safe, recyclable, organic, nontoxic, or ozone-friendly are difficult to define and easily misinterpreted. Third party verification is the only way to trust products (Wroblaski, Penny, and Morton, 2011).
Terra Choice Group Inc., an environmental marketing agency, has found that green washing comes in seven forms. These forms are reported in Exhibit 3 below.
In Red Box:
Exhibit 3 The seven sins of green washing
1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-off, committed by suggesting a product is ‘green’ based on an unreasonably narrow set of attributes without attention to other important environmental issues. Paper, for example, is not necessarily environmentally-preferable just because it comes from a sustainable-harvested forest. Other important environmental issues in the paper-making process, including energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and water and air pollution, may be equally or more significant.
2. Sin of No Proof, committed by an environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or by a reliable third-party certification. Common examples are facial or toilet tissue products that claim various percentages of post-consumer recycled content without providing any evidence.
3. Sin of Vagueness, committed by every claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the consumer. ‘All-natural’ is an example. Arsenic, uranium, mercury, and formaldehyde are all naturally occurring, and poisonous. ‘All natural’ isn’t necessarily ‘green’.
4. Sin of Irrelevance, committed by making an environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products. ‘CFC-free’ is a common example, since it is a frequent claim despite the fact that CFCs are banned by law.
5. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils, committed by claims that may be true within the product category, but that risk distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts of the category as a whole. Organic cigarettes are an example of this category, as are fuel-efficient sport-utility vehicles.
6. Sin of Fibbing, the least frequent sin, is committed by making environmental claims that are simply false. The most common examples were products falsely claiming to be Energy Star certified or registered.
7. Sin of Worshiping False Labels, describes an effort by some marketers to exploit consumers’ demand for third-party certification with fake labels or claims of third-party endorsement.
Source: Terra Choice Group Inc., 2009, pp. 3-5.
Green Marketing Applications in Lebanon
In 2005, Lebanon had to import about 97% of its total energy consumption, which makes it extremely dependent on energy imports. Transport is the biggest energy consumer, with buildings coming in the second place of about 30% and industry in the third place. With the sharp increase in world market prices for energy, and with energy prices subsidized in Lebanon, the national electricity company Électricité Du Liban (EDL) alone absorbed 21% of the state budget in January 2008. Due to insufficient and obsolete power plants and distribution lines, people are also suffering from frequent power cuts causing them to bear significant additional coast for private generators. While a large potential for energy efficiency and for the use of renewable energies is still untouched, people still suffer from this problem. Nevertheless, the new buildings usually do not integrate technologies such as thermal insulation of the building envelope, energy efficient lighting or solar water heaters (Arab Forum for Environmental Development (2011).
Environmental Projects in Lebanon
“Save Energy” campaign.
In November 2005, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources in Lebanon announced the launch of the “Save Energy” campaign under its joint collaboration project “The Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation Project” LCECP. The campaign intends to create public awareness on the benefits of energy efficiency use and conservation on the environment and the individual cost.
The campaign, as depicted in Figure 4, aims to support and promote the international cause for climate change and to provide a better environmental understanding that the chance to protect the environment starts with the actions individuals and governments perform today (The Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation Project, 2005).
Figure 4 Energy efficiency campaign
Source: www.lcecp.org.lb
Central Bank of Lebanon campaign.
Central Bank of Lebanon: In November 2010, the Central bank under the circular 236, decided to support the environmental loans that fit under the energy related and non-energy (solid waste, water treatment recycling, ecotourism, and agriculture) related loans.
The Central bank supported the commercial banks through releasing the legal reserve on the environmental and energy loans issued, consequently the loans are issued to the individuals at an interest rate of 0.3% for the environment loans and 0.6% for the energy efficient loans (Pierre Khoury, LCECP, personal communication, December 27, 2011 & Banque du Liban (2010)).
Green Business in Lebanon
Fransabank.
As Part of the central bank-led drive to provide businesses with financial incentive to adopt energy-saving technologies, Fransabank has launched a package of eco-friendly loans (see Figure 5). The greening package consists of two loans both geared towards corporations. The first is for energy-saving projects, such as purchasing efficient air conditioning units; with very low interest rates, low as zero percent. The second green loan is exclusively for solar panel installation; the amount goes up to LL 7.5 million and is not subject to an interest fee.
Figure 5 Fransabank campaign
Source: http://www.fransabank.com
Fransabank hopes to show consumers and businesses that what’s good for the environment is also good for finances and launched the program under the slogan “Keep your Heart and Bills on the Earth” (The Daily Star, March 2011).
BankMed.
BankMed decided to launch a pioneer environmental program throughout 2009 and 2010. This program includes studies and action plans aimed at taking care of the environment, the cleaning and rehabilitation of various sites and locations across Lebanon, in collaboration with relevant ministries and institutions involved in civil society. The first phase of this program began in early 2009 with a wide advertising campaign to raise awareness. The bank has also initiated the second phase by the adoption of several projects to improve the environment. It is currently preparing to implement the third phase of the program covering a range of projects like special financing program to promote eco-friendly green architecture projects, direct support to natural reserves, financing vital projects to reduce air pollution, contributing to establishment of specialized trees plantations, rehabilitation of some public parks in Lebanon, and launching a campaign to clean sandy beaches and reservation of marine life (Happyplanetlebanon.com, 2011).
Movenpick hotel & resort Beirut.
Green Globe announced on November 28, 2011, that following a long-term commitment to sustainable corporate initiatives with regard to the environment, local community, and employees, Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Beirut has been successfully certified for its triple bottom-line approach to operation and management. The completion of an independent audit found Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Beirut achieved 80 percent of all criteria. Green Globe Certification is the travel and tourism industries' worldwide certification label for sustainable management and operations. Figure 6 shows the green globe logo.
Figure 6 Green Globe logo
Source: www.forimmediaterelese.net/userimages/9/201111128-2130_o.jpg
Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Beirut General Manager Alain Chatel said: “Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Beirut is fully committed to promoting sustainability. This commitment is reflected in our management principles and our daily practices, which aim to advance a sustainable future for the generations to come.”
