<p>Abstract</p><p><strong>Date: </strong>2010-05-28</p><p><strong>Authors</strong>:        Aamer Shahzad & Syed Nadeem Hussain Shah.</p><p><strong>Advisor: </strong>Mr. Konstantin Lampou</p><p><strong>Program: </strong>M.S. International Marketing</p><p><strong>Title: </strong><em>If and how environmental friendliness be a profitable marketing strategy in the current recession? </em><em>A comparative study on managements’ perspectives at two food retailers in Sweden.</em><em> </em></p><p><strong>Problem: </strong>During the current recession, consumers are not as much willing to pay more for green but expensive products as were in the past. However, despite this changing consumer attitude, food retailers in Sweden claim their marketing strategy as environmentally friendly. When maximizing profits is considered major corporate goal of every business, investigating the managements’ point of view on environmental friendliness as profitable marketing strategy in the recession period becomes an interesting topic for research.</p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The objective of this paper is to get insight on management’s perspectives from large-scale food retailers in Sweden on their choice of environmental friendliness as marketing strategy with respect to profitability in the current recession.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>This qualitative study utilizes realist approach to research and exploratory research method. Through literature review, a conceptual model was developed for study. Primary data comes from interviews whereas secondary data from websites and annual reports of the companies.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The green marketing strategy is profitable even in recession as it is a great source of competitive advantage and numerous profitable opportunities. This commitment to environment in hard times yields favorable reputation and helps companies in developing new products; finding new markets and suppliers; expanding customer-base; improving processes and stores; enhancing efficiency; etc.</p><p><strong>Key Words: </strong>Environmental friendliness, green marketing strategy, food retailers in Sweden, green products, impact of recession, profitability, communication.</p>

Abstract Date: 2010-05-28 Authors:        Aamer Shahzad &amp; Syed Nadeem Hussain Shah. Advisor: Mr. Konstantin Lampou Program: M.S. International Marketing Title: If and how environmental friendliness be a profitable marketing strategy in the current recession? A comparative study on managements’ perspectives at two food retailers in Sweden. Problem: During the current recession, consumers are not as much willing to pay more for green but expensive products as were in the past. However, despite this changing consumer attitude, food retailers in Sweden claim their marketing strategy as environmentally friendly. When maximizing profits is considered major corporate goal of every business, investigating the managements’ point of view on environmental friendliness as profitable marketing strategy in the recession period becomes an interesting topic for research. Purpose: The objective of this paper is to get insight on management’s perspectives from large-scale food retailers in Sweden on their choice of environmental friendliness as marketing strategy with respect to profitability in the current recession. Method: This qualitative study utilizes realist approach to research and exploratory research method. Through literature review, a conceptual model was developed for study. Primary data comes from interviews whereas secondary data from websites and annual reports of the companies. Conclusion: The green marketing strategy is profitable even in recession as it is a great source of competitive advantage and numerous profitable opportunities. This commitment to environment in hard times yields favorable reputation and helps companies in developing new products; finding new markets and suppliers; expanding customer-base; improving processes and stores; enhancing efficiency; etc. Key Words: Environmental friendliness, green marketing strategy, food retailers in Sweden, green products, impact of recession, profitability, communication.

Title: “Factors affecting consumers green purchase intention towards ecological products: ICA supermarket in Sweden”. Level: Master degree thesis in Business AdministrationAuthor: Khalida Akter Supervisor: Zahra AhmadiExaminer: Maria Fregidou-Malama Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate how consumer trust, eco-branding and green marketing strategy influence consumer purchase intention towards ecological products. Method: The qualitative method and inductive approach have been used for this research. The primary data have been collected through face to face interview and the secondary data have been used through scientific journals and the internet. Findings: The results show the important factors that can promote green marketing towards ecological products are; consumer trust, green trust, eco-label trust, eco-branding, green pricing, green advertising, green design and green promotion have a strong relation with each other. The study also shows that consumer purchase intention can be increased by giving sufficient information regarding ecological products, by increasing awareness, credibility, by reducing the perceived risk of the products, brand uniqueness, by advertising the products through the company magazines, billboards and posters outside of the supermarket, by raising awareness of customer health. Brand loyalty is also an important factor to create a long-term relationship with customers and it can be created by the fair price perception among the customers. The main promotional issues have been found for this study is customer health and climate change. The study also shows that price doesn’t affect on consumer purchase behaviour. Suggestions for future research: This study helps to understand how to promote green marketing for ecological products. For further study, the author suggests to investigate if there is a relationship between green marketing, consumer trust, eco-branding as well as a green marketing strategy. The future study will help to research on green marketing for ecological products. Contribution: This study has identified elements to promote green marketing and factors that can help to increase consumers purchase intention. The author hopes that the findings of this study will help companies to create their consumer purchase intention. The study has contributed to the theory and to the managers by investigating the factors affecting on green marketing. Keywords: Green marketing, Consumer trust, green trust, Eco-branding, Green marketing strategy, consumer purchase intention.

[pt] A preocupação com a produção e o consumo mais sustentáveis está cada vez mais presente nas discussões globais em todas as indústrias, inclusive na de calçados esportivos, que produziu cerca de 20 bilhões de calçados em 2023. A preocupação com saúde e a crescente visibilidade de práticas esportivas contribuem para o aumento do consumo e geração de resíduos nesse setor e acaba comprometendo a sustentabilidade ambiental. O uso de estratégias de marketing verde busca pensar o projeto, produção e consumo de produtos de forma sustentável, por meio dos elementos do mix de marketing, em todo o ciclo de vida do produto. Diante disso, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo analisar e comparar estratégias de marketing verde adotadas por grandes marcas no segmento de calçados esportivos por meio dos 4Ps do mix de marketing e avaliar se são percebidas como efetivas pelo mercado. Para alcançar os objetivos propostos utilizou-se a abordagem qualitativa de estudos de casos múltiplos por meio de análise de publicações de organizações independentes do setor e análise de relatórios, vídeos e entrevistas publicadas pelas marcas esportivas analisadas. O estudo identificou que as estratégias de marketing verde são aplicadas por todas as marcas estudadas, mas em diferentes proporções, e não em todo o ciclo de vida dos produtos, nem mesmo para todos os produtos de suas linhas, o que gera diferentes percepções de efetividade dessas estratégias pelo mercado. / [en] The concern for a greener production and more consciousness consumption is increasingly present in global discussions across all industries, including the sports footwear industry, which produced approximately 20 billion pairs of shoes in 2023. The focus on health and the growing visibility of sports activities contribute to the consumption and waste growth generation in this sector, ultimately compromising environmental sustainability. The use of green marketing strategies aims to conceptualize the design, production, and consumption of products in a sustainable manner, through the elements of the marketing mix, throughout the product lifecycle. Therefore, this research aimed to analyze and compare green marketing strategies adopted by major brands in the sports footwear segment using the 4Ps of the marketing mix and evaluate whether they are perceived as effective by the market. To achieve the proposed objectives, a qualitative approach of multiple case studies was employed by analyzing publications from independent organizations in the sector as well as reports, videos, and interviews published by the analyzed sports brands. The study identified that all studied brands implement green marketing strategies, but at different levels of maturity, and not throughout the lifecycle of the products, nor even for all products within their lines, leading to varying perceptions of the effectiveness of these strategies by the market.