Problem: Currently, there are two definitions of nudging, one that is connected to sustainable development and another one that is not. This can create confusion for researchers and customers and could potentially lead to greenwashing when the incentive of the nudge does not match with the best outcome of the person being nudged. Purpose: The purpose is to explore how organisations interpret nudging and how their underlying incentives affect the use of nudging in practice. Aim: This research aims to explore the incentives behind organisations use of nudging for sustainable marketing in practice. The organisations incentives will be connected to any of the dualistic definitions of nudging in order to see which of the definitions that are aligned to practice. Method: This research is a qualitative study and has been conducted under an interpretivist paradigm. It has made use of semi-structured interviews to collect primary data, as well as newspaper articles and web sites to collect secondary data. To analyse the data, a general analytical procedure was used. The data was presented in a within-case analysis together with a cross-case analysis where the empirical data was compared with the theoretical framework to discuss and answer the research questions. Result and Conclusions: The comparisons showed that three out of five organisations have the main incentive of earning money from their nudge despite their sustainability agenda. Another finding was that only one organisation exclusively uses the definition of nudging that is connected to libertarian paternalism. These findings contribute to the literature and informs customers that nudges can be used for several purposes.

Purpose: There is an increasing interest in sustainability, literature testifies that more and more customers are requesting sustainable products. This increasing request impacts companies that are therefore forced not only to provide sustainable alternatives but also turn their business into a more sustainable one. Due to the relatively newness of this topic there is a need to investigate how sustainable marketing strategies impact companies in the business-to-business sector. This paper is a single case study that presents how an international business-to business company is implementing sustainable marketing strategies, in their process to build a circular economy company. This research aims to describe how sustainable marketing strategies affect the implementation process of a B2B company who is moving towards a circular economy business model. Design/methodology/approach: The study has been conducted using a single case study, employing an abductive approach. Semi-structured interviews, observations, documentation and field notes were collected in a large B2B company in Sweden. Findings: The following challenges have been found to affect the implementation process of sustainable marketing strategies: terminology, communication channels, price strategy, culture, greenwashing, lack of performance measurement, lack of managerial involvement, lack of rewarding system, long decision process, poor use of cross-functional teams, lack of a clear plan, marketing strategies, proactive vs reactive. Originality/value: Since sustainability has been studied mainly in the business-to-consumer sector, this paper contributes to the existing literature because it provides an overview on how an international business-to-business company implements sustainable marketing strategies. Furthermore, the study also brings up the challenges that obstacles the implementation, giving useful insights to companies that would like to approach sustainability more or are in the process of implementing sustainability. Additionally, this paper highlights the importance of involving management and employees around the world and creating a single coherent understanding of sustainability in order to reflect such cohesiveness also in the marketing strategy. Paper type: Single case study.

Reporting on the growing number of green initiatives across various industries in media is at odds with only sporadic academic research on green acquisition strategy in the marketing discipline. This presents a unique opportunity for me to identify and empirically examine different factors that can impact a firm’s value when adopting the green acquisition strategy and explore drivers of adopting green strategies, namely, green acquisition and green innovation. In this thesis, I explore these questions through two studies. In the first study, I analyze 182 green acquisition announcements using the event study method to see how the stock market reacts. The study reveals that the stock market responds positively to announcements of green acquisitions. Additionally, acquirers with stronger marketing capability but limited innovation capability experience better stock performance. However, the stock market return−green acquisition relationship, influenced by the two capabilities mentioned above, is moderated by industry environmental sensitivity. The results enhance our understanding of how marketing and innovation capabilities impact investor behavior in the context of green acquisitions. These findings broaden our existing knowledge of the marketing−finance interface, green marketing, and corporate sustainability. The second study examines external and internal drivers of corporate green strategies (i.e., green innovation and green acquisition). Using a sample of 1565 firm-year observations from the food and beverage industries, I show that firms under greater media attention are more likely to adopt both green acquisition and green innovation strategies. However, with the presence of the top management team’s commitment toward sustainability, media attention’s positive effects on firms’ likelihood of adopting green acquisition will be weakened. Moreover, firms with top management teams committed to sustainability are more likely to engage in green innovations under higher environmental regulation stringency. This study fills the gap in the green marketing literature by providing insights into why and how firms react to social and environmental challenges proactively. Notably, my findings show when and why firms adopt green acquisition or green innovation strategies. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Increasingly, corporations are responding to green trends by engaging in various green strategies such as green acquisition and green innovation. With regard to green acquisition strategy, little is known about its financial impact and determinants. Secondly, drivers of green innovation and green acquisition strategies have not been sufficiently examined from secondary/archival data sources. I explore these issues in two studies. The first study examines how the stock market responds to green acquisitions. It finds that when companies announce green acquisitions, the stock market reacts positively. Additionally, companies that have strong marketing capability but limited innovation capability tend to have better stock market performance. However, the effect of those capabilities on the relationship between stock market return and green acquisition is affected by the environmental sensitivity of the industry. The second study examines the major drivers of green strategies (i.e., green acquisition and green innovation). It shows how environmental regulation stringency and media attention affect those two green strategies differently with the presence of the top management team’s sustainability commitment.