“Our aim is to undertake and publicize the best sustainability practices, to reduce the environmental impact of all our activities, and to encourage all our stakeholders to do the same.”
Green Globe CEO Guido Bauer said: “Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts worldwide have adopted values, which combined with a global approach to sustainability, make it one of the world’s most trusted hotel management companies. Green Globe’s role has been to take the concepts and principles of sustainability that have been developed over the last two decades and embed them into Mövenpick hotels’ daily operational and management practices.
Chatel also added: “We look forward to the challenge of improving the Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Beirut’s sustainability performance year to year and into the future. In particular, we hope to assist the property as it works with the local community on the challenges of waste collection, handling and recycling”
(Ecogreenhotel.com, 2011; Forimmediaterelease.net, 2011).
Byblos bank.
Byblos Bank headquarters launched its Green Christmas Campaign on December 2011.
This campaign allows cardholders during the month of December, to redeem 33,000 “Loyalty Points” for a natural tree delivered by the Lebanese flower company “Exotica” right to their homes. After the holidays, they can have their tree picked up by the Association for Forest Development and Conservation (AFDC) to be replanted in one of Lebanon’s forests (Byblos Bank, 2011).
“In 1980, forests used to cover 30 percent of Lebanon’s area and today, they cover only 13 percent. The forest coverage has fallen by 35 percent and it is recommended that a country's forest area approximate 20 percent. Byblos Bank is aware of this reality and this is why we regularly strive to engage our clients and stakeholders in our effort to contribute to the preservation of Lebanon’s forests. This season, we undertook this initiative not only to share in the festive spirit of our clients but also to raise their awareness of the importance of reforestation in Lebanon”, said Georges Fares, Head of Group Cards at Byblos Bank.
This campaign is part of Byblos Bank Cards Loyalty Program, which is one of the most innovative gift loyalty programs in Lebanon. All Byblos Bank cardholders are automatically enrolled in this program that proposes exciting rewards and seasonal offers such as travel vouchers with Air France, technology gadgets: iPad, iPod, as well as contributions to associations such as the AFDC, Heartbeat, the Children Cancer Center of Lebanon (CCCL), and MySchoolPulse (Byblos Bank, 2011).
Exploratory Research
An exploratory research project was conducted by the writers which aimed at assessing a sample of Lebanese consumers’ knowledge, attitude and performance within the context of Green Marketing. Green Marketing is considered now a new marketing approach and is being adopted by a lot of foreign and local companies to attract more customers and achieve environmental benefits.
The research instrument used consisted of an online survey directed to Lebanese consumers who were willing to respond and share their opinion about green consumption. 100 respondents took part in the survey out of 150 intended respondents. The response rate was 67.33%. Moreover, three formal interviews were carried out with experts in the subject.
Major Survey Findings
1. Respondents were 45% males and 55% females. The observed average age was 31 years. 95% of the survey participants hold either a BS or MS degrees. 61% knew what green marketing is and 84% had no problem identifying environmental terms. Therefore, the majority of the sample is environmentally educated.
2. Around 67% uses environmental friendly products for the sake of saving the environment, while around 21% uses them for health purposes, and only 11% uses them to save money. Moreover, around 62% are willing to pay extra money to help the environment through environmental friendly products. Finally, most of the survey respondents believe in the environment as a cause and are willing to learn more about it, support companies with green initiatives, and share their knowledge in the society.
3. Despite the high interest in the environment that the survey showed, only few people are aware of environmental projects and even a few percentages are contributing to it. Never the less, the percentage of people using environmental friendly products at home is less than the percentage of those who showed their interest in helping.
4. The biggest group of the survey respondents belongs to either the “True Blues (57%)” or “Green Backs (27%)” shade of green consumers while the remaining are mainly “Sprouts (19%)”, “Grousers (15%)”, and “Basic Browns (12%)”.
5. Most of the respondents believe in the effectiveness of applying legal punishment and fines against environmental crimes in Lebanon.
6. Survey participants can be reached mainly through Internet and TV media advertising.
7. The survey results showed that people who have a master’s degree tend to know more about the environment than people who only have a university degree. They are also more willing to learn about green marketing and environmental protection, and are more willing to share their information in the society.
8. The main reason driving people to buy environmental friendly products is to help the environment since they believe that a better environment means a better life on this earth.
9. The higher the salary range among the respondents, the more interest they had shown in learning about green marketing and environmental protection, and dedicating time to share it in the society.
10. Respondents with higher salary range tend to be more willing to pay extra money for environmental friendly products.
Summary of Major Interview’s Findings
1. The level of environmental awareness in Lebanon exceeds the level of implementation of environmental projects and the environmental condition.
2. The main reason behind the environmental conditions and application of environmental standards in Lebanon is manifested by the obstacles for approving environmental projects.
3. There are no environmental laws or any regulations currently applied on the private sector and manufactures to help protect the environment.
4. The level of environmental education in Lebanon is increasing; however it is not enough to improve the status of the environment in Lebanon.
Conclusions
The current research has shown that it is clear that the success of a Green Marketing strategy is dependent on the collaboration of environmental consumerism, corporate social responsibility and the support of governments. With undeniable environmental damage and the rising awareness and concern about the future of the earth, “Sustainable Marketing” is becoming necessary for successful marketing. Display of sensitivity towards the environment, is a must to ensure business success.
The application of Green Marketing in Lebanon can only be achieved if the consumer believes in the environment as a cause, corporations feel responsible to protect the earth, and governments take action to limit environmental dept. The process starts with environmental responsibility from the government. In order to take steps into protecting the environment and raising awareness in the public to do so, the Lebanese government must set up rules and regulations to protect the environment, to encourage companies to use sustainable marketing, to execute legal punishment and fines on those who cause environmental damage, and to obligate environmental education as part of the schooling curriculum. These actions, coupled with the legal regulations, will increase the level of environmental awareness of the Lebanese consumer. In turn, this will push companies to invest in a sustainable environmental approach, as they will be forced, to abide by the environmental regulations and, of course, to gain the consumers’ approval.
The sum of all roles performs a perfect cycle of information and action that satisfies the consumer, protects the environment, and generates profits for companies.
