Sustainable Marketing
Challenges faced when implementing sustainable marketing strategies
Bachelor Thesis
Author: Belgrund Mikaela, Collazo Patricia, Radu Anita.
Supervisor: Peter Caesar Examiner: Tomas Nillson
Abstract
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.
Key words
Sustainability, large company, marketing, sustainable marketing, implementation.
Acknowledgments
Firstly, the authors would like to express appreciation to the participants of this research, for sharing cooperation and their knowledge as a contribution to this thesis, which improved the outcome. Secondly, a special thank you to Axis Communication AB for making this thesis possible by sharing your time, cooperation and valuable knowledge. Third, we would also like to thank our tutor Peter Caesar for a great support during the entire period of the research. Lastly, we would like to thank our examiner Ph.D Tomas Nilsson for contributing and additionally improving the thesis.
Table of contents
Abstract 1
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Problem Discussion 2
1.2 Purpose and Research Question 5
2 Theoretical Framework 5
2.1 Circular Economy 5
2.2 Marketing Strategy 6
2.3 Sustainability 7
2.4 Sustainable Marketing 9
2.4.1 Sustainable Marketing Implementation 12
2.4.2 Greenwashing 14
2.5 Conceptual Framework 15
3 Methodology 16
3.1 Research Approach 16
3.2 Selection of Respondents 17
3.3 Data collection 19
3.4 Data Analysis 22
3.5 Quality Measures 23
3.6 Ethical Principles 24
3.7 Work Process 25
4 Empirical findings 27
4.1 Axis Communication AB 27
4.2 Sustainability 28
4.3 Objectives 29
4.4 Actions 30
4.5 Challenges 31
4.5.1 Marketing 31
4.5.2 Cultural Aspects 31
4.5.3 Greenwashing 32
4.5.4 Managerial & financial aspects 32
4.5.5 Communication aspects 33
4.6 Measurements 34
5 Analysis 35
5.1 Communication 35
5.1.1 The perception of the terminologies 36
5.1.2 Pricing 37
5.1.3 Communication channels 39
5.1.4 Culture in an International Company 40
5.1.5 Greenwashing 41
5.2 Strategic Planning 43
5.3 Customer-company Alignment 45
6 Conclusion 46
6.1 Discussion 46
6.1.1 Communication 49
6.1.2 Strategic Planning 51
6.1.3 Customer-company Alignment 53
6.2 Managerial Implications 54
6.3 Social and Sustainability Implications 56
6.4 Limitations 57
6.5 Suggestions for Further Research 57
7 Reference List 59
7.1 Published-Material 59
7.2 Non-published Material 66
Appendices 67
Table 1. Schedule 67
Figure.1 Operationalization of Abductive Research Approach 69
Table 2. UN Global compact principles 69
Table 3. Interview Questions 70
Appendices
Table 1. Schedule 67
Figure.1 Operationalization of Abductive Research Approach 69
Table 2. UN Global compact principles 69
Table 3. Interview Questions 70
1 Introduction
Traditionally, businesses followed the ‘take-make-dispose’ process, also known as linear economy, but the augmenting damages on the environment have raised people’s awareness and concern over the damage that such a business approach was causing (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2013). Global warming, pollution, and increasing environmental concern are some factors that are impacting the needs and wants of customers. Moreover, there has been an increase in numbers of customers who chose to buy from firms that care for sustainability (Kumar & Christodoulopoulou, 2014; Fraj, Martínez
& Matute, 2013; Chan, He and Wang, 2012; Rudawska 2019; Sun, Garrett &
Kim, 2016; Finney, 2014). These factors have impacted companies, which consequently are forced to adapt themselves to the constantly changing market’s needs (Rudawska, 2019; Teh & Corbitt, 2015; Blenkhorn &
MacKenzie, 2017). Hence, the desire to create a business approach that corresponds better with developing sustainable products and services. As a result of this, the circular economy approach was coined (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2013).
In the beginning of the 21st century, people progressively became even more interested in green activities (Blenkhorn & MacKenzie, 2017; Rudawska 2019; Teh & Corbitt, 2015; Harik et al, 2015; Adams et al, 2016; Blenkhorn
& MacKenzie, 2017). From a business perspective, sustainability became one of the most popular topics under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting (Blenkhorn & MacKenzie, 2017). Moreover, due to the internet and social media, it has become easier for customers and end-users to search for information. Hence, companies have begun to receive pressure to be transparent and demonstrate proof of their sustainability engagement (Blenkhorn & MacKenzie, 2017). Overall, it can be affirmed that companies have become more and more interested in sustainability due to a mix of both
internal and external pressures such as law enforcement, customers and end- users pressure, competition, management decisions, and ethical concerns (Bansal & Roth, 2000).
Due to the factors mentioned above, businesses have created new methods for internally exchanging knowledge about the environment, monitoring the supply chain, adopting a sustainable design and educating customers about goods and the effects of their choices (Borin & Metcalf, 2010). It is
important for companies to address customer’s request rapidly, and
efficiently because if not dealt appropriately a company might jeopardize its reputation (Wijethilake, Munir & Appuhami, 2017). It has been
demonstrated that companies can also benefit from integrating sustainable strategies in their daily operations, for instance, Jagdish & Mona (2015), Wijethilake, Munir & Appuhami (2017), Teh & Corbitt (2015), Schneider, Wallenburg & Fabel (2014), Kumar & Christodoulopoulou (2014), and Blenkhorn & MacKenzie (2017) argue that developing business models, strategies and products that are sustainable, will add value to their business proposition and as a result, improve the company’s financial position and its brand.