Aim: The aim of the study is to investigate how certified labels are being communicated through sustainable marketing within the grocery store sector. Research Question: How can the grocery store sector use sustainable marketingcommunication in order to contribute to a wider knowledge regarding sustainabilityand certified products? Method: The study is of qualitative character, with a combination of an inductive and deductive approach. The empirical data has been collected through five semi-structured interviews and one telephone interview. Result and conclusion: Sustainable marketing communication can contribute with an increased knowledge regarding sustainability when communicating and defining the term in an easy and clear way which makes it possible for anyone, no matter age or education, to understand what sustainability means. Regarding certified labels, sustainable marketing communication can contribute with an increased knowledge by creating an interest for the label in question. This can be achieved by defining the certified labels brand image by clear and accurate associations. Recommendations: The grocery stores must communicate easy messages in order for the consumers to understand what sustainability is as well as using social media as a strategic marketing tool. The certified labels need to establish accurate associations while working with transparency.

The aim of this thesis is to identify and examine the factors influencing environmentally-significant consumption (ESC) by higher-income households (HIH) to provide theoretical and social marketing insights. Income is highly related to levels of energy consumption and associated environmental damage, but despite research documenting the links between income and energy use, there is a lack of enquiry into what shapes the ESC patterns of HIH and therefore how behavioural interventions might be best fashioned to reduce energy use. A postmodern approach to consumption that recognises the interplay between the psychological, the social and the cultural (a psycho-socio-cultural approach), indicates that ESC is not an automatic consequence of wealth but rather mediated through the way consumption practices are symbolically connected with the satisfaction of underlying needs, including the need for identity and other psychological orientations. These connections are not universal or static but socially and culturally contextual and influenced by many factors, particularly marketing. Social marketing, as marketing for social good, therefore has a critical role to play in altering these symbolic connections and therefore consumption behaviour. To design and market alternative lower energy consumption through social marketing interventions, an understanding of how environmentally-significant consumption is connected with modes of need satisfaction and psychological orientations is necessary. Additionally, an understanding of constraints to even higher levels of consumption is useful. This study provides initial research momentum, using a HIH sample from South Devon. Primary data from a quantitative questionnaire was supported in design by qualitative interviews. These provide descriptive and correlational results about what shapes the consumption of; leisure flights, large-engine cars and new durable products, as well as the role of environmentally-significant psychological orientations, specifically: values; materialism; environmental concern and identity. The research also provides a comparative analysis between a group of HIH who have participated in Global Action Plan’s EcoTeam programme, and the general sample of HIH.

In a world that is changing rapidly due to the social and environmental consequences of the unsustainable economic growth, societal and economic transformations from unsustainable visions and practices are inevitable. While there is a need to develop alternative approaches to production and consumption, changing these systems is not feasible without changing the mainstream marketing ideas and its practices where the main incentive is “how to sell more”. The initial phase of the research process supports conceptual clarity and the evolution of marketing thought towards sustainability marketing. It identifies the presence of sustainability marketing in the existing marketing curriculum through qualitative content analysis using grounded theory and quasi-statistical approaches, that facilitates the search for sustainability in marketing curriculum based on UNESCO’s indicative learning objectives for promoting Education for Sustainable Development. The thesis draws on relevant literature in the marketing field, utilizing the content analysis of various syllabi and mandatory literature of Uppsala University’s marketing courses, as well as employing semi-structured interviews with five lecturers of Uppsala University’s Marketing faculty and eight marketing students from across Sweden. The institutional setup of the case of Uppsala University is found to be problematic when considering its commitments towards sustainable development and its Action Plan for Sustainable Development 2019–2021. The study established the strong influence of dominant social paradigm in the curriculum development of marketing courses, which was evident through the content analysis and portrayals of the respondents’ perspectives of the marketing faculty. Further, it was found that the societal understanding of marketing dictates what can be taught in marketing education, which consequently circumscribes what can be researched in marketing. In addition, the concept of sustainability marketing was found to be nonexistent in mandatory literature of the courses, and was poorly covered throughout the secondary literature. Similarly, most of the mandatory literature of the marketing courses of Uppsala University do not follow UNESCO’s (2017) indicative learning objectives for promoting ESD, and hence do not promote learning for sustainable development. The results of this thesis suggest that we still have a long way to go to bring Education for Sustainable Development into marketing education, as current mainstream marketing practices and its rationale with dominant social paradigm prevalence maintains, supports and exacerbates the global unsustainable consumption and production patterns.