Recommendations
Based on the results of the survey and interviews used in the current research, the level of environmental education in Lebanon is high; however, the level of action is much lower than that. The gap in the application of environmental measures is due to the lack of the accessibility and availability of green products to the consumer, especially the ones that are set at competitive price points. In other words, consumers might display a level of knowledge and concern about environmental issues, but in order for them to apply what they know, they want eco-friendly products to be readily available at the same price as the non-eco-friendly competitors.
Value has become a key factor, especially for those consumers less committed to being “green”. Consumers are now looking for products with sustainable features, and at the same time expecting to save money by using these products. One way “green” companies can get this edge is to use the money they are saving by their energy consumption, for example, and pass on those savings onto the consumer (Rawlins, Sain & Filippi, 2009).
Environmental awareness is not the cause of environmental damage in Lebanon. Based on the results of the survey and interviews used in the current research, people are aware of the environmental conditions in Lebanon, and they are willing to be part of the change for a better environment. Yet in the current economic and political conditions that exist in Lebanon, the environmental cause is not at the top of the priority list for neither the people nor the government. Despite their belief in the environmental cause, people are not willing to pay extra money to purchase eco-friendly products, and companies are not willing to “walk the extra mile” to meet environmental standards.
To sum up, the application of Sustainable Marketing in Lebanon can mainly be achieved properly when the government is able to set up appropriate rules and regulations that guide the consumer and the companies in that direction.
To achieve more accurate results in the aspect of green consumerism and application of green marketing, a larger sample can be reached that covers consumers from different social, geographical, and educational level. Moreover, the need to understand the level of environmental changes’ impact on people’s lives especially their health is essential. The results of this assessment will help find answers on more ways to apply green marketing effectively in Lebanon.
By Eva Hajo and Hussin Hejase*
Green marketing is a global term which indicates marketing eco-friendly products. As per Mr. J. Polonsky (1994), green marketing can be defined as, “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.” 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.
While green marketing is growing greatly as increasing numbers of consumers are willing to back their environmental consciousnesses with their dollars, it can be dangerous. The public looks for credibility when businesses claim to offer green products. That is, 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 (Pirakatheeswari, Dec. 2010).
In Lebanon and since 1997 when one of the first academic thesis was written on the topic “assessment of green marketing and management in Lebanon” (Taleb, 1997), many studies followed and numerous businesses were created to offer green food and green technology solutions. However, green marketing continues to be addressed today in a limited manner and mostly to pursue public opinion to respect the green environment of Lebanon.
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The current work has been conducted in the American University of Science and Technology, Beirut, Lebanon. Ms. Eva Hajo completed her MBA and Dr. Hussin J. Hejase is Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics.
Meanwhile, and based on the growing Lebanese population that is interested in the conservation of the image of green Lebanon, the opportunity is available to create a new need for green products in the market. A helping factor to the aforementioned concept of green products is the increasing influence of the concerned Lebanese who are acquainted with the demands of the western culture, especially as related to the purchasing habits governed by the trend towards healthy products and environmental consciousness. The concerned Lebanese are then the main target of the current project.
The most important aspect for any new business is to be unique and to create a new need in the market. In other words, the national Lebanese market has not faced any significant shift that is environmentally friendly except on two dimensions: the first is related to healthy foods or green foods, and the second is related to green energy alternatives. Moreover, keeping Lebanon green campaigns are the only serious campaigns that were targeted toward the Lebanese regular consumers with the purpose to revive their environmental consciousness.
Then, one may observe that a dedicated green marketing campaign is necessary to create and build on consumers who are, by their nature, environmentally conscious and dedicated to whatever dimension of environmental social responsibility.
According to Pirakatheeswari (Dec. 2010), for green marketing to be effective, one has to do three things; be genuine, educating customers, and giving them the opportunity to participate. Exhibit 1 provides more details in this respect.
In red box
Exhibit 1 Steps for green marketing to be effective
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 positive environmental action.
A typical definition of a green product is a nontoxic, durable, made from recycled material or minimally packaged product. The production of any product requires energy, consumes resources and create by-products and emission through the whole cycle of its production, storage, usage and eventual disposal, this makes no product completely green. The evaluation of a green product is relative, that is, it is of less impact on the environment compared to another (Ottman, 1993, p. 89).
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 (Dodds, 2007). The proceedings of this workshop resulted in one of the first books on green marketing entitled "Ecological Marketing" (Karl, Henion, Thomas & Kinnear, 1976).
In 1987, a document prepared by the World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need” (World Bank, 2001), this became known as the Brundtland Report and was another step towards widespread thinking on sustainability in everyday activity. Two tangible milestones for wave 1 of green marketing came in the form of published books, both of which were called Green Marketing. They were by Ken Peattie (1992) in the United Kingdom and by Jacquelyn Ottman (1993) in the United States of America.
According to Ottman (1993), from an organizational standpoint, environmental considerations should be integrated into all aspects of marketing — new product development and communications and all points in between. The holistic nature of green also suggests that besides suppliers and retailers new stakeholders be enlisted, including educators, members of the community, regulators, and NGOs. Environmental issues should be balanced with primary customer needs.
The past ten years have shown that harnessing consumer power to effect positive environmental change is a challenging act. The "green consumer" movements in the U.S. and other countries have struggled to reach the appropriate target of consumer population and to remain in the forefront of shoppers' minds. While the continuous 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 (GreenPro, 2010). The lack of legal standards or a public consensus about what ‘green’ exactly includes is one of the big challenges of ‘green marketing’ (Burchell, 2009).
Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) may be defined as “the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life”
(Dolnicar & Pomering, n.d., p. 1). Another definition according to Mohr, Webb, and Harris (2001, p. 47) defines Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as "a company's commitment to minimizing or eliminating any harmful effects and maximizing its long-run beneficial impact on society."
