MARKETING MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT

Green marketing practices by small and medium scale enterprises in the manufacturing sector;
Prospects and challenges

According to the Americans Marketing Association, Marketing is the activity, set of institutions,
and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value
for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. (Approved 2017) (Bartleby.com, sumati,
2014). The process by which companies create customer interest in products or services. It
generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business
development (). It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer
relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves (WowWee,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wowwee/2928200846/). Marketing management is one functional
area of management that is responsible for the marketing of products being manufactured by the
production unit in order for the firm to achieve its set goals. It’s also provide sensitive information
regarding the product performance in relation to consumers satisfaction and feedback which the
production unit incorporates into their product design and production. Most production design and
modifications we see in various product as additional features which enhances product
performance and handling came as a result of good marketing management strategies. Marketing
functions of an organizations is not actually meant to converse customers to just buy products as
being the motive of ordinary sellers. Marketing tries to assess the needs of consumers and provide
them and communicate the existence of the product and educate consumers on it usage. Marketing
also aim at attracting consumers and keeping them by providing them with product with superior
value with less environmental effects. Products that may have great negative effects of the
environment are likely to be regulated by government legislatures by way of taxation or restrictions
on its consumption.
According to the Americans Marketing Association, green marketing refers to the development
and marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe (i.e., designed to minimize
negative effects on the physical environment or to improve its quality (sumac,2014).This term may
also be used to describe efforts to produce, promote, package, and reclaim products in a manner
that is sensitive or responsive to ecological concerns (Alam,2012).
Green Marketing is the act of marketing products and services that are accepted to be
environmentally safe. The Green Marketing process incorporates activities such as product
modification to production process, packaging changes as well as modifying advertisement. These
activities are geared towards protecting the environment for generations unborn from the damages
by-products of industrialization could cause the biosphere.
Green marketing is the act of creating, promoting, determining prices, and distributing
commodities that cause minimal harm to the natural environment (Baker & hart, 2008). The plan
include changing production process, product design and modification, or evolving promotional
strategies (Solaiman et al., 2015). Some production process can be harmful to the environment
most especially the eco-systems when production methods makes use of sophisticated machines
and equipment. Example the estate industry that uses escalators to prepare the construction sights.
Again the oil refinery industry that produce a lot of heat into the environment. The desire for
environmental protection has make consumers to adopt the use of green products which
production requires less sophisticated technology hence marketers would have to develop products
and design green products.
According to Baker & hart, 2008, the origin of the concept dates back to the 1970s with the
emergence of green marketing, which focused on factories that had severe impacts on the
environment. It was also during this time that increasing emphasis was placed on corporate social
responsibility (Dibb et al., 2005). The period beginning the early 1990s was characterized by the
rising awareness and interest in environmental friendly products, leading to the emergence of the
concepts of the green consumer. Since then, the idea of green marketing has attracted the attention
of scientists, environmentalists, firms, and the public (Baker & Hart, 2008).
Green, Environmental and Eco-marketing are part of the new marketing approaches which do
not only re-focus on, adjust to or enhance existing marketing thinking and practice, but also seek
to challenge those approaches and provide a substantially different perspective.
According to an article published in Ghana News Agency in March, 2012, by Green Rep
Organization(GRO) a non governmental organization indicated that, Ghana is highly polluted
country with much degraded environment, though low in industrial activities, most of the
destruction caused to the environment is through human activities. It is an obvious statement that
when disasters, be they natural or otherwise strike, no one is spared let alone our properties and
investments.
But what we can do as humans is to take precautionary measures to mitigate their effects. The best
option for us is to adopt the Green Marketing. Majority of the participants who were mainly
marketing practitioners and journalists had no or little idea of the concept of green marketing and
marketing strategies.
At present, green marketing continues to receive increasing attention as corporations strategize
themselves to enhance their survival; the dynamics that have led to this pattern include the growing
number of environmental responsiveness of consumers, rising government concerns and
increasing campaigns in environmental protection toward a green economy (Alam et al., 2012).