1.1 Problem Discussion
The linear economy has been the prominent approach in B2B. Since then the concern for the environment started to increase; people began to be
concerned about the carbon dioxide emissions, reduction of natural resources, global warming, and other environmental concerns. Customers' interest in the environment progressively pushed the interest of businesses to develop a model that respects the environment (Garza-Reyes et al., 2019).
Hence, the circular economy was developed as an alternative to the traditional linear economy (Garza-Reyes et al., 2019; Ranta, Keränen &
Aarikka-Stenroos, 2019; Pinheiro et al., 2019). There are rising numbers of customers who choose to buy from firms that care for sustainability. It has
been argued that companies that apply sustainability in their business can gain competitive advantage (Kumar & Christodoulopoulou, 2014; Fraj, Martínez & Matute, 2013; Chan, He & Wang, 2012; Rudawska 2019; Borin
& Metcalf, 2010; Sun, Garrett & Kim, 2016; Finney, 2014). The importance of moving towards circular economy business is related to creating new methods for internally exchanging knowledge about the environment, monitoring the supply chain, adopting sustainable design and educating customers about goods and the effects of their choices (Borin & Metcalf, 2010). Regardless of the novice of this topic, it appears that it is essential for companies to respond to the customers needs and requests. It is integral for companies to address customer’s requests rapidly, and efficiently because if not it might jeopardize a company’s reputation (Wijethilake, Munir &
Appuhami, 2017).
Circular economy business relies on the integration of sustainability to all the aspects of the organization. Changing the business model, specifically
changing towards a sustainable approach requires a drastic change in the company, in its daily operations, and also towards the stakeholders (Jaeger &
Upadhyay, 2020). Sustainable marketing can act as a bridge to develop a circular economy model (Ünal, Urbinati & Chiaroni, 2019; Pinheiro et al., 2019). However, it is questionable how this could be achieved (Rettie, Burchell, & Riley, 2012; Petala et al, 2010).
Across the existing literature on sustainability there are a mix of theories and models on how to approach sustainability and apply it to the business. What commonly emerges is that sustainable strategies need to be compatible with the business, they should be incorporated in all aspects of the business activities and processes (Teh & Corbitt, 2015; Schneider,Wallenburg &
Fabel, 2014; Blenkhorn & MacKenzie, 2017). Moreover, companies should design their strategies and projects based on their capability to deliver (Teh
& Corbitt, 2015).
Within the sustainable marketing field there is a lack of research on how companies can implement sustainable marketing strategies (Fraj, Martínez &
Matute, 2013; Chan, He & Wang, 2012; McDonagh & Prothero, 2014;
Sharma et al, 2010; Simkin, 2002). Furthermore, implementing marketing strategies is an essential key for a company. However, the implementation process is often complex (Schneider, Marcus, Wallenburg & Fabel, 2014;
Teh & Corbitt, 2015; Rudawska, 2019; Kumar & Christodoulopoulou, 2014;
Jones et al, 2008; Sharma et al, 2010), and may lead to several
disappointments (Fastoso & Whitelock, 2012). The implementation of strategies is more time consuming in large enterprises, and the process can take several years more than in smaller companies (Laukkanen, Sarpola &
Hallikainen, 2007), even though large enterprises have a larger amount of resources compared to smaller companies (Shepherd et al., 2011).
The increasing interest in circular economy is encouraging researchers to develop business models that can enact such concepts, however the studies are in a premature stage (Petala et al, 2010). Despite the increasing interest for circular economy and sustainable marketing, there is a lack of research on how companies can implement sustainable marketing (Fraj, Martínez &
Matute, 2013; Chan, He & Wang, 2012; McDonagh & Prothero, 2014; Petala et al, 2010; Sharma et al, 2010; Simkin, 2002). Moreover, none of the articles analyzed for this research paper tackles the challenges that could arise from implementing sustainable marketing strategies. By stating challenges, this thesis refers to factors that a company needs to consider when implementing their sustainable marketing strategies, and how these factors could comprise or complicate the implementation process if not dealt properly.
Due to the aforementioned, this thesis addresses the call for further research within this area.
1.2 Purpose and Research Question
The purpose is to describe how sustainable marketing strategies affect the implementation process of a B2B company who is moving towards a circular economy business model.
RQ: What challenges can companies face when implementing a sustainable marketing strategy?
2 Theoretical Framework
The second chapter describes the existing literature, where theories and concepts are discussed in four different sections. It starts with circular economy and marketing strategy to provide the reader with a deeper
understanding, to further continue with the concept “sustainability”, where terms such as sustainable marketing, implementation and greenwashing are discussed in detail.
2.1 Circular Economy
The circular economy is the process of re-integrating the waste in the business cycle and using it for the development of a new product (Ranta, Keränen & Aarikka-Stenroos, 2019). This approach has originated from sustainability and environmental concerns. It is a closed-loop business model, where the objective is to re-integrate the materials at the end of their cycle, and thereby reduce waste (Ranta, Keränen & Aarikka-Stenroos, 2019).