According to Mohr & Webb (2005, Summer) even before the problems of well known corporations like “Enron” became open to the public, there was evidence of a growing discontent among the American public about the way companies conduct business. A Business Week cover story described Americans as "uneasy about Big Business". Their Public Poll found that 72% of Americans say they believe that business has too much power over American life. Furthermore, 66% of those polled agree that companies care more about making large profits than about selling safe, reliable, quality products. At the same time, pressure for companies to take on more responsibilities in their communities seems to be rising. Moreover, Mohr and Webb reported that in 1999, a worldwide survey found that two-thirds of consumers surveyed wanted companies to contribute to broader societal goals. Moreover, the Cone Corporate Citizenship Study conducted in 2002 found that 89% of Americans agreed that, following the recent corporate scandals, "it is more important than ever for companies to be socially responsible."
One broad framework used to categorize CSR initiatives includes actions under the domains of employee relations and diversity programs, ethical materials sourcing, product design, marketing programs, the environment, human rights, and corporate governance (Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini & Co. Inc., 2006 cited in Dolnicar & Pomering, n.d., p. 1). For example, under the title of corporate social responsibility goes a range of activities such as decreasing the environmental impact of products and production processes, avoiding child labor, stimulating employee volunteerism and donating money to charities. Moreover, according to Hietbrink (2010), several studies have found that the aforementioned activities generally improve corporate reputation and make stakeholders more willing to buy from the company, work for the company and invest in the company. In particular, CRS is becoming more and more important in supply chain management with the increase in the number of companies taking CRS into their account in their purchase decisions.
Hietbrink (2010) also found that the main motive for focusing on the supply chain CSR seems to be pressure from external sources more specifically consumers, who increasingly look beyond the activities of the companies they purchase their products from, to the suppliers of those companies. The consumers’ impression is affected by the activities of the company they are buying from and its suppliers. Yet consumer concerns aren’t the only motives for companies to address CSR in there system. Moral obligation and personal conviction are also strong motives to implement such a system.
As an example of corporations who took CSR activities seriously is the ALL Nippon Airway group that built its group around three main categories of CSR activities namely, management, environment, and society. The group built a model to represent the implementation of all activities insinuating a green tree and named it “Sustainable Development Tree.” All activities implemented are drawn in green and gaps are presented as dry brown leaves (ANA.co, 2005). Figure1 is a representation of such a model.
Figure 1 Sustainable Management Tree
Source: ANA.co (2005). ANN (All Nippon Airways) CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Activities. Retrieved December 21, 2011, from http://www.ana.co.jp/eng/aboutana/corporate/ir/pdf/annual/05/05_09.pdf
The Added Value of CSR
While quality, price and convenience are still the uppermost in consumers' purchasing decisions; a product's greenness is fast becoming a must at the self. Thus, marketers are realizing that developing environmentally sound products not only provides an opportunity to do the right thing, but also enhances corporate and brand image, saves money, and opens new markets for product catering to consumers' needs to maintain a high quality of life
Benefits to consumers.
Though consumers always show interest in helping the environment, there is always a gap between that desire and their actions. Many consumers believe that companies sponsor green initiative primarily for marketing purposes. To adopt environmental purchase behaviors, consumers require a better understanding of how consumers benefit from sustainable practices. Some benefits consumers see in sustainable consumption are saving money and providing value, personal health, and emotional and spiritual benefits where consumers feel better about themselves in preserving the environment for future generations (Rawlins, Sain & Filippi, 2009).
Benefits to marketers.
Many companies are incorporating sustainability not only to be responsible players in a global community, but also as part of their strategy for growth and as a means of increasing their bottom line. Sustainable consumption for corporations helps decrease the company’s operating costs, improve its corporate image through public relations (PR), and enhance employee’s engagement within the corporation (ibid).
The Green Consumer
According to Ryan (2006, November) “green consumers” may not be all the same, an understanding of some of their common characteristics can help business operators examine the market for environmental products and services. Common attitudes and beliefs of these consumers as described by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) are shown in Exhibit 2 below.
In Red Box:
Exhibit 2 Green consumers
· Commitment to green lifestyles
· Critical of their own environmental practices and impact
· Looking for companies that incorporate green practices
· Overstate their green behavior
· Want environmental protection to be easy
· Tend to distrust companies environmental claims
· Lack knowledge about environmental issues, but eager to learn
Source: Ryan (2006, November, p.1).
Moreover, Ryan (2006, November) mentioned that the IISD offers some broad generalizations regarding the demographic characteristics of green consumers. Exhibit 2 shows the suggested characteristics.
Americans are becoming increasingly concerned about the environment. The percentage of Americans who worry about the environment “a great deal” or “a fair amount” has increased from 62% to 77% between 2004 and 2006. Moreover, according to Green Futures, a UK organization focused on sustainable development, three in ten American adults are now considered “green consumers.” These consumers brought 229 billion dollars of spending power to the U.S. market in 2005. Successful products have included: Energy Star appliances, energy efficient electronics, environmentally friendly household products, energy efficient windows and alternative transportation. Also included are organic foods, fair trade coffee, organic cotton and hemp apparel, natural skin and personal care products (Ryan, 2006, November, p.1).
Green consumers are mainly driven by the fact of keeping their lives and their loved ones free from harm. In fact, green consumers differ from their colleagues in important purchase dimension. These consumers are better informed, more discerning, and more willing to act in the best interest of the whole community. They seek products that are typically durable, made from recycled material and minimally packaged. They are usually educated, affluent, and motivated by cost-effective, easy-to-execute environmental solutions. In sum, it is essential to study and analyze the psychological and sociological factors behind their purchase decisions.
Motives of a Green Consumer
Though individuals express their concern in personal ways; green consumers, are motivated by universal needs which can be translated by marketers into new purchasing strategies with implication for the ways products are developed and marketed.