Nevertheless, the adoption of green manufacturing and marketing methods by corporate
organizations remains very insignificant as they strive to bring equality in environmental needs
with their economic responsibility (Alam et al., 2012).
Corporate firms that recognized green production and marketing philosophies into their corporate
strategy have several competitive advantages over their counterparts. (Eneizan, et al., 2015) since
consumers will soon develop taste and preferences for greenly branded goods.
According to Caprita, 2015, green marketers are rapidly adopting the conventional approach to
marketing product, price, place and promotion; which is refereed to as the marketing mix.
In Ghana very few attempts have been made by stakeholders in information dissemination and
public education towards green marketing. The reason for this situation is that the principal target
for most marketers remain to be the green consumers (Kirgiz, 2016). Green consumers has been
identified to be the vegetarian and other members of religious bodies who have been prohibited
from the consumption of certain food. Other products are bio gas household products and
appliances most of which are made from used or recycled goods to save energy, cost, and minimize
environmental harm.
The product itself has to be made in such a way that it satisfies consumer and manufacture’s needs.
For ecologically sustainable products to be successful, green branding attributes have to be
efficiently communicated. Most buyer decisions are influenced by the labeling, (green labeling)
that states all that makes the product green compliant. The price of green product has to be
affordable for the customer to encourage purchase. Industrial differentiation works only when
products reduce client’s cost.
Most buyers are influenced by advertisement that reflects a company’s commitment to
environment. Companies that do green advertisement tend to portray an image of environmental
friendliness, influences their customer purchase decisions. Consumers love to associate themselves
with companies that are environmental stewards. When a company communicates this through
their advertisements, promotions, publicity and corporate social responsibilities, they are sure to
get many loyal customers.
Green distribution is a very delicate operation. Customers must be guaranteed of the ‘Ecological
nature’ of the product. The green environment is a constantly regulated environment and as such
high level of compliance is necessary when carrying out distribution of green products.
Manufacturers need to consider both the economic and ecological aspects of the product during its
design (Alam et al.,2012). In this regard, the concept of green marketing is receiving increasing
attention to help developers meet these two essential needs (Alam et al., 2012)
There are some expert recommendations as to how to avoid “green marketing myopia” by focusing
on consumer value positioning, calibration of consumer knowledge, and the credibility of product
claims. One challenge with green marketing is the difficulty consumers have in understanding the
environmental benefits of products, leading to many accusations of “greenwashing” where
products are not nearly as green and environmentally beneficial as their marketing might suggest.
For green marketing to be successful, it has to fit with your brand. Having a single green product
when the rest of your products are not, for instance, can make customers wonder about your
environmental commitment. In other words, authenticity is essential in green marketing.
In determining the price of green products, marketers account for the environment, people, and
profit (Solaiman et al., 2015). Value addition is usually through modifying functionality,
appearance, or by customization. In most instances, the prices for green commodities are mostly
higher than those for conventional items (Widyastuti & Santoso, 2016). In the view of Solaiman
et al. (2015), individuals are willing to pay a price that is higher than that of non-green products.
However, Sima (2014) noted that such claims are not the real manifestation of their attitude or
behavior toward paying premiums for green products. Since cost is a crucial determinant when
purchasing a product (good or service), green manufacturers need to design them such that the
consumer appreciates other potential benefits beyond cost consideration. Realizing this goal is
possible if marketing campaigns promote intrinsic ethics and moral intensity (Sima, 2014; Foster,
2013).