The circular economy focuses on the design of processes and products aiming to minimize negative environmental and societal impacts (Hassini, Surti & Searcy, 2012).
Companies that aim for a circular economy should strive to “encourage people toward more sustainable behaviors and encourages policy makers to establish regulations that address principles of sustainability” (Ünal,
Urbinati & Chiaroni, 2019, pp.562), by creating a business model that reduce the environmental impact (Jaeger & Upadhyay, 2020). Thus, the circular economy is the ensemble of innovations, and practices established to create value, for a business and the society (Ranta, Keränen & Aarikka-Stenroos, 2019). When incorporating sustainable products, companies need to develop marketing strategies that are customer-focused. Meaning that they are developed around the customer’s interest (Ibid).
2.2 Marketing Strategy
Varadarajan (2009, pp.120) defines marketing as “[...] an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.”. While, Jones, et al., (2008, pp.124) defines marketing as “a philosophy guiding the overall thinking in an organization” as well as both “a way of organizing various functions and activities of the firm” and “a set of tools and techniques” such as
“packaging, promotion, distribution activities, and pricing”. Varadarajan (2009, pp.129) defines strategy as “[...] the pattern of resource allocation that enables firms to maintain or improve their performance”. Further, Varadarajan (2009, pp.119) defines marketing strategy as “an organization’s integrated pattern of decisions that specify its crucial choices concerning products, markets, marketing activities and marketing resources in the creation, communication and/or delivery of products that offer value to customers in exchanges with the organization and thereby enables the organization to achieve specific objectives.”. Slater, Hult & Olson (2010, pp.552) considers that “Marketing strategy is concerned with the creation of a marketing mix that enables the business to achieve its objectives in a target
market”. A marketing strategy has an important part in gaining market share and creating sustainable growth for the progress of most organizations (Salmani, Daraei & Bayazdi, 2014). Hence, it could be summarized that marketing strategies allow companies to achieve an improved situation or status than the one prior to the execution of the strategy (Slater, Hult &
Olson, 2010).
The corporate marketing strategies design and planning focuses on
configuring and organizing the operations of a company from the supplier to the customers. Marketing planning has the purpose of organizing the
marketing activities in order to coordinate and control its implementation. A marketing plan is a written document that collects the strategies, the
marketing programs and the implementation activities (McDonald, 1996).
During the marketing planning a company collects information, once the data has been collected the company analyzes and develops objectives that
consider the company’s ability to achieve it. The objectives should be achieved by following the strategies and marketing programs. Hence, it is important to develop a measuring system that will allow them to monitor the performance and follow up the plan (Leppard & McDonald, 1991; Wu, 2011).
2.3 Sustainability
The term sustainability is a complex concept due to its multiple definitions, and interpretations (Gordon, Carrigan & Hastings, 2011). Marketers struggle to understand the concept and integrate it into the company’s strategies (Polonsky, 2011; Simkin, 2002; Cravens, 1998; Brockhaus, Kersten &
Knemeyer, 2013; Kapitan, Kennedy & Berth, 2019).
Jones, et al., (2008) describes sustainability as a concept that includes taking responsibility for all the economical, social and environmental challenges that exist in the current world. It encompasses contributing to equality and
not endangering the environment for upcoming generations. Following Jones, et al., (2008) interpretation, Gordon, Carrigan & Hastings (2011, pp.143) define sustainability as “the consumption of goods and services that meet basic needs and quality of life without jeopardizing the needs of future generation”. Sustainability is about minimizing resource disposal by
utilizing the existing resources in an ideal manner (Gordon, Carrigan &
Hastings, 2011). Brockhaus, Kersten & Knemeyer (2013, pp.167), provide a definition of sustainability that incorporates society and business, and define it as “all activities aimed at improving the social and ecological
performance of a company while also retaining the financial bottom line”
Gomis et al (2011) uses the term sustainability in connection with ethics and describes sustainability as the tool guiding people on how to act and behave.
According to Löbler (2017), people and the environment will coexist forever.
Hence, people should not abuse or pollute the environment more than it can tolerate. Löbler (2017, pp.74) defines sustainability as “ the ability to continue a defined behavior or process indefinitely”. Overall, the most frequently used definition of sustainability is: “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brockhaus, Kersten & Knemeyer, 2013, pp.167; Hunt, 2012, pp. 405; Hunt, 2011, pp.7; Löbler, 2017, pp.74; Harik et al, 2015, pp.4117).
Sustainability has frequently been discussed in the business to consumer (B2C) field (Bansal, 2005). Although despite its complexity, sustainability has become an important aspect of B2B marketing, and if implemented properly, sustainability can serve leverage to create value for customers (McDonagh & Prothero, 2014; Martin & Shouten, 2014). Communicating with stakeholders has always its risks, the message could be interpreted or perceived negatively and therefore potentially damaging the company’s image (Blenkhorn & MacKenzie, 2017). From a company perspective, sustainability can bring benefits to the company in terms of long-term
relationship with customers, and improve its operational efficiency (Fraj, Martínez & Matute, 2013; Chan, He & Wang, 2012; Simkin, 2002; Cronin et al., 2010).