The purpose of this study was to examine marketers view of alcohol advertising. Focus have been on its potential effect on the society, moral aspects and its relation to sustainability, identity, gender and celebrities. The method used was semi-structured interviews with eight marketers at three advertise agencies/production companies in Cape Town who have working experience of alcohol advertising and this have been analysed in relation to impact and identity theories as well as ethics. The result showed that majority of the marketers did not believe alcohol advertising increase alcohol consumption nor lead to alcohol abuse but rather create brand awareness and competition between brands. Their perception was also that alcohol brands are connected to identity in South Africa and that using celebrities in alcohol advertising could be highly effecting when using the right celebrity. One conclusion is that the participants did not suffer from moral myopia since they were fully aware of what harm alcohol could have on the society. Regarding moral discussion at work was it some of the marketers that did not talk about ethical issues which could be a sign of moral muteness but it is really hard to draw any conclusion about it after a short interview. / <p>Bild</p>

Background: Consumers are aware of and care for the environment, which has led to a need for transparent and sustainable fashion products. This results in that companies need to create transparent and sustainable communication strategies to gain the consumers’ trust. In order to strengthen trust among consumers, brands needs to tell stories that are credible and create emotional bonds. A few fashion companies has taken this transparency further through implementing cost transparency in their business model. This means that they as opposite to traditional retailers reveals its costs and margins in order to justify the product price and communicate this through storytelling towards the end consumer. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to present how fashion companies that today work with cost transparency disclose this information, what parts of the cost structure they do not disclose and how it is communicated through storytelling. This paper will focus on companies that communicate cost transparency to the end consumer online and how they do this through their company websites and their online shops. The research will add to the existing literature which has until now concentrated on transparency from an ethical supply chain perspective and price transparency. Methodology: This research is a qualitative study where a comparative research design is chosen. A multiple-case study is chosen where primary data regarding cost transparency and storytelling is collected from three company websites. The data is later analysed back and forth with concepts presented in the theoretical framework in order to analyse how fashion companies work with cost transparency and storytelling. Findings: The research shows that all three cases choose to display transparent cost information related to direct material costs and manufacturing costs as well as a price comparison with traditional retail brands. Meanwhile the less recognisable costs such as the indirect costs related to running the business were not included in the cost breakdown information. The cost transparency narrative is used in storytelling to educate the consumer where all three cases tell a story where they function as the hero, meanwhile the traditional retailers represents the villain. Managerial implications: From a company perspective, everything related to adding a value to the product is seen as part of the cost structure. Hence, in order to keep the consumers’ trust and stay relevant, it is seen that companies are advised to tell stories that transparently gives the consumers the full picture of the cost structure.

Abstract Background   The furniture industry is depending on natural resources, which are threatened by both consumption and climate change. Therefore, companies need to understand their responsibility for sustainable development and preserving the resources to operate in the future. Moreover, the consumption behaviour within the furniture industry has changed drastically over the last decade. For this reason, companies could utilize ‘Green Marketing’ as a marketing tool to promote and provide consumers with the environmental benefits of products and services. However, companies need to be careful since they are at risk of being accused of greenwashing and lose consumer trust.   Purpose                      To examine how furniture companies in Sweden are using green marketing to make an impact on consumer behaviour. The research seeks to create a deeper understanding of how furniture companies are attempting to influence consumers towards a sustainable behaviour.   Method A qualitative approach was implemented by conducting five semi-structured interviews with marketing managers at furniture companies in Sweden.   Conclusion The authors have found that furniture companies aim to influence consumers towards making more sustainable choices. Furthermore, the respondents aimed to do this by applying sustainable marketing practices with an environmental focus. However, considering the theory of green marketing provided in this study, it is possible to confirm that the companies’ sustainable marketing practices cannot be defined as green marketing.

In today’s society the question about consumption are a real problem. With focus on clothing brands it can be seen as a possibility to expand due to the increased demand from customers. With new ways of marketing and easier ways of shopping creates opportunities for customers to shop without any problems. The trend of “fast fashion” have influenced clothing brands to keep a constant flow of new clothes. Which tends to affect brands to choose a way to maximize their profit, and therefore look for cheaper ways of producing. But because of the higher set demand on sustainability, clothing brands has put more focus on sustainability throughout the company. This leads to the question about the responsibility that clothing brands has for the grown consumption patterns together with making profit. How does clothing brands handle the high set demand from customers while influencing a more sustainable consumption. This study is focusing on four Swedish clothing companies that are currently international active. The empirical material consists of the sustainability communication on their website. A critical discourse analysis is used to determine patterns in the different marketing discourses to answer the purpose of this of this study and provide a recommendation for companies which are in line with the work towards sustainable consumption. In conclusion in this study we highlight the importance of well thought through market communication. With focus on sustainability it helps the company to make decisions and communicate more clearly and creates opportunities to influence consumers to make choices towards sustainable consumption. With a company stance towards educating customers also affect more than consumers. It affects the industry views to change and creates opportunities to change towards more sustainable choices. The website can be seen as the main stage for the clothing brands to influence consumers towards more sustainable consumption. Mainly with showing the great extent the companies goes to with their work with sustainability in all working part of the company. But also by showing the value it creates. With a focus on the value of the products, the company are able guide consumers to make sustainable choices and be more aware of their consumption patterns, in all aspects of their life.