Green distribution strategies usually aim at minimizing green emissions during transport. Retailers
play essential roles in this regard. They usually share the responsibility for the manufacturers‟
claims about their products (Solaiman et al., 2015; Foster, 2013). Working with channel partners
to develop product reuse or disposal arrangements and ensuring that customers are able to return
recyclable materials are two tactical ways that firms could apply in their pursuit of green
distribution (Eneizan et al., 2015)
Green product marketers use different promotion tools to sensitize their potential clients on the
benefits of their products (Foster, 2013). Sales promotions, direct marketing, public relations, and
advertising are some of the means of conveying to the customers the core message of greenness
(Eneizan et al., 2015). The aim of such campaigns should be to persuade consumers to modify
their perception concerning green commodities. A primary issue in this regard is the use of related
terms that may be confusing to consumers (Solaiman et al., 2015). Companies aiming to make
their products appealing should develop strategies that will help potential users to comprehend the
terms (Foster, 2013). Over the past two decades, many environmental laws and regulations have
been enacted in industrialized countries to address the environmental problems that emerged from
production processes such as local smog, groundwater contamination and regional acid rain (Grag,
2015). Although regulatory legislation has had an impact on environmental protection, it has
caused some conflicts between the country‟s environmental and economic objectives. Therefore,
the general environmental protection strategies should be subject to a number of criteria: to have
a clear role toward achieving the environmental objectives, to be effective in terms of social cost,
to contribute to providing necessary information to government agencies, to be easily applied and
controlled; and finally, the extent to which they provide positive support in industry (AlFuqaha
and AlSaifi, 2015; Carcasov et al., 2017). In this regard, Ghana Government has a framework of
laws aimed at reducing the production of harmful products; for example, the ban on the bags made
of plastic for restaurant and for fast foods (Alam et al., 2012).
Customers expect companies to be socially responsible in all their practices, and companies that
act unethically towards the environment will be boycotted by consumers (Widyastuti & Santoso,
2016). Survey results showed that customers in the United States prefer choosing products from
environmentally friendly companies if they have similar costs to their alternatives (Caprita, 2015).
However, the vision remains unclear in determining consumer behavior, whereas a study
conducted in Romania found that it was unclear to what extent consumers are willing to accept a
higher price of environmentally friendly products if cheaper products are available. Legislation in
this area exerts considerable pressure on companies, and the impact of this pressure transfers to
customers, thereby affecting consumer purchasing behavior. Emphasis should be placed on
directing messages to customers highlighting the social, environmental and ethical benefits of
products, in order to set new targets to increase the customer satisfaction strategy (Kirgiz, 2016).
Energy consumption is one of the main concerns of global economic and environmental systems
due to growing concern over the impact of current energy production systems, increased energy
consumption and high global demand for limited energy resources (Caprita, 2015; Kirgiz, 2016).
General determinants and political systems have limited consideration for the sale and production
of alternative energy. Organizations face difficulty in obtaining the raw materials necessary to
conduct their production processes, as well as numerous other problems in transporting production
materials, in addition to an increase in their prices as well as an increase in taxes on these resources,
such as: gas, electricity, fuel, and timber. Therefore, green marketing is considered an important
issue today to preserve the environment for future generations (AlFuqaha and AlSaifi, 2015).
Managers are always searching for ways to improve sustainable performance in organizations and
create strategies and organizational structures to improve the social performance of organizations
(Dibb et al., 2005). Managers need to know how sustainability performance affects the long-term
profitability of the company, whereas senior management directives towards sustainable
development and social responsibility are one of the important pillars for the implementation of
green marketing strategies (AlFuqaha & AlSaifi, 2015)
There is now a real sense that environmental protection is highly necessary. Everyone believes a
green life is a better and healthier life for present and future generation. Most consumers’ spending
pattern shows that they have a desire for brands that ‘go green’. Consumers not only want to buy
their products but are willing to pay more for it. Consumers are motivated to buy from companies
that are eco-friendly in the production. Ghana is cultivating the idea of eating locally manufactured
food stuffs like vegetables and fruits. Green marketing idea has so far not reach Ghanaian populace
directly as compared to other developed countries who have the eco system protection at heart due
to less knowledge of the green marketing strategies.
The rules of the game in green marketing would change if both consumers and companies are
responding to problems and are proposing solutions to the significant environmental problems that
exist. when companies collaborate with the government and the environmental protection
organizations in public education on the important of the eco systems then green marketing would
not just be a tool for environmental protection but also, a greater marketing strategy for firms who
design and market green goods.

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