2.4 Sustainable Marketing
Sustainable marketing can be divided into three different ‘ages’. The first era was the ecological marketing of the 1970s, which centered on specific environmental concerns, such as pollution, exhaustion of oil resources, and the effect of pesticides on the climate. The second era was environmental marketing in the 1980s, which focused on promoting sustainable energy, identifying and targeting the ‘green buyer’, seeing good socio-environmental results as a possible grounds for competitive advantage, and enabling
marketers to take a corporate perspective of the concrete structures. And the present, third-age marketing is sustainable marketing, based on the goal of achieving sustainable development, as well as a sustainable economy, which reflects the entire environmental price of manufacturing and usage that are integrated (Hunt, 2011; Jones et al, 2008).
Marketing and sustainability are often seen as the complete opposite of each other. This is because while marketing is about finding ways to increase consumption, sustainability is about satisfying basic needs without jeopardizing the quality of the common generations of life (Jones et al, 2008). Nevertheless, there is an increasing interest in marketing-
sustainability relationships. Sustainability is one of the factors that affects marketing (Jones et al, 2008; Osama, Johnsen & Johnsen, 2017). Sustainable marketing is about maintaining or improving both natural and human capital while still establishing, communicating and bringing value towards the customers (McDonagh & Prothero, 2014; Rettie, Burchell & Riley, 2012).
Fraj, Martínez & Matute (2013), Blenkhorn & MacKenzie (2017), Jones et al. (2008) and Kapitan, Kennedy & Berth (2019) consider that sustainable marketing strategies are near identical to green activities, green marketing,
sustainability activities, environmental sustainability and eco-marketing, because they are all based on the same philosophy and desired achievements (Ibid). Which introduces customers to the idea of ecological norms and the concept of green marketing which can influence perception, attitudes and behaviors of customers (Sun, Weng & Liao, 2019; Longoni & Cagliano, 2016; Rettie, Burchell & Riley, 2012).
Sustainable marketing is a bipartite concept. On one side, sustainable marketing is about actively managing the marketing resources to satisfy the needs and wants of the customer. On the other hand, it should preserve the environmental and social welfare while respecting the company’s goals (McDonagh & Prothero, 2014; Brockhaus, Kersten & Knemeyer, 2013).
Sustainable marketing encompasses both the corporate promotion of green goods and services, and pro-environmental social marketing (Rettie, Burchell
& Riley, 2012). Since the beginning of the 21st century, end-customers and academics have slowly shifted attention to sustainable marketing and the need for new sustainable goods (Blenkhorn & MacKenzie, 2017; Sun, Weng
& Liao, 2019; Kumar, 2018; McMeekin & Rothman, 2012) Sustainable marketing can be seen as marketing that is within sustainable economic growth and that supports it (Hunt, 2011). In the past decades, customers have overlooked sustainability, nevertheless their awareness is increasing as marketing researchers and professionals have realized the value of
sustainable marketing. It has been established that the company's emphasis on sustainable marketing is a key to achieving long-term customer and community goals (Sun, Garrett & Kim, 2016; Finney, 2014). To ensure long- term development, attract customers, contribute to society, and demonstrate their concerns about sustainable development and corporate social
responsibility, firms should focus on the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainable marketing (Sun, Weng & Liao, 2019; Sun, Garrett
& Kim, 2016). When companies concentrate on economic aspects, they
establish short- and long-term economic targets that generate competitive advantage, improve financial results and secure reasonable profits (Sun, Weng & Liao, 2019; Bansal, 2005). When focusing on social aspects, the aim is to improve employee wellness, civic well-being and the society as a whole (Sun, Weng & Liao, 2019; Sun, Garrett & Kim, 2016). The
environmental aspect is that companies implement marketing strategies to build and pursue business possibilities, satisfy customer needs, minimize resource use, and reduce emissions while achieving benefits. Modern customers prefer to adhere to green psychology; that is, businesses that prioritize and value sustainable marketing. Customers are therefore likely to consider and trust creative goods which support sustainability (Sun, Weng &
Liao, 2019; Hunt, 2011; Jones et al, 2008). When a company applies sustainable marketing they have to contemplate sustainability
comprehensively, from manufacturing to everything that occurs after a purchase is made, to create an equilibrium between the company's profit and the essentials of protecting the environment (Gordon, Carrigan & Hastings, 2011; Wu & Lin, 2014).
Further on, Rudawska (2019) considers that sustainable marketing should be viewed as a philosophy within the organization (Ibid). To act sustainable, a company should operate in a clean and efficient manner (Harik et al, 2015).
The sustainable marketing strategies should be integrated into all areas of corporate operations and processes (Teh & Corbitt, 2015;
Schneider,Wallenburg & Fabel, 2014; Blenkhorn & MacKenzie, 2017).
Companies should plan their projects and strategies on the basis of their deliverability (Teh & Corbitt, 2015).
Sustainable marketing strategies encourage businesses to focus on
sustainable development, organized economic and ecological growth, and the production and usage of renewable energy. All together, these actions could minimize the wastage of resources and pollution (Sun, Weng & Liao, 2019;
Longoni & Cagliano, 2016). In summary, businesses can prove their
environmental engagement by producing and/or selling products that aim to preserve or improve the environment, and all different types of sustainable activities (Sun, Weng & Liao, 2019; Löbler, 2017).
