Increased expectations from society and demands to attract, satisfy and retain customers have made it strategically vital for companies to adopt practices and create products that strive to protect the natural environment. (Dangelico and Pujari 2010)
This review of Bansal and Roth (2000) and Dangelico and Pujari (2010) aims to advance our understanding on the motives surrounding why companies choose to go green, different types of green products and challenges facing companies that integrate environmental (green) sustainability in product innovation.
In these studies, Bansal and Roth (2000) and Dangelico and Pujari (2010) apply theoretical sampling of 53 various firms in UK and Japan and in-depth interviews in 12 manufacturing firms in Canada and Italy respectively to develop conclusions on the contextual factors that induce ecological responsiveness and the integration of ecological sustainability into product innovation.
Going green signifies engaging in more environmentally friendly activities like recycling of waste, reduction of energy consumption and development of ecoproducts (green products). (Wheatley 1993). Bansal and Roth’s study radiates from a need to clarify how motivations differ and the various contexts which influence these motivations, according to Dangelico and Pujari (2010), these motivations lead companies to reduce energy consumption and pollution by making radical or incremental innovations to products. In this light, Dangelico and Pujari’s (2010) study was conducted in the context of green product development, Bansal and Roth, on the other hand critique a preliminary model on ecological responsiveness and attempt to enhance our knowledge on why firms are ecologically responsive. To strengthen t...
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...logical responsibility with possible contextual variables . By understanding these contexts and challenges raised, a manger can create an appropriate situation for corporate ecological responsiveness within an organization.
REFERENCES
Bansal, P. and Roth, K. (2000) Why Companies Go Green: A model of Ecological Responsiveness. The Academy of management journal, vol 43, no 4, pp. 717-736
Dangelico, R. and Pujari D. (2010) Mainstreaming Green product Innovation: Why and How Companies Integrate Environmental Sustainability. Journal of Business Ethics vol 95, no 3, pp. 471-486.
Levin, P (2004) 1st edition Write Great Essays: Reading and essaywriting for Undergraduates and Taught Postgraduates, Milton Keynes Open university press. Pp 25-36
Wheatley,M (1993) Green Business: Making it Work for Your Company , Glasgow Pitman Publishing. pp 92-105
John Dallas Costa, Ethical Imperative wrote: "Not long ago the concerns of ecologists were as irrelevant to business planners as those of ethicists are today. “Green” has gone from being a disparagement to becoming a badge that no smart company would risk being without. Ethics are similarly en route to becoming a strategic imperative."
Although Maniates labels the “A” in IWAC as “meaningful consumption Alternatives,” his thoughts on the matter refer more to the institutional influences on product development. In Woodhouse’s words, “The public’s failure to embrace sustainable technologies has more to do with institutional structures that restrict the aggressive development and wide dissemination of sustainable technologies than with errant consumer choice” (48). Instead of attributing the lack of environmentally friendly products to happenstance, Maniates claims that there are production-side structural aspects which hinder the development of green products. Woodhouse mirrors Maniates in this aspect by recognizing the influences on engineers to overlook environmental concerns. “Neither law nor professional norms make [sustainable] design tasks a required aspect of most engineers’ responsibilities, and most employers place substantial obstacles in the way of engineers taking those design elements farther than law and market competition require” (27). By and large, companies are driven by the desire to maximize profit above all else, and from the perspective of employers, adding in environmental concerns is merely an additional constraint on potential profit margins. If engineering ethics and government regulations are sufficiently detailed on sustainability, then employers
According to the case study, the work of environmental managers often exposes them to many pollution prevention solutions, but they often have trouble getting access to production areas. Production often sees Environmental Managers as "the compliance police". Stakeholders The stakeholders in this case study include the corporation, the community and the countryside.
