People in Sweden have become more aware and interested in environmental issues. This has led to an increased demand for environmental friendly food products. Previously the price often determined if a customer bought the product or not. During the recent years internet has become a more widely used media than ever before. This has led to that inter-net is one of the important tools to gather information and knowledge, among other things environmental issues. With such aspects in mind the authors found it interesting to investigate if companies could use internet as a marketing tool for environmental friendly products. Therefore the purpose of this thesis is to: investigate if and how companies display environmental friendliness in their marketing strategy and how it is presented on their company webpage’s. In order to fulfil the purpose five general dealer’s home and webpage’s were examined. As a supplementing research one store for each of the five general dealers were visited and ex-amined. The used theoretical framework is focused on value and green marketing. How to create a specific value is often the core when formulating and creating a strategy for a company. Green marketing is such marketing that include environmental concerns in the marketing offers. The sales of ecological food has increased and according to SCB (2006) represented 6 Billions in revenue between 2004 and 2005. The literature indicates that green marketing have to change and become more like conventional marketing, in order to reach the larger consumer segments. As a supplement to this theory, a section with home and webpage de-sign and chromatics are added. The analysis and conclusion showed that there were some differences in how the re-searched companies used green marketing. Two of the companies used their webpage’s and displayed environmental awareness, while two had a clear focus on price. One company had a health focus. It was also found that there are differences between the messages and information on the home and webpage’s, compared to the findings in the stores. What also was found was that green marketing not only should target the already green consumers, but instead aim at the larger consumer segment. To do this green marketing should become more like conventional marketing and not only focus on the product, but also other value factors. The findings also suggest that the companies could use their home and webpage’s to a higher extent than they do today.

Eco-labelling is a way to promote sustainable development. This is a quantified study about purchase behaviour regarding eco-labelled seafood in Sweden, based on interviews with a convenience sample of consumers in situ. The objectives were to establish how large the knowledge of eco-labelled seafood is, to investigate the reasons for acquiring the product and thus determine the prime driving force to do it. The willingness to pay for eco-labelled seafood was also investigated. The results show a low awareness where just about a quarter of the respondents knew that eco-labelled seafood existed. The willingness to pay was high; four out of five were ready to spend additional money on an eco-labelled product. Women displayed a higher willingness to pay than men, which supports previous research. Regarding the reasons to purchase the only options presented to the respondents were environmental concern, enhanced health or both alternatives in combination. Health as the single factor was the least preferred choice and the two other alternatives were favoured to an equal amount. A difference in purchase behaviour can be detected among respondents with awareness of ecolabelled seafood when compared to those without. Those aware stated a willingness to pay to a higher degree and also displayed more environmental concern and less health interest than those unaware of eco-labelled seafood.

<p>People in Sweden have become more aware and interested in environmental issues. This has led to an increased demand for environmental friendly food products. Previously the price often determined if a customer bought the product or not. During the recent years internet has become a more widely used media than ever before. This has led to that inter-net is one of the important tools to gather information and knowledge, among other things environmental issues.</p><p>With such aspects in mind the authors found it interesting to investigate if companies could use internet as a marketing tool for environmental friendly products. Therefore the purpose of this thesis is to:</p><p>investigate if and how companies display environmental friendliness in their marketing strategy and how it is presented on their company webpage’s.</p><p>In order to fulfil the purpose five general dealer’s home and webpage’s were examined. As a supplementing research one store for each of the five general dealers were visited and ex-amined.</p><p>The used theoretical framework is focused on value and green marketing. How to create a specific value is often the core when formulating and creating a strategy for a company. Green marketing is such marketing that include environmental concerns in the marketing offers. The sales of ecological food has increased and according to SCB (2006) represented 6 Billions in revenue between 2004 and 2005. The literature indicates that green marketing have to change and become more like conventional marketing, in order to reach the larger consumer segments. As a supplement to this theory, a section with home and webpage de-sign and chromatics are added.</p><p>The analysis and conclusion showed that there were some differences in how the re-searched companies used green marketing. Two of the companies used their webpage’s and displayed environmental awareness, while two had a clear focus on price. One company had a health focus. It was also found that there are differences between the messages and information on the home and webpage’s, compared to the findings in the stores. What also was found was that green marketing not only should target the already green consumers, but instead aim at the larger consumer segment. To do this green marketing should become more like conventional marketing and not only focus on the product, but also other value factors. The findings also suggest that the companies could use their home and webpage’s to a higher extent than they do today.</p>

