The environmental or green issue and “global warming” widely interests the marketing and management academicians and practitioners to study and to utilize in the organization. The environmental or green marketing relates to the company’s competitiveness and is used as a competitive edge in the marketplace. The present article explores this concept by presenting

application in India along with some dangers involved in the application of the same.

Introduction:

The holistic marketing concept conveys a message that businesses must develop products and marketing strategies. Not only address the needs of the consumers but also safeguard the long-term interests of those consumers as well as those of society at large (Kotler and Keller 2005). Thus, businesses must balance individual customer needs, organization goals, and the welfare of society. Business organizations are often accused of making products and packaging as well as using manufacturing processes that damage the environment. The green movement holds that it is a part of the responsibility of business organizations to ensure that they conduct their activities such that they do minimum harm to the environment. Green marketing, also termed ecological marketing (Fisk 1974), and environmental marketing (Coddington 1993), is thus an integral constituent of the holistic marketing concept.

What is Green Marketing?

The term green marketing came into prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. According to the American Marketing Association,

“Green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe.”

Another definition of Green Marketing is-
“Green or environmental marketing consists of all activities designed to generate and facilitate any exchanges intended to satisfy human needs or wants, such that the satisfaction of those needs and wants occurs, with minimal detrimental impact on the natural environment.” (Polonsky 1994).

Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. Yet defining green marketing is not a simple task. Other similar terms used are Environmental Marketing and Ecological Marketing.

Why is Green Marketing Important?

The question of why green marketing has increased in importance is quite simple and relies on the basic definition of Economics:

“Economics is the study of how people use their limited resources to try to satisfy unlimited wants.” [McTaggart, Findlay and Parkin 1992, 24].

Thus mankind has limited resources on the earth, with which she/he must attempt to provide for the worlds' unlimited wants. As firms face limited natural resources, they must develop new or alternative ways of satisfying these unlimited wants. Ultimately green marketing looks at how marketing activities utilize these limited resources, while satisfying consumers wants, both of individuals and industry, as well as achieving the selling organization's objectives.

Paths To Greenness:
Prakash (2001) has classified the different ways in which businesses can move towards greenness. According to him,
1. Green initiatives include changes in the value addition processes,
2. Changes in the management systems and
3. Changes in the products or modification of inputs.
Changes in the value addition processes would include introduction of new technology for production, or modification of existing methods of production to reduce their environmental impact. Firms can also establish and ensure implementation of management systems designed to promote environmental, health and safety norms. Thus, Atlas Copco in India claims to use safer compressor condensate disposal practices including a step that removes oil from the water that is discharged into rivers. In India, the government has introduced the Ecomark Scheme since 1981.

The stated objectives of the scheme are:
• To provide incentives to manufacturers and importers to reduce adverse environmental impact of products.
• To reward genuine initiatives by companies to reduce adverse environmental impact of products.
• To assist consumers to become environmentally responsible in their daily lives by providing them information to take account of environmental factors in their daily lives.
• To encourage citizens to purchase products which have less environmental impact.
• Ultimately, to improve the quality of the environment and to encourage the sustainable management of resources.

The criteria followed for the Ecomark Scheme in India is founded on the ‘cradle to-grave approach’, that is, from the raw-material extraction to manufacturing and to disposal. To date, the final criteria for 16 product categories including soaps and detergents, paper, food items and packaging materials, has been declared.

Why Firms Are Using Green Marketing?

Firms have increased use of Green Marketing Because of :
1. Organizations perceive environmental marketing to be an opportunity that can be used to achieve its objectives [Keller 1987, Shearer 1990];

2. Organizations believe they have a moral obligation to be more socially responsible [Davis 1992, Freeman and Liedtka 1991, Keller 1987, McIntosh 1990, Shearer 1990];

3. Governmental bodies are forcing firms to become more responsible [NAAG 1990];
• In India, too a series of legislation has been enacted in order to reduce pollution of water, air and other environmental resources. Thus, the refrigerator industry has shifted from chloroflurocarbon (CFC) gases to more environmentally friendly gases.

4. Competitors' environmental activities pressure firms to change their environmental marketing activities [NAAG 1990]; and

5. Cost factors associated with waste disposal, or reductions in material usage forces firms to modify their behavior [Azzone and Manzini 1994].

Use of Green Marketing in India
• New Delhi was being polluted at a very fast pace until Supreme Court of India forced a change to alternative fuels. In 2002, a directive was issued to completely adopt CNG in all public transport systems to curb pollution.
• ITC’s Bhadrachalam paper unit has invested in a Rs. 500 crore technologies that make the unit chlorine free. The benefit of being an elemental chlorine free (EFC) unit is that it is able to produce foodgrade
paper that can claim compliance with EU and US norms.
• Maruti Limited saved Rs. 26 Crores in the first year after obtaining an ISO 14001 certification.(How?)

Green Marketing in Advertisement:
Green Marketing concept is going more popular in every activity that a business is performing. One of its activities is advertising. Especially focus is on Hoardings;
• In India now company like Bank of Baroda are giving advertising on Hoardings. These hoardings are specially designed on the fences which protect small plants from external threats. In this way it helps in growing greenery in rural and urban areas.
• Another example is, In big cities companies like HDFC bank are giving their advertisement on hoardings which contains the message of “No Parking” which helps in reducing traffic and air pollution.

Some Problems with Going Green:
No matter why a firm uses green marketing there are a number of potential problems that they must overcome.
1. One major problem is that very often products that are more environmentally safe cost more.
2. Consumers may not like the performance or quality of green products.
• For example, ‘green’ tissue paper may not be as soft as its traditional counterpart.
3. Thirdly, if firms make the packaging of their brands smaller, they may be at a disadvantage because of the reduced visibility of their brands on retail shelves.
4. Another problem associated with green initiatives is with regard to the current level of scientific knowledge about the final impact of various actions. Thus, what may be seen as more environmentally friendly today may actually turn out to be more harmful in the long term.
5. One of the main problems is that firms using green marketing must ensure that their activities are not misleading to consumers or industry, and do not breach any of the regulations or laws dealing with environmental marketing.
• For example marketers in the US must ensure their green marketing claims must meet predetermined set of criteria.
6. Reacting to competitive pressures can cause all "followers" to make the same mistake as the "leader."
• A costly example of this was the Mobil Corporation who followed the competition and introduced "biodegradable" plastic garbage bags. While technically these bags were biodegradable, the conditions
under which they were disposed did not allow biodegradation to occur. Mobil was sued by several US states for using misleading advertising claims [Lawrence 1991].

Conclusion:
Green marketing covers more than a firm's marketing claims. While firms must bear much of the responsibility for environmental degradation, ultimately it is consumers who demand goods, and thus create environmental problems. For the organizations of the future, considerations about the long-term environmental impact of their actions will have to become an integral part of their business philosophy. In short if we want to make our future safe and secure we marketers need to consider environmental impact in all activity that we perform.

Bibliography:
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Coddington, Walter. 1993. Environmental Marketing: Positive Strategies for Reaching the Green Consumer. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.
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Dobhal , Shailesh, (2005) Business Today, May 8th,,p.22.v
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Websites:
http://www.awea.org/policy/greenprins.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_marketing
http://mba.iiita.ac.in/Oct-Dec06/b1.html