Looking at marketing decisions Under Armour have made specifically in the macro-environment. In 2013 Under Armour were put under social pressure in order to create eco-friendly products. Therefore, they came out with a new marketing scheme called “Under Armour Green” (Koehler, 2014). Their participation in going green was due to external forces such as political and social pressures for brands to become as eco-friendly as possible. By Under Armour
The agent-of-society view holds that corporate managers are prima facie obligated to consider the interests of everyone who is likely to be affected by what managers decide to do. With this view in mind, Michael Hoffman states, “Corporate managers should be held morally responsible for going beyond considerations of profits, law, and market morality to try to do what they can to help solve our most pressing environmental problems.” In his article, Hoffman argues that business must creatively find ways to become part of the solution, instead of the problem. Business should try to become more environmentally friendly and think of ways to help mitigate the many environmental problems we have. Consumers argue they have no control over or say in whether business provides environmentally friendly products or not. They argue that it’s not up to them “how the products are made, how the services are provided, or how the legislation is enacted.” Although, some businesses have tried to come up with environmentally friendly products but they find that consumers are unwilling to pay extra for them. He thinks corporations can and must develop a conscience, including an environmental conscience. Like the owner of the paper company, business should think of ways to stop the pollution and harm to the environment and take action quickly so that they can set an example for other businesses to follow.
Second, we want to create innovative and sustainable products. We live to innovate -- it’s who we are. When our corporate responsibility initiatives begin leading us to new product development, it brings a new energy to our efforts. Whole divisions in our company open up to the prospects. Eyebrows are raised. There are results already: We’re finding ways to eliminate the toxic chemicals commonly used in making products and materials and teams are creating business models for generating revenue from ground-up old shoes; designers are developing products made of recycled polyester or organic cotton.
That's why we carry out a wide range of environmental activities all around the world. We're the leader in delivering innovative eco-friendly products to consumers and are committed to product stewardship throughout the entire lifecycle
Another approach is bottom-up and it makes the employees the central cog in the innovation process. Such a concept, when applied to sustainability, shifts the focus from the happenings at the management level to what decisions the mid and front-line level employees make. The lower level employees are the ones who take daily actions that could make or break a company’s sustainability potential. A bottom-up approach has a multiplier effect since it is easily visible to others and becomes quite difficult to thwart. Furthermore, the daily decisions made by mid-level employees incorporate the views of the
Companies that carry out greenwashing commonly use the words, ‘green’, ‘energy efficient’, and ‘clean’ to expo...
Stuart Hart, in a business article, discusses the tough task for companies to make a sustainable global ec...
In conclusion, going green in the workplace is catchy new trend. Choosing to go verdant can be a grueling task and one that is confronted with some unique pros and cons. Although making green choices come at a slightly higher price, the rewards that are earned more than cover these costs. When a company chooses wisely going green can not only help the environment, and reduce the carbon foot-print the company makes but it can also prove to be a very smart business decision that can be financially gratifying.
Zsidisin GA, Siferd SP. 2001. Environmental purchasing: a framework for theory development. European Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management 7(1): 61–73.
In recent years, business or green business was no longer an option to become an obligation. Companies started to change their mindset and values to develop new environmental proposals, for example launching second ecological lines.
What is the socially optimum level of production keeping in mind the environment? How should it be achieved? It is at this point that the great economic minds of out time begin to take up arms. Michael Porter, a Professor of Business at the Harvard Business School claims that environmental regulation of businesses will actually give the businesses a competitive advantage over their counterparts in nations with less stringent regulation because it forces them to innovate. Porter claims that by changing their production processes, the businesses will actually lower their production costs (Porter, 97).
In the context of green entrepreneurship, Gliedt and Parker (2007) argue that contemporary businesses are more likely pursuing business strategies intended to capitalize on environmentally sustainable products and services. As a result, some for-profit businesses perceive the notion of sustainability and specifically climate change as a business prospect to exploit (Hanson, 2005). Dixon and Clifford’s (2007) study found that “ecopreneurs” can operate an economically viable business whilst maintaining the core values that motivated the creation of the business. It can be concluded that being ecopreneur should have a business strategy that can create goods or services that have values for environmental