2.4.1 Sustainable Marketing Implementation
Implementation could be defined as “the actions taken by firm members aimed at accomplishing formulated strategies” (Schneider, Wallenburg &
Fabel, 2014, pp. 466). Sustainable implementation, hence, could be explained as implementing strategies, or projects that are profitable, and respect the social and environmental well-being (Schneider, Wallenburg &
Fabel, 2014). Connected with the implementation of sustainable marketing, Papasad, Avlonities & Carrigan (2017) mention the term entrepreneurial, which was first introduced by Menon and Menon in 1997, the term indicates the implementation of marketing activities aimed to fulfill the environmental cause. This term adds to the concept of sustainability strategies, meaning the objective to create long-term strategies that are sustainable minded and are applied in the whole organization (Ibid). Ergo, marketing objectives and marketing strategies should be correlated (Jones et al, 2008; Borin &
Metcalf, 2010).
The implementation process could be divided into two main focus areas:
strategic and internal. The internal part refers to all the actions that
companies need to take to spread the sustainability philosophy throughout the whole organization, e.g. training sections, projects and activities that raise the awareness (Guo et al., 2018). The strategic part includes strategies related to processes, products, supply chain, promotion, and price. The price strategy is essential because it has to reflect the quality of the sustainable product.
When pricing sustainable products a company should establish value in a means that will make the customer receive a positive feeling of contributing in social and environmental improvements (Jones et al, 2008; Borin &
Metcalf, 2010). Moreover, Guo et al., (2018) study has disclosed that people are willing to pay more for sustainable products.
When implementing sustainable strategies, involving the participation of the employees through cross-functional activities is beneficial (Schneider, Wallenburg & Fabel, 2014). If the employees are conscious about the environment and its importance, it will make it less troublesome for them to relate to the topic (Jones et al, 2008). However, companies that introduce new strategies should be careful to ensure that the employees accept and agree with the new directions. Thus, communication should be in the list of focus areas (Simkin, 2002; Cravens, 1998).
The following three factors have an impact on the implementation of
strategic marketing plans: (1) ownership of the plan, (2) supporting the plan, and (3) adaptive planning. 1) Taking ownership becomes complicated when the implementation is driven by a group of people, however, working in teams improves the process since each individual can contribute with their specific ‘know-how’ (Cravens, 1998). In this regard, the managers'
engagement is essential, as they can create sets of principles to direct the organization and its workers. Managers should ensure that the
communication through the company and the employees is effective to ease the process of identifying and solving critical challenges. Managers should actively reward the employees for their efforts and involvement (Papadas, Avlonitis & Carrigan, 2017). 2) Supporting the plan calls for the
organization's devotion towards the strategy that is going to be implemented in order to achieve its goals, meaning it has to provide the time needed to dispense the resources, have the right communication, and lastly, it needs to acquire the expertise to apply it (Cravens, 1998; Papadas, Avlonitis &
Carrigan, 2017). 3) For adaptive planning, it is important to have: persistent improvements, ability to measure feedback, and to have endurance. How a company responds to these three factors, depends on how the responsibility
is distributed among the employees. This is because the strategy
implementation relies on the individuals who are involved in the process (Ibid).
2.4.2 Greenwashing
There are also certain risks that companies should be aware of when applying green marketing activities. One of the risks that a firm could fall in, when integrating sustainability in the organization without a clear implementation strategy is Greenwashing (Rettie, Burchell & Riley, 2012). Greenwashing is
“a superficial or insincere display of concern for the environment shown by an organization” (Rettie, Burchell & Riley, 2012, p.422). The term is used to indicate companies’ shallow sustainable solutions that fail to improve the ecological performance of the company. Explicitly, it suggests that a
company is luring its customers into believing that their products are greener than they actually are (Brockhaus, Kersten & Knemeyer, 2013). Companies should avoid creating strategies or actions that could be defined as
greenwashing, as the term has a negative connotation (Ibid) and thus, can damage the brand and lead to a loss of trust from the customers (Guo et al., 2018; Parguel, Benoît-Moreau & Larceneux, 2011). Trust is a key element for the longevity of a company. When a company’s greenwashing actions are made public, the company should respond promptly. It would be detrimental for the company’s image to avoid the problem and not acknowledge it. In addition, the company should ensure to communicate with their stakeholders.
Communication is critical, companies should aim to be as transparent as possible, all the attempts to deny or hide the truth could damage the company's brand even more (Guo et al., 2018; Parguel, Benoît-Moreau &
Larceneux, 2011). It is also important to actively create strategies that solve issues regarding green-washing and, if necessary, compensating the
stakeholders (Guo et al., 2018). Kapitan, Kennedy & Berth (2019) opines
that buyers would be prone to refuse potential partners if these do not meet their sustainable criteria.
2.5 Conceptual Framework
The theoretical framework provided knowledge about sustainable marketing, and all the interconnected concepts, which together provides an
understanding of the current literature and its impact in the B2B field. In all the sections the concepts have been defined and elaborated.