Syfte – I denna studie undersöks sambandet mellan konsumenters kunskap och förtroendegentemot kommunikationen av miljövänliga textila produkter.Teoretiskt ramverk – För att undersöka syftet redogörs vad kunskap respektive förtroendeär. Det teoretiska ramverket stod även till grund för utformandet av metoden, och av denanledningen redogörs i detta kapitel hur kunskap respektive förtroende kan mätas.Metod – Studien grundades på en enkätundersökning där respondenternas kunskap ochförtroende för miljövänlig textil produktion prövades. Resultatet analyserades sedan medchi2-test för att statistiskt säkerställa eller förkasta samband mellan kunskapsnivå ochförtroendenivå.Resultat och analys – Resultatet visade inte något statistiskt samband mellanrespondenternas kunskaps- och förtroendenivå. Studien visade även att respondenternaskunskapsnivå var generellt sett låg, utifrån det kunskapstest som gjordes ienkätundersökningen. Respondenternas förtroendenivå gentemot textila produkter somkommuniceras med miljömärkningar var högre än för de textila produkter som kommunicerassom miljövänliga utan användning av miljömärkningar.Diskussion och slutsats – Den låga kunskapen om kommunikationen av miljövänliga textilaprodukter kan bero på att konsumenter inte blir tillräckligt exponerade med information kringämnet, men kan även bero på bristande intresse och tid hos konsumenten. Det låga förtroendetför textila produkter utan miljömärkningar kan bero på att respondenterna varit med omgreenwashing. Att förtroendet är högre för produkter som marknadsförs med miljömärkningarkan bero på att dessa organisationer har en högre auktoritet och att konsumenter litar på attcertifieringarna ser till att produkter uppfyller vissa kriterier.Fortsatt forskning – En mer omfattande studie inom samma område med ett större antalrespondenter hade varit intressant, för att undersöka om detta skulle kunna påverka chi2-testen. En annan intressant aspekt att gå djupare in på är varför kunskapen respektiveförtroende ligger på de nivåer de gör och vad företag och organisationer skulle kunna göra föratt förändra dessa. / Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between consumers’knowledge and trust towards the communication of environmentally friendly textile products.Theoretical Framework - To examine the purpose of this study, the terms knowledge andtrust needed clarification. The theoretical framework was also the foundation for the design ofthe method, and therefore this chapter clarifies how consumers’ knowledge and trust can bemeasured.Method – The study was based on a survey in which respondents' knowledge and trusttowards eco-friendly textile production was measured. The results were then analysed withchi2-tests to statistically ensure or reject correlations between the levels of knowledge andtrust.Results and Analysis – The result from the chi2-tests did not show any statistical correlationbetween the respondents' knowledge and trust levels. The results of the survey showed thatthe respondents' level of knowledge towards the communication of environmentally friendlytextile products was generally low. The respondents' levels of trust towards textile productscommunicated with eco-labels were higher than for those textile products that arecommunicated as environmentally friendly without the use of eco-labels.Discussion and Conclusion – The low knowledge of communication of eco-friendly textileproducts can be caused by consumers’ lack of time and interest or because consumers are notsufficiently exposed to information about the subject. The low trust in textile products withouteco-labels may be caused by greenwashing. Consumers may also have a higher trust towardseco-labels because these organizations have a higher authority and because consumers maytrust that certifications ensure that products fulfils certain criteria.Continued Research – A more extensive study in the same field with a larger number ofrespondents would be interesting to investigate, whether this might affect the chi2-tests.Another interesting aspect to study is the reasons behind the consumers’ levels of knowledgeand trust, and what companies and organisations could do to improve them.

