Green Environmental Marketing: An Exploratory Investigation of Business Organizations in Australia

According to Kotler, Chandler, Brown and Adam (1994, p. 752), many analysts view the 1990s as the ‘Earth Decade’ in which protection of the natural environment will be the major issue facing people around the world. Environmental issues according to Kotler, et al. (1994) have become so important in our society that there is no turning back to the time when few managers worried about the effects of product and marketing decisions on environmental quality. Kotler, et al. (1994, p.752) claimed that companies have responded with ‘green marketing’ -developing ecologically safer products, recyclable and biodegradable packaging, better pollution controls and more energy efficient. Peattie & Charter (1994, p.692), also claimed that environmental concern has led to the emergence of green marketing - an attempt to balance the pursuit of sales and profit with a concern for the environment and society. For businesses to gain a competitive advantage, new strategies are required so as to win the green consumers, says Ottman (1992). According to Miller (1990) companies that do not address environmental issues could face declining market share.

In spite of this growing importance of environmental marketing, vety little research has been done in Australia to examine business attitudes towards environmental marketing. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study that seeks to (1) identify the attitudes of businesses in Western Australia towards green marketing and (2) determine whether businesses in Western Australia incorporate the concerns of the physical environment into their marketing practices.