Due to the multiple and different definitions of sustainability, the authors of this paper will refer to the term by using the most frequently used definition, which is “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brockhaus, Kersten &
Knemeyer, 2013, pp.167; Hunt, 2012, pp. 405; Hunt, 2011, pp.7; Löbler, 2017, pp.74; Harik et al, 2015, pp.4117). Circular economy is going to help interpret and analyze the business model that Axis Communications is
currently having, and how this impacts the outcome and challenges that arise.
When it comes to sustainable marketing, the concept of greenwashing is an important element to be investigated and analyzed, since it can have a tremendous negative impact on the company and its image (Brockhaus, Kersten & Knemeyer, 2013; Guo et al., 2018; Parguel, Benoît-Moreau &
Larceneux, 2011). Ergo, with the help of the interview questions, the authors expect to gather signs if greenwashing occurs in this case study. For the purpose of this paper implementation of marketing strategies is intended the process of enacting sustainable marketing goals by the organization. The concept was also elaborated BGnh XD beh to provide a broader perspective to the authors, and eventually find the challenges that arise when
implementing sustainable marketing strategies. The aforementioned concepts are used as a guidance when collecting the data, to identify if the company is
experiencing challenges within these areas, and how these concepts are used within the organization, in order to make an interpretation of the gathered data.
3 Methodology
The third chapter presents detailed information on how the study was conducted as well as the reasons why it was carried out in such a way and what approaches were chosen.
3.1 Research Approach
“The purpose is to describe how sustainable marketing strategies affect the implementation process of a B2B company who is moving towards a circular economy business model.”
To fulfil the purpose, this thesis follows a qualitative method with an
abductive approach. The abductive approach was applied since the authors of this thesis have studied both empirical and theoretical background
concerning the chosen research area. Thus, this thesis is a mixture between the inductive and deductive approach. At the initial stage the researchers followed an inductive approach to receive a broader understanding of the movement towards the circular economy, sustainability and sustainable marketing, where the main focus was to look into what is important to consider when implementing it in a B2B company and how this
implementation can affect the company. Later on, the researchers moved towards a deductive approach where the authors collected empirical data and utilized it by comparing and analyzing it with the findings from theory to investigate its relevance. Lastly, the researchers examined if there was a relationship between the two. The main reason for the chosen research approach was due to the complexity of the research area and the need for a more thorough understanding of it.
A case study was selected because it allows to gather in-depth information and a comprehensive understanding of the studied topic (Dyer & Wilkins, 1991; Bell, Bryman & Harley, 2019). In addition, the case study
methodology is in line with the purpose of the thesis because it allows to identify the challenges that enterprises can face when trying to implement sustainable marketing strategies. The thesis was conducted on only one organization to be able to receive in-depth understanding of the phenomenon and conduct extensive observations. Moreover, in-depth cases have an appropriate basis for “[...]concrete, context-dependent knowledge [...]”
which is what social science solely and accurately can construct, (Bell, Bryman & Harley, pp. 65, 2019). The time frame for this research was two months, from 26th March to 28th of May, (Appendix 1).
3.2 Selection of Respondents
The selection of the respondents was made using two different sampling methods. For the selection of the population a convenience sample was used.
For the research several companies have been taken into account: companies that are partnered with the university, companies that have been used in previous internships and current workplaces. For the selection of the
company different criteria were applied: 1) size, 2) international aspect, and 3) accessibility.
1) Size. The company selected had to qualify as a large company, meaning, to belong to the capital intensive industries, have been on the market for a long time, have a significant part of the market, and a large number of resources (Laukkanen, Sarpola & Hallikainen, 2007;
Mahmood & Lloyd, 2017; Abhijeet et al., 2019), such as a minimum of 250 employees and a turnover of minimum 50 million euros (Matolcsy & Nestor, 2015).
2) International aspect. Since the authors wished to receive a broader picture of the possible challenges, it was chosen to collect data from a
company that operates in several countries instead of solely focusing on the authors native country (Sweden). Hence only international companies were taken into consideration.
3) Accessibility. The term accessibility means, the ability of the authors to get in contact with the respondents and the ease of collecting the data. Thus, the company should have been willing to let the authors conduct observations and interviews in a time frame of two months.
Moreover, the company's willingness to share internal documents was one of the elements that evaluated the companies’ accessibility.
After contacting the potential participants, the enterprise selected for the research was Axis Communications AB, because it met all the requirements, it is globally present, approved to be actively committed in the case study and qualifies as a large enterprise. Once the company was selected. A snowball sampling method was used in order to contact the respondents for the interviews and observations. Snowball sampling is a sampling method where the researcher contacts a minor group of individuals who are considered appropriate for the chosen research area, and then uses them to receive contact with other potential respondents (Bryman & Bell, 2011). The snowball effect was favored among other methods because it was the most appropriate method in order to contact the respondents that had the
knowledge and expertise on sustainable marketing. The contact person was asked to suggest other colleagues for the interview. The recommended individuals were contacted by telephone and email. The three respondents that decided to participate in the interview during the time available and that had the knowledge required were those who have been selected for the interviews. The authors conducted a total of 3 interviews. The first two interviews took place on the 5th of May with Ausra Reinap and Jenny Weeks, who are both Senior Environmental Engineers for Axis. They were chosen because they are responsible for driving the environmental related
issues, and to analyze the company’s environmental impact in order to comply with legislation and regulations. Moreover, Reinap and Weeks were chosen among the respondents because they control and manage the
sustainable actions within the company. They manage the sustainability- related communication with the suppliers, and ensure that the suppliers comply and follow all the sustainable legislations, actions and strategies emended by the company. The third interview took place on the 6th of May with Björn Hallerborn, who is the PR and Corporate Manager at Axis. He was chosen because he has the overall responsibility for the company’s sustainable marketing actions. The company does not have a sustainability department, instead it is spread out across the company in different functions, like committees and councils, and Hallerborn is a member in all of them. He coordinates the overall procedures and is in charge of the sustainable
marketing decisions as well as the CSR reports.
