Text in English / Supply chains incorporate “green” principles in their processes to promote environmental sustainability. Through an online survey, this study investigated green supply chain management (GSCM) implementation and employee awareness of GSCM initiatives in five starch and glucose processing companies in Gauteng. Eighty employees working in management and supervisory positions participated in the study by completing an online questionnaire. The research findings indicated that employees are aware of environmental goals and targets, environmental policies, legislation and standards, and green designing initiatives implemented. Employees perceive that collaboration with suppliers and contractors on environmental issues is in place, however, government partnerships are perceived as being insufficient. Benefits of green marketing campaigns and GSCM initiatives have not been identified. The study noted resistance to change, lack of adoption of technology advancement, insufficient communication and training, and cost implications as barriers hindering GSCM success. It is, therefore, recommended that appropriate support and communication regarding GSCM initiatives are strengthened. / College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Management)

Growing environmental problems have led to increasing pressure on companies to improve their environmental performance. This means that also supply chains must become greener, which has contributed to new challenges when it comes to green collaboration and trust. Research has suggested marketing as a tool to tackle these challenges, but how to use marketing to address these concerns has yet to be explored further. The focus of this thesis is thereby to explore and clarify the possibilities to use green industrial marketing as a tool to meet these new supply chain challenges. In line with that, the overarching aim of the thesis is to explore and advance the understanding of green industrial marketing, with the underlying aim of merging the fields of green marketing and green supply chains. There is also the goal of contributing to companies’ knowledge about the field and thus possibly inspire improvements in green industrial marketing and green supply chain practices. These aims are met by answering two research questions. The first research question regards the practice of green industrial marketing, and how this practice has developed over time. The second research question revolves around what strategies, placing an emphasis on trust, can be identified in companies working in green industrial marketing and how these strategies can improve green supply chain collaboration. The literature review focuses mainly on green industrial marketing, with green marketing, the emergence of green business, industrial marketing, green supply chain management, green marketing strategies, and trust as associated theoretical fields related to green industrial marketing. The study is interpretive and qualitative with a focus on one industry, the Swedish textile service industry, during a 26-year time period. Three sub-studies have been combined to explore the phenomenon of green industrial marketing: a qualitative content analysis, a semi-structured interview study, and a minor case study. The results of this study can improve the understanding of green industrial marketing, both as a practice and theoretical area by describing the strategies, including strategies intended to build trust, that are practiced in markets. A typology of eight identified green industrial trust strategies have been developed. The study also contributes to discussion on the differences between industrial marketing and consumer marketing by clarifying the boundaries of green industrial marketing in relation to green consumer marketing. Among other things, the results of this study show that there is a greater relational focus in green industrial marketing compared to what exists in green consumer marketing. This study also contributes to a merger between the fields of green industrial marketing and green supply chain management by showing how green industrial marketing can contribute to improved collaboration within green supply chains in four ways. The first way is to convey different types of environmental information and green market positions, the second is to improve the integration and coordination of green supply chains, the third is to facilitate supplier evaluations, and the fourth is to build trust. / Växande miljöproblem har lett till ökad press på företag att förbättra sitt miljöarbete. Det innebär att även leverantörskedjor måste bli mer miljövänligt. Forskning har föreslagit marknadsföring som ett verktyg att tackla dessa utmaningar med, men har ännu inte fördjupat sig i hur man använder marknadsföringen för att ta itu med problemen. Fokus för denna avhandling är därför att utforska och klargöra möjligheterna att använda så kallad grön industriell marknadsföring som ett verktyg för att möta dessa nya utmaningar i leverantörskedjan. Det övergripande syftet med avhandlingen att utforska och främja förståelsen av grön industriell marknadsföring. Ett underliggande syfte att sammanföra forskning om grön marknadsföring och gröna leveranskedjor. Det finns också ett mål att bidra till företags kunskap om området och på så sätt inspirera till förbättringar av deras verksamheter. Dessa syften uppnås genom att svara på två forskningsfrågor. Den första forskningsfrågan handlar om praktiken av grön industriell marknadsföring och hur den har utvecklats över tid. Den andra forskningsfrågan kretsar kring vilka strategier, med tonvikt på tillit, som kan identifieras i företag som arbetar med grön industriell marknadsföring och hur dessa strategier kan förbättra grönt samarbete i leverantörskedjan. Resultaten från den här studien kan förbättra förståelsen av grön industriell marknadsföring, både som praktik och teoretiskt område, genom att beskriva de strategier, inklusive strategier avsedda att bygga tillit, som praktiseras på marknader. En typologi med åtta identifierade gröna industriella tillitsstrategier har utvecklats baserad på tidigare litteratur och företagens praktik. Studien bidrar också till diskussion om skillnaderna mellan industriell marknadsföring och konsumentmarknadsföring. Resultaten visar bland annat att det finns ett större relationellt fokus inom grön industriell marknadsföring jämfört med vad som finns inom grön konsumentmarknadsföring.