Värderingar är ett centralt begrepp inom psykologin och handlar om vad man anser vara viktigt i livet. Tidigare forskning har fokuserat på hur värderingar påverkar människors vilja att betala mer för livsmedel som har miljö- eller social produktmärkning. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka värderingar och viljan att betala extra för en mobiltelefon med miljö- eller social produktmärkning hos personer i Uddevalla, Vänersborg och Trollhättan. Resultaten påvisade att de deltagare som var villiga att betala extra för mobiltelefoner med social produktmärkning lade störst vikt vid värderingen solidaritet och de deltagare som var villiga att betala extra för mobiltelefoner med miljömärkning lade störst vikt vid välvilja. Detta resultat ligger i linje med tidigare forskning. I studien deltog 79 slumpmässigt utvalda män och kvinnor mellan 18 och 64 år. Studien var kvantitativ och använde sig bland annat av Schwartz Portrait Values som mätinstrument / Personal values are an important part of psychology and concerns what people consider to be of importance in their lives. Recent studies have focused on the effect personal values have on people’s willingness to pay when it comes to fair trade and eco-labelled food. The purpose of this study was to examine personal values linked to willingness to pay when it comes to a fairtrade or eco-labelled mobile phone, regarding people who live in three closely situated towns in western Sweden. The participants in this study were 79 men and women in the ages 18 – 64. This was a quantitative study and one of the instruments used were Schwartz Portrait Values. The results show that people who found the values benevolence and univeralism to be most important where those who were willing to pay more for these kind of mobile phones. The result is consistent with earlier studies

This diploma thesis describes marking of goods and services which help raise competitive producers on the market and also help to consumers in decision of purchasing products. In this time there are on the Czech market many labels describing the quality of goods. There is the special focus on the eco-labelling, which is label for positive effect on the environment. In this thesis there is described the history of voluntary approaches in chosen countries. My work analyses labels and their functions on the Czech market. There are also views of consumers on marking goods and services. At the conclusion I investigate producers' options on labels of goods.

The aim with this study is to evaluate if standardization of sustainable housing is a practical solution to address the objectives/reach the goals of sustainable housing. The point of departure is that eco-labelling of houses is a way to put sustainable housing into practice. The Nordic Swan criteria for small houses and the UK Code for Sustainable Homes are two recently developed schemes for sustainable construction and design. These two labelling systems are chosen as case studies in order to compare and examine the practice of sustainable housing. How can the goals of sustainable housing be met in the form of eco- labelling? What are the benefits and obstacles/limitations for the cases to be effective and sustainable?  What can explain differences between the two cases? And is the function and organisation of the cases best explained by sustainable development ideas or ecological modernization?  It is suggested in the view of path dependency theory that the UK’s and Sweden’s decisions based on their expectations concerning development of the EU flower has made their respective eco-labelling of houses to have different organisational structure. The Code as a sector-specific label has the advantage, compared to the Swan, of being able to change its structure depending on the needs of pressure in the network of government, business and consumers.  The Code has several criteria concerning sustainable living besides criteria concerning environmental construction of the house and can therefore be considered as part of the sustainable development discourse.

Problembeskrivning: Eftersom det finns så många olika miljömärkningar blir det svårt för konsumenter att skilja de mest pålitliga märkningarna åt. Utan tillräcklig kunskap kan konsumenter inte göra välgrundade miljöval när de handlar, vilket kan ha negativa konsekvenser för framtiden. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka graden av miljövetenhet bland konsumenter vid val av tvättmedel. Studien genomfördes bland Eskilstunas konsumenter. Dessutom var syftet med uppsatsen att undersöka den yngre generationens framtidsutsikter när det gäller deras kunskap om miljömärkningar och hur det påverkar deras val av tvättmedel. Metod: Studien har utgått från en kvalitativ undersökning i form av tidigare forskningar och fortsatte med en kvalitativ undersökning i form av intervjuenkätundersökning följd med jämförelse och deduktiv analys.  Slutsats. Resultaten av studien indikerar att de flesta av respondenter har bristfälliga kunskaper om miljömärkningar. Trots en medvetenhet om miljöfrågor, saknar de kunskap för att kunna fatta informerade beslut. Priset verkar inte ha en betydande roll i deras köpbeslut. Samtidigt visar det sig att kvinnorna inom äldre generation är mer engagerade i miljöfrågor. Slutligen är det min förståelse att Konsumentverket bör göra en konkret lösning, till exempel en tryckt guide med miljömärkningar för produkterna som är grundläggande för vår dagliga försörjning, som mat, tvättmedel och rengöringsmedel. Detta tycker jag kommer höja kunskapen om hållbar konsumtion bland alla generationer. / Problem description: Because there are so many different eco-labels, it becomes difficult for consumers to distinguish the most reliable labels. Without sufficient knowledge, consumers cannot make informed environmental choices when shopping, which can have negative consequences for the future. Purpose: The purpose of this essay was to investigate the environmental awareness among consumers when they are choosing detergents. The study was made among Eskilstuna's consumers. In addition, the purpose of the essay was to investigate the future prospects of the younger generation in terms of their knowledge of environmental labels and how it affects their choice of detergents. Method: The study was based on a qualitative investigation in the form of previous research and continued with a qualitative investigation in the form of an interview questionnaire followed by comparison and deductive analysis. Conclusion. The results of the study indicate that majority respondents have insufficient knowledge about environmental labels. Despite an awareness of environmental issues, they lack the knowledge to make informed decisions. Price does not seem to play a significant role in their purchase decisions. At the same time, it turns out that women in the older generation are more engaged in environmental issues. Finally, it is my understanding that the Swedish Consumer Agency should make a concrete solution, for example a printed guide with environmental labels for the products that are fundamental to our daily livelihood, such as food, detergents and cleaning agents. I think this will raise awareness of sustainable consumption among all generations.