In his book, “Environmental Marketing Management”, Peattie (1995) elaborated about the different consumers’ needs and expectations that are considered to be fundamental in the building of consumers’ expressions and perceptions after experiencing the value-added features and benefits of desired products. However, to make the consumers’ experience valid, one has to identify the drivers that lead the consumers to execute a green purchase.
a. The need for information: green consumers contribute to environmental clean-up and preservation mainly through purchasing products that are perceived as environmentally friendly. In making their decision, they want information about how to identify green products and where to get them. For example, reading product labels and capturing advertising messages from television, newspapers, magazines, radios and other media communication (p. 87).
b. The need for control: nowadays consumers see the world as risky; that’s why green consumers need to control such a world for which they feel highly responsible. Consequently, the strategy they use is to concentrate on environmental factors and take preventive measures in their purchasing decisions. For example, they only buy natural cleaning, recyclable products that assure environmental compatibility. In conclusion, green consumers are scrutinizing the product at every phase of its lifecycle (p. 89).
c. The need to make a difference: green consumers want to feel that they are making a difference in cleaning up the environment. They feel guilty when faced with environmental ills that they can control but they are not. They see themselves as being able to do little about serious environmental problems caused by mankind. Consequently, the strategy used to make a difference is to avoid products such as aerosol sprays, disposable diapers, and packaging; this creates a shift in their purchasing behavior from all those products that are considered environmentally harmful (p. 91).
d. The need to maintain a life style: consumers claim to be willing to do their part in cleaning-up the environment, but their behaviors indicate they are not ready to make trade-offs in their life styles because they feel it's basically the large companies, not them, that are causing the majority of the environmental problems, who should take the necessary actions. This explains the difficulty consumers face to make lifestyle changes. Besides, although consumers are obviously concerned about the environment, many of them refuse to sacrifice product's attributes such as performance and price convenience in exchange of greenness. That's why some consumers are convinced that if an environmental friendly product doesn’t meet their expectations, is viewed as a waste of money. It is clear that resistance to paying a premium is not surprising; some consumers simply cannot afford it (p. 91).
Motives of a Green Organization
According to the Eco-Buy report (2009), organizational green purchasing landscape is defined by the intent and drivers (see Figure 3)for green purchasing as well as the barriers. Despite the existence of significant organizational drivers, green purchasing can be constrained by a range of barriers. These barriers can create a bottle-neck that limits green purchasing outcomes, as shown in Figure 2. Recognizing and understanding each of the elements of this landscape will allow governments and organizations to better promote the positive aspects and develop real solutions to overcome the barriers. Figure 2 Green purchasing bottle-neck
Source: Eco Buy (2009, August). Green Purchasing in Australia, p.10.
Figure 3 Major drivers of organizational green purchasing
Source: Eco Buy (2009, August). Green Purchasing in Australia, p.10.
This study confirmed that green consumers tend to be better educated, earn higher incomes, and hold professional/white collar jobs making them a very desirable target market.
Ottman (1998, pp. 22-29) described the categorized green consumers based on their level of consciousness, awareness, responsibility and reaction.
a. True blues are consumers who believe that they personally can make a difference in curing the environmental problems. True blues are mainly politically and socially active and dedicate time and energy for environmental safe practices and try to convince others to do the same.
b. Greenbacks are the consumers who worry about the environment and support environmentalism but they are too busy to change their life styles. Unlike true blues, greenbacks are not politically active; however they are ready to express their beliefs and eager with happiness through their wallets. Greenbacks show a high percentage of green purchasing.
c. Sprouts are the third kind of consumers, who represent the swing group that can go either way on any environmental issue. They are willing to engage in any environmental activities from time to time but only if it requires little effort. They read labels for greenness; however they won’t choose a product because it’s green if it’s more expensive than the other products on the shelf. They are only willing to pay up to 4% extra on greener products.
d. Grousers do not believe that individuals play a significant role in protecting the environment; they feel the responsibility belongs to governments and large corporations. They usually complain that they are too busy; it’s hard to get involved, that green products cost too much and are very expensive and their contribution won’t make a difference. Their overall attitude that it’s someone else’s problem why bother.
e. Basic Browns are simple not convinced that environmental problems are all that serious. They don’t make any excuse for their inactivity, they simply don’t care. Basic browns have the lowers median income and the lowest level of education in the United States. They simply have many things to worry about other than the environment.
The Marketing Perspective
According to Baker and Sinkula (2005), many management schools are already arguing that few of the economic, organizational, and marketing principles can persist for very long into the future because they are simply not environmentally sustainable. Still, many firms are able to balance societal concerns with market opportunities. They are able to "leverage environmental issues as marketing propositions for transactional exchanges". In some cases, this type of behavior is merely a calculated response to external pressure. In other cases, it reflects cultural values that include good corporate (and world) citizenship. In the latter case, the desire for profit is tempered by the desire to do the right thing. Managers in such firms might be described as entrepreneurs who are, at the same time, environmental advocates. It is the author’s position that true “Enviropreneurial Marketing” (EM) is not manifest simply by recognition of the importance of environmental concerns and/or a need to respond to them but by a commitment to develop marketing strategies that balance organizational and societal concerns (p. 462).
Sustainable Consumption
According to the Canadian Center for Pollution Prevention (2009), Sustainable Consumption (SC) requires the consumer to consider issues that may be less personal, such as the impact of products or services on our environment and on the well‐being of others (p. 4). Moreover, Rawlins, Sain & Filippi (2009) state that marketers need to create innovative products and educate the consumer about the value of sustainable consumption. The message to the consumer needs to be that sustainable consumption is not about consuming less or doing without, it is about consuming differently, consuming efficiently, and having an improved quality of life. For example, Sinichenko & Johansson (2010, August) found that issues such as affordability, convenience, product availability, product performance, skepticism, and force of habit, often delay the consumer from buying products/services that support sustainable consumption (p. 4).
Rawlins, Sain & Filippi (2009) add that the consumer, who is aware and concerned about environmental issues, will only alter his/her behavior if it is cost-efficient and convenient. This provides marketers with the opportunity to position their environmentally safer products/services to address this need in the consumer. If marketers promote a sustainable lifestyle in a positive manner, they may be able to persuade the consumer to alter their patterns and buy environmentally safer products. Marketers need to show the consumer that this type of lifestyle fits into and fulfills their current value system and push consumers toward smarter consumption patterns. The green mindset has shifted focus from green as a “save-the-world” lifestyle choice to green as a way to save money. There is now an emphasis on the value of green products. Previously, green behavior has been marketed to consumers as a compromise and a need for the consumer to do with less, such as take fewer flights or recycle more. The shift to “green + value” provides consumers with motivation to change behavior, as seen in the rise of oil prices resulting in sales increases of hybrid and smaller cars. Marketers need to make consumers feel they are making smart choices by purchasing greener products/services. There should be more of a focus on the actions consumers can make at home to help the environment and save money (Rawlins, Sain & Filippi, 2009).