3.3 Data collection
The empirical data was collected using four collections methods: semi- structured interviews, field observations, documents and field notes. The combination of these methods allowed the authors to collect in-depth
information over the research topic, and develop a deeper comprehension of the reality (Bell, Bryman & Harley, 2019). During the investigation the authors conducted 6 observations, four during the month of April and one in May. The observations have been conducted on the 15th, 17th, 27th and 29th of April; and one on the 4th of May. The sixth observation that took place on the 7th of May was not used in the findings due to irrelevant information.
The observations were conducted in different locations of the company as the observations took place on different days. The observations consisted of meetings between the environmental council, training sessions, meetings between the environmental engineers and other departments, and marketing plan meetings for 2020. The observations have been conducted in person,
however during the observations of the meetings not all the participants were present in person, some of them participated online due to the pandemic situation occurring at the moment of the study. The company’s safety measurements did not allow large gathering of employees, and the
employees have been requested to work from home weeks alternated. The observer took paper notes of the interviews that were later on transcribed.
During the observations there was no contact between the observer and the participants with the purpose of avoiding the disruption of the meeting and ergo, avoiding the risk of alternating the natural course of the observation.
The observations have been conducted with the purpose of collecting data that could be used to analyze and primarily to have multiple data collection methods. By using multiple data collection methods, the authors wanted to ensure to have reliable data, and therefore being able to compare the data collected from observations with those obtained through the interviews, documents and the field notes.
Semi-structured interviews were chosen, because they allowed the
respondents to provide the requested information but it also leaves the space for additional information that the respondent might add. Semi-structured interviews enable interviewees to provide additional details that may be important to the research or provide insight into potential research. The interviews were conducted via Skype instead. The three authors were present during the interviews in order to avoid researcher bias. One was responsible for transcribing the data, and the other two were responsible for asking the query. Before the interviews were conducted, the interviewees received an email that outlined the intent of the research and a description of the topics that were supposed to be discussed during the interview. This was done in order for the respondent(s) to feel prepared for the discussion.
During interviews, it is possible to make mistakes that jeopardize the validity of the study (Bell & Bryman, 2011), thus in order to reduce such errors the
all the interviews were conducted by the same person. The interviewer was a native Swedish speaker, and the interviews were conducted in English. The importance of having a Swedish person conducting the interview was because even if the company is an international company, where all the employees are requested to know English, it was important to have someone able to translate the questions in Swedish if necessary. Another important element for the validity and the authenticity of the paper was to always have the same person conducting the interviews, because it will reduce the risk of having different translations of the questions (Bell & Bryman, 2011).
To prevent the risk of missing data all the interviews were recorded with the permission of the respondent (Bell & Bryman, 2011). The purpose of such measures is to avoid intra-interviewer and inter-interview risk (Bell &
Bryman, 2011).Because semi-structured interviews are phrased in such a way that leave space for the respondents to add more information (Bell &
Bryman, 2011), open coding was used in order to code the answers.
In relation to internal validity the data collection consists of field observations as well, because the people that were observed felt more comfortable since they were in their natural environment and thus it
enhanced a higher level of consistency between the mentioned concepts and the observations (Bell & Bryman, 2011). In addition to this, information from the company’s website, reports, power points, sustainability policies and other types of internal documentation were documented, since it
increased the validity and authenticity of the paper. For instance, a document that was frequently used for this thesis was Wikström (2015) which is a Sustainability and Environment internal report that contained relevant and important information for this paper. Other documents that were utilized were Axis’ Company presentation and overview (Axis Communications AB, 2019), and Axis own webpage to gather some overall information about the company (Axis Communications, 2020).
To increase the reliability of the empirical data, it was decided to conduct both semi-structured interviews, observations, field notes and
documentations. This in order to receive a deeper understanding of the current situation, and grasp the fact that it requires sufficient methods (Bell, Bryman & Harley, 2019).
3.4 Data Analysis
This thesis applied a qualitative content analysis because it is a popular qualitative method to employ when there is a scarce amount of theory and literature on the studied phenomenon (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). In addition, case study research favors content analysis to examine empirical data (Cassell & Gillian, 1994). Furthermore, qualitative content analysis can be used for analyzing data from different sources and methods (Rofle, 2006;
Blery & Michalakopoulos, 2006), as in this case study, where multiple data collection methods were used (e.g interviews, observations, documentations, and field notes).“Content analysis is generally used with a study design whose aim is to describe a phenomenon” (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005, pp.1279), hence, content analysis has been found suitable for this study and suits the purpose of the thesis: “The purpose is to describe how marketing strategies affect the implementation process of a business towards a circular
economy”. Content analysis allows the researcher to gather new insight from the data. With this method the data is divided into units, and put into
categories that fit the interest of the research. Units can be defined as “labels for codes, that are reflective of more than one key thought” (Stake, 1995, pp.1279).