<p>Our common future involves many important challenges. People and nature need to improve the relationship in order to reach an ecologically sustainable development. In a society where consumption of products steadily increases, the consumer awareness about social and environmental issues connected to the products becomes an importent factor. More and more companies choose to work more actively with these issues and more and more products get labelled by some of the eco labelling organisations. From the cradle to the gate means that a study has been done on a part of a products life cycle. In this master thesis a pair of cotton trousers has been followed from the cotton field and through the manufacturing chain in order to sees how much resource that are connected to the cultivation and to the production. Methological approach has been Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) according to ISO 14040. The empirical material is collected in South India, in an area known for its intense cotton manufacturing. </p><p>Studies like this can be a good way of showing the environmental impacts of a certain product. LCI can for example work as a criterion for eco labelling, but the methodology could also support the overall environmental work in companies.</p>

Tourism as one of the biggest industries in the world has been changing continuously and rapidly. The publishing of the Brundtland Report in 1987 has accelerated the discussion about combining economic, social and environmental factors – the so-called triple-bottom line – in order to secure long-term sustainable living conditions on a finite planet for both business and society. This has lead to occurring pressure from different stakeholder groups as for example policy makers or non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) urging for more sustainable business practise within the industry whereas one important pressure group appears to be missing out in this context: the customers of mass tourism products and therefore the demand side within the economic equation. Tourists have been observed to be overall reluctant to pay price premiums for more sustainable travel alternatives and seem to “take vacation” from their everyday green behaviour. Hence at the current point of time eco-tourism appears to be a market niche in which mainly small-scale providers and NGO’s like Nature’s Best in Sweden operate. However integrating mass tourism into the consideration can be seen as a promising opportunity and from an environmental standpoint an urgent necessity as it can be argued that within an industry of this scale, even small improvements towards more sustainable behaviour bear the potential for a substantial impact. The purpose of this study therefore lies in researching the two marketing tools of brands and eco-labels and the influence they can have individually and in combination on the tourist’s decision making delimitated to the context of charter tourism in Sweden. Through the research of this study it was found that currently no directly applicable theory about the combination of brands and eco-labels seems to exist for marketing neither in general, nor for the tourism industry in particular. This strongly indicates the novelty of the topic of combining brands and eco-labels and points out research opportunities. In order to achieve this purpose, a mixed-method research design was used combining qualitative expert interviews from direct business representatives and a quantitative data collection utilizing the scholarly acknowledged marketing research method of conjoint analysis in one of its most up-to-date forms of an adaptive choice-based conjoint analysis. Theory from different fields of study as consumer behaviour and decision making, branding and eco-labelling as well as sustainability marketing was combined and translated into the new and emerging service category of sustainable tourism. From this a conceptual framework was developed combining the data collection results from the mixed-method approach. This leads to the identification of ways for improving current charter tourism companies’ marketing based on the customers’ current view on utilities within certain aspects of the tourism package. Overall this study therefore contributes to the discussion on how demand for sustainable products evolves and can likely be increased. This is seen as a valuable theoretical, practical and societal contribution as it helps improving tourism companies’ understanding of their customer base and supports offering products/services with an improved perceived individual and societal value for charter tourism companies that aim for a higher degree of sustainability in their objectives.