Janikowski (2000) formulated the sustainable consumer behavior based on four principles from selection, minimization, maximization and segregation. It encompasses the behavior of choosing environmentally friendly products and services (selection), minimizing the range of consumption (minimization), maximizing functionality and extending life of the product (maximization) and segregating and recollecting the waste for recycling or reusing purpose (segregation). The sustainable consumption behavior is very much encouraged as it helps to improve the environment from further deterioration.
Furthermore, Rawlins, Sain & Filippi (2009) state that for an effective marketing message, marketers are to realize that consumers are increasingly looking beyond the brand level communication and want to see transparency, legitimacy and consistency in the corporate brand owner in matters of the environment and sustainability. Consumers already know the environmental problems they are facing, they no longer want to hear about them; instead they want to be part of the solution so they are looking for brands to help them. The key motivator for consumers needs to be personally relevant benefit, such as price or quality. Along with the benefit, the communication should lead the consumer with environmental bonus in a message coming at the brand level rather than the corporate level (Rawlins, Sain & Filippi, 2009).
Application of Green Marketing
According to Ottman (1998), in a product production cycle, sometimes the presumed greening of one attribute of the product can actually increase the overall environmental impact (p. 57). For example, it may cost more for the packaging or more for the transportation which is of an opposite impact. For this reason and even to prevent backlash from consumers, environmental groups, and other stakeholders, all of whom maybe quick to point out the shortcoming of products and packaging touted as green, a thorough approach to “greening” is required. A tool called life cycle inventory (LCI) can help.
A life cycle inventory (LCI) is the first step in conducting a full life cycle analysis of a product. It is a process that qualifies the use of energy, resources, and emissions to the environment associated with a product throughout its life cycle. It accounts for the environmental impact of raw-material procurement, manufacturing and production, packing, distribution and in-use characteristics straight through to after-use and disposal.
In the past 25 years a lot of organizations have performed life cycle inventories in a wild range of industries including paper, paperboard, glass, steel, aluminum, plastic beverage containers and delivery systems, building material, and transportation products.
Using life cycle inventory might have raised the issue of being used in favor of the sponsor or the supplier of a certain good to support its products more than others. However, given the current state of life cycle analysis and consumer understanding of environmental-related product issues, this is likely to be far in the future.
Life cycle inventory focuses on the raw material requirements, by-products, waste, and emissions associated with producing a product. However it can’t easily differentiate between alternative technologies for addressing the same consumer need and eventually many environmental concerns are not addressed by LCI. According to Marin Wolf, a consultant on life cycle inventory and green product development, LCI must be amplified with a holistic evaluation of a product’s total environmental impact. Renewable or sustainable energy use, habit destruction, biodiversity depletion, odors, visual pollution, noise pollution, toxicity, biodegradability, and other issues are of concern to environmentalists and consumers but can’t be evaluated by the quantitative approach of LCI and must be considered separately (Ottman, 1998, p. 61).
Strategies for Success
Developing environmental friendly products that consumers will buy is not an easy task for marketers because green products are designed to replace non green products in the nearest future, they should last longer, taste better and cost less if possible. Consequently, marketers should take their time to research and implement strategies that offer the most significant benefits to the environment and satisfy consumers' primary demands.
The following strategies, as suggested by Ottman (1998), are used to create a profitable new or improved products and packages that balance consumers’ needs with environmental considerations.
Minimize direct environmental impact
Use sustainable sources of raw material
Source-reduce products and packaging
Conserve natural resources, habits and endangered species
Use recycled content
Make product energy efficient
Maximize consumer and environmental safety
Make products more durable
Make products and packaging reusable and refillable
Design products for remanufacturing, recycling and repair
Make products safe and disposal
Make products and packaging compostable (Ottman, 1998, pp. 61-81)
With the help of the aforementioned strategies or guidelines, many marketers will expand by addressing specific environmental issues that are the most relevant to their consumers. Using this process, firms will be saving money, enhancing corporate and brand images, and ensuring future sales for their products.
Challenges & Barriers
According to the Terra Choice Group Inc. (2009), green washing is “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service (p.1). Through the supply chain of every single purchase, there is a hidden impact on the human health, environment and the society. While most products have green aspect, it doesn’t necessarily make them green products. It’s mainly about the shades of green and how to distinguish between them; it was found that a big majority of “green products” have some type of potential unproven products or misleading claims. Without proof that a standard has been met, claims such as environmentally safe, recyclable, organic, nontoxic, or ozone-friendly are difficult to define and easily misinterpreted. Third party verification is the only way to trust products (Wroblaski, Penny, and Morton, 2011).
Terra Choice Group Inc., an environmental marketing agency, has found that green washing comes in seven forms. These forms are reported in Exhibit 3 below.
In Red Box:
Exhibit 3 The seven sins of green washing
1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-off, committed by suggesting a product is ‘green’ based on an unreasonably narrow set of attributes without attention to other important environmental issues. Paper, for example, is not necessarily environmentally-preferable just because it comes from a sustainable-harvested forest. Other important environmental issues in the paper-making process, including energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and water and air pollution, may be equally or more significant.
2. Sin of No Proof, committed by an environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or by a reliable third-party certification. Common examples are facial or toilet tissue products that claim various percentages of post-consumer recycled content without providing any evidence.
3. Sin of Vagueness, committed by every claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the consumer. ‘All-natural’ is an example. Arsenic, uranium, mercury, and formaldehyde are all naturally occurring, and poisonous. ‘All natural’ isn’t necessarily ‘green’.
4. Sin of Irrelevance, committed by making an environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products. ‘CFC-free’ is a common example, since it is a frequent claim despite the fact that CFCs are banned by law.
5. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils, committed by claims that may be true within the product category, but that risk distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts of the category as a whole. Organic cigarettes are an example of this category, as are fuel-efficient sport-utility vehicles.
6. Sin of Fibbing, the least frequent sin, is committed by making environmental claims that are simply false. The most common examples were products falsely claiming to be Energy Star certified or registered.