The qualitative content analysis has been conducted in four stages by following the indications from Graneheim & Lundman (2004), and Burnard (1991). In the first stage known as the decontextualisation, the researchers
acquainted themselves with the data, by reading through the transcribed data, before it could be split down to smaller units (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004;
Burnard, 1991). As recommended by Graneheim & Lundman (2004), and (Burnard (1991) the data collected was coded with the use of open coding. A coding frame has been created to help analyze the interview answers, which was done by the same person in order to reduce the inter and intra-coding errors (Bell, Bryman & Harley, 2019). The authors followed Bell & Bryman (2011) suggestions and applied open coding by breaking down, examining, comparing, conceptualizing and categorizing data. This generated concepts within sustainability that were referred to as challenges which were later subsequently divided into subcategories (Ibid). The second stage is the recontextualisation, and after the units have been identified, the researchers went back to the empirical findings to ensure that all the important aspects and data related to the study’s aim was covered (Burnard, 1991; Graneheim
& Lundman, 2004). In the third stage, the categorisation, the authors established the categories, and the sub-categories, in the form of extended units. In this stage the data that did not fit the research purpose was excluded from the categorisation process. The fourth and final stage consisted of a compilation, where the writing process began (Ibid). The results have been summarized and shown in Table 4 in order to give the reader a short overview of the findings.
3.5 Quality Measures
According to Bell, Bryman & Harley (2019), validity and reliability are more appropriate to quantitative research. Therefore, alternative parameters for assessing the quality measures of the study were also taken into account and applied in this research:
Credibility: It’s connected with reliability. This was taken into account by carrying out a respondent validation, meaning sending the research results to
the interviewees to ensure that the authors have interpreted the social world correctly.
Transferability: By having a comprehensive description of the steps conducted in the process, the authors wanted to ensure that potential researchers could recreate such research.
Dependability: Adopted a 'auditing method' by maintaining full records of all stages and processes such as field reports, interview transcripts, collection of participants in the study, etc.
Confirmability: During the study period, one of the researchers was
employed at Axis Communications. However, her involvement had a minor impact on the objectivity of the study because the study field was different from the one that the researcher was employed at. More specifically, the study was conducted on the marketing field while the researcher was
employed in the logistics department. The researcher had no contact with the people interviewed or observed prior to the research study. Nevertheless, to limit possible biased opinions or sympathetic behaviors that could diminish the confirmability the data collected was discussed within the group, with all the researchers. To make sure that before adding to the research, the data was first critically discussed and analyzed by all the members of the group. The discussions would have mitigated or removed possible bias.
3.6 Ethical Principles
The following precautions were taken in order to avoid the risk of harming the participants, lack of informed consent, invasion of privacy and deception.
Because all of these concepts are interconnected by taking measurements against one, the others will also be affected. By having in regard to the principles of anonymity and ethical concerns, the interview respondents were asked in the beginning of the interview If they want to remain anonymous or whether they want to have their facts attributed to them. The intent of this,
was to eliminate the possibility of harming personnel by sharing their personal views. Furthermore, the respondents were notified before performing the interview that the study would be made public to the university, as an extra measure to avoid the risk of harm (Bell, Bryman &
Harley, 2019).
Another problem relating to the ethics of research is the “disguised or
concealed observation” (Bell & Bryman, 2011, pp. 133.) which concerns the participants' lack of consent. Therefore, before performing the interviews, managers were asked to inform the employees about the research and explicitly warn the employees that they would be observed. This could have had an influence on the study results, as the workers would perhaps not be able to tell the facts, or resent being 100% truthful. Thus, other field observations were also conducted and used in order to collect the data needed. To ensure the validity of the paper field observations were
conducted. The observations ensured there is truth / cohesion between what was affirmed during the interviews and what the company is actually doing.
In addition to the observation, field notes such as internal documentation was used.
3.7 Work Process
All the authors of this thesis have contributed equally. Due to the long distance and the pandemic situation, most of the meetings between the authors were conducted over skype. During the meetings the authors wrote the thesis together chapter by chapter, the only difference was that Patricia carried out the observations. However, the observations were critically discussed within the group afterwards, as aforementioned to reduce biased results. During the interviews Patricia and Mikaela asked the questions while Anita took notes and made the transcription. After collecting all the data, all the authors wrote the empirical findings, analysis, and conclusion together
over several Skype meetings in order to discuss and elaborate as a team.
Thus, all the authors agree that this thesis has been divided equally.
The operationalization process of the paper follows the process of an abductive approach (Figure.1). The study first started with the collection of articles, in order to form a conceptual framework, identify a research gap to formulate a purpose. Afterwards, preliminary empirical observations were conducted. The observations did not match the prior collected theory. Hence, the need to go back and analyze more articles. The theory collected also contributed to the creation of the questions for the semi-structured interviews. Thereafter, more observations, field notes, and the interviews were conducted. Successively the theoretical framework was amplified with more concepts. This constant flow between theory and empirical data was continued until the theoretical framework was comprehensive and reflected the phenomenon studied, in order to fulfill the purpose.
Figure.1 Operationalization of Abductive Research Approach