7. Sin of Worshiping False Labels, describes an effort by some marketers to exploit consumers’ demand for third-party certification with fake labels or claims of third-party endorsement.
Source: Terra Choice Group Inc., 2009, pp. 3-5.
Green Marketing Applications in Lebanon
In 2005, Lebanon had to import about 97% of its total energy consumption, which makes it extremely dependent on energy imports. Transport is the biggest energy consumer, with buildings coming in the second place of about 30% and industry in the third place. With the sharp increase in world market prices for energy, and with energy prices subsidized in Lebanon, the national electricity company Électricité Du Liban (EDL) alone absorbed 21% of the state budget in January 2008. Due to insufficient and obsolete power plants and distribution lines, people are also suffering from frequent power cuts causing them to bear significant additional coast for private generators. While a large potential for energy efficiency and for the use of renewable energies is still untouched, people still suffer from this problem. Nevertheless, the new buildings usually do not integrate technologies such as thermal insulation of the building envelope, energy efficient lighting or solar water heaters (Arab Forum for Environmental Development (2011).
Environmental Projects in Lebanon
“Save Energy” campaign.
In November 2005, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources in Lebanon announced the launch of the “Save Energy” campaign under its joint collaboration project “The Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation Project” LCECP. The campaign intends to create public awareness on the benefits of energy efficiency use and conservation on the environment and the individual cost.
The campaign, as depicted in Figure 4, aims to support and promote the international cause for climate change and to provide a better environmental understanding that the chance to protect the environment starts with the actions individuals and governments perform today (The Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation Project, 2005).
Figure 4 Energy efficiency campaign
Source: www.lcecp.org.lb
Central Bank of Lebanon campaign.
Central Bank of Lebanon: In November 2010, the Central bank under the circular 236, decided to support the environmental loans that fit under the energy related and non-energy (solid waste, water treatment recycling, ecotourism, and agriculture) related loans.
The Central bank supported the commercial banks through releasing the legal reserve on the environmental and energy loans issued, consequently the loans are issued to the individuals at an interest rate of 0.3% for the environment loans and 0.6% for the energy efficient loans (Pierre Khoury, LCECP, personal communication, December 27, 2011 & Banque du Liban (2010)).
Green Business in Lebanon
Fransabank.
As Part of the central bank-led drive to provide businesses with financial incentive to adopt energy-saving technologies, Fransabank has launched a package of eco-friendly loans (see Figure 5). The greening package consists of two loans both geared towards corporations. The first is for energy-saving projects, such as purchasing efficient air conditioning units; with very low interest rates, low as zero percent. The second green loan is exclusively for solar panel installation; the amount goes up to LL 7.5 million and is not subject to an interest fee.
Figure 5 Fransabank campaign
Source: http://www.fransabank.com
Fransabank hopes to show consumers and businesses that what’s good for the environment is also good for finances and launched the program under the slogan “Keep your Heart and Bills on the Earth” (The Daily Star, March 2011).
BankMed.
BankMed decided to launch a pioneer environmental program throughout 2009 and 2010. This program includes studies and action plans aimed at taking care of the environment, the cleaning and rehabilitation of various sites and locations across Lebanon, in collaboration with relevant ministries and institutions involved in civil society. The first phase of this program began in early 2009 with a wide advertising campaign to raise awareness. The bank has also initiated the second phase by the adoption of several projects to improve the environment. It is currently preparing to implement the third phase of the program covering a range of projects like special financing program to promote eco-friendly green architecture projects, direct support to natural reserves, financing vital projects to reduce air pollution, contributing to establishment of specialized trees plantations, rehabilitation of some public parks in Lebanon, and launching a campaign to clean sandy beaches and reservation of marine life (Happyplanetlebanon.com, 2011).
Movenpick hotel & resort Beirut.
Green Globe announced on November 28, 2011, that following a long-term commitment to sustainable corporate initiatives with regard to the environment, local community, and employees, Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Beirut has been successfully certified for its triple bottom-line approach to operation and management. The completion of an independent audit found Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Beirut achieved 80 percent of all criteria. Green Globe Certification is the travel and tourism industries' worldwide certification label for sustainable management and operations. Figure 6 shows the green globe logo.
Figure 6 Green Globe logo
Source: www.forimmediaterelese.net/userimages/9/201111128-2130_o.jpg
Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Beirut General Manager Alain Chatel said: “Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Beirut is fully committed to promoting sustainability. This commitment is reflected in our management principles and our daily practices, which aim to advance a sustainable future for the generations to come.”
“Our aim is to undertake and publicize the best sustainability practices, to reduce the environmental impact of all our activities, and to encourage all our stakeholders to do the same.”
Green Globe CEO Guido Bauer said: “Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts worldwide have adopted values, which combined with a global approach to sustainability, make it one of the world’s most trusted hotel management companies. Green Globe’s role has been to take the concepts and principles of sustainability that have been developed over the last two decades and embed them into Mövenpick hotels’ daily operational and management practices.
Chatel also added: “We look forward to the challenge of improving the Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Beirut’s sustainability performance year to year and into the future. In particular, we hope to assist the property as it works with the local community on the challenges of waste collection, handling and recycling”
(Ecogreenhotel.com, 2011; Forimmediaterelease.net, 2011).
Byblos bank.
Byblos Bank headquarters launched its Green Christmas Campaign on December 2011.
This campaign allows cardholders during the month of December, to redeem 33,000 “Loyalty Points” for a natural tree delivered by the Lebanese flower company “Exotica” right to their homes. After the holidays, they can have their tree picked up by the Association for Forest Development and Conservation (AFDC) to be replanted in one of Lebanon’s forests (Byblos Bank, 2011).
“In 1980, forests used to cover 30 percent of Lebanon’s area and today, they cover only 13 percent. The forest coverage has fallen by 35 percent and it is recommended that a country's forest area approximate 20 percent. Byblos Bank is aware of this reality and this is why we regularly strive to engage our clients and stakeholders in our effort to contribute to the preservation of Lebanon’s forests. This season, we undertook this initiative not only to share in the festive spirit of our clients but also to raise their awareness of the importance of reforestation in Lebanon”, said Georges Fares, Head of Group Cards at Byblos Bank.
This campaign is part of Byblos Bank Cards Loyalty Program, which is one of the most innovative gift loyalty programs in Lebanon. All Byblos Bank cardholders are automatically enrolled in this program that proposes exciting rewards and seasonal offers such as travel vouchers with Air France, technology gadgets: iPad, iPod, as well as contributions to associations such as the AFDC, Heartbeat, the Children Cancer Center of Lebanon (CCCL), and MySchoolPulse (Byblos Bank, 2011).
Exploratory Research
An exploratory research project was conducted by the writers which aimed at assessing a sample of Lebanese consumers’ knowledge, attitude and performance within the context of Green Marketing. Green Marketing is considered now a new marketing approach and is being adopted by a lot of foreign and local companies to attract more customers and achieve environmental benefits.
The research instrument used consisted of an online survey directed to Lebanese consumers who were willing to respond and share their opinion about green consumption. 100 respondents took part in the survey out of 150 intended respondents. The response rate was 67.33%. Moreover, three formal interviews were carried out with experts in the subject.
Major Survey Findings
1. Respondents were 45% males and 55% females. The observed average age was 31 years. 95% of the survey participants hold either a BS or MS degrees. 61% knew what green marketing is and 84% had no problem identifying environmental terms. Therefore, the majority of the sample is environmentally educated.
2. Around 67% uses environmental friendly products for the sake of saving the environment, while around 21% uses them for health purposes, and only 11% uses them to save money. Moreover, around 62% are willing to pay extra money to help the environment through environmental friendly products. Finally, most of the survey respondents believe in the environment as a cause and are willing to learn more about it, support companies with green initiatives, and share their knowledge in the society.
3. Despite the high interest in the environment that the survey showed, only few people are aware of environmental projects and even a few percentages are contributing to it. Never the less, the percentage of people using environmental friendly products at home is less than the percentage of those who showed their interest in helping.
4. The biggest group of the survey respondents belongs to either the “True Blues (57%)” or “Green Backs (27%)” shade of green consumers while the remaining are mainly “Sprouts (19%)”, “Grousers (15%)”, and “Basic Browns (12%)”.
5. Most of the respondents believe in the effectiveness of applying legal punishment and fines against environmental crimes in Lebanon.
6. Survey participants can be reached mainly through Internet and TV media advertising.
7. The survey results showed that people who have a master’s degree tend to know more about the environment than people who only have a university degree. They are also more willing to learn about green marketing and environmental protection, and are more willing to share their information in the society.
8. The main reason driving people to buy environmental friendly products is to help the environment since they believe that a better environment means a better life on this earth.
9. The higher the salary range among the respondents, the more interest they had shown in learning about green marketing and environmental protection, and dedicating time to share it in the society.
10. Respondents with higher salary range tend to be more willing to pay extra money for environmental friendly products.
Summary of Major Interview’s Findings
1. The level of environmental awareness in Lebanon exceeds the level of implementation of environmental projects and the environmental condition.
2. The main reason behind the environmental conditions and application of environmental standards in Lebanon is manifested by the obstacles for approving environmental projects.
3. There are no environmental laws or any regulations currently applied on the private sector and manufactures to help protect the environment.
4. The level of environmental education in Lebanon is increasing; however it is not enough to improve the status of the environment in Lebanon.
Conclusions
The current research has shown that it is clear that the success of a Green Marketing strategy is dependent on the collaboration of environmental consumerism, corporate social responsibility and the support of governments. With undeniable environmental damage and the rising awareness and concern about the future of the earth, “Sustainable Marketing” is becoming necessary for successful marketing. Display of sensitivity towards the environment, is a must to ensure business success.
The application of Green Marketing in Lebanon can only be achieved if the consumer believes in the environment as a cause, corporations feel responsible to protect the earth, and governments take action to limit environmental dept. The process starts with environmental responsibility from the government. In order to take steps into protecting the environment and raising awareness in the public to do so, the Lebanese government must set up rules and regulations to protect the environment, to encourage companies to use sustainable marketing, to execute legal punishment and fines on those who cause environmental damage, and to obligate environmental education as part of the schooling curriculum. These actions, coupled with the legal regulations, will increase the level of environmental awareness of the Lebanese consumer. In turn, this will push companies to invest in a sustainable environmental approach, as they will be forced, to abide by the environmental regulations and, of course, to gain the consumers’ approval.
The sum of all roles performs a perfect cycle of information and action that satisfies the consumer, protects the environment, and generates profits for companies.
Recommendations
Based on the results of the survey and interviews used in the current research, the level of environmental education in Lebanon is high; however, the level of action is much lower than that. The gap in the application of environmental measures is due to the lack of the accessibility and availability of green products to the consumer, especially the ones that are set at competitive price points. In other words, consumers might display a level of knowledge and concern about environmental issues, but in order for them to apply what they know, they want eco-friendly products to be readily available at the same price as the non-eco-friendly competitors.
Value has become a key factor, especially for those consumers less committed to being “green”. Consumers are now looking for products with sustainable features, and at the same time expecting to save money by using these products. One way “green” companies can get this edge is to use the money they are saving by their energy consumption, for example, and pass on those savings onto the consumer (Rawlins, Sain & Filippi, 2009).
Environmental awareness is not the cause of environmental damage in Lebanon. Based on the results of the survey and interviews used in the current research, people are aware of the environmental conditions in Lebanon, and they are willing to be part of the change for a better environment. Yet in the current economic and political conditions that exist in Lebanon, the environmental cause is not at the top of the priority list for neither the people nor the government. Despite their belief in the environmental cause, people are not willing to pay extra money to purchase eco-friendly products, and companies are not willing to “walk the extra mile” to meet environmental standards.
To sum up, the application of Sustainable Marketing in Lebanon can mainly be achieved properly when the government is able to set up appropriate rules and regulations that guide the consumer and the companies in that direction.
To achieve more accurate results in the aspect of green consumerism and application of green marketing, a larger sample can be reached that covers consumers from different social, geographical, and educational level. Moreover, the need to understand the level of environmental changes’ impact on people’s lives especially their health is essential. The results of this assessment will help find answers on more ways to apply green marketing effectively in Lebanon.
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