Managing greenness in technology marketing

Abstract

Purpose

Technology product manufacturers and marketers must take into account that customers' awareness and appreciation of the benefits of green technology and products have increased. The purpose of this paper is to determine how technology firms can benefit from green marketing and what pitfalls there are to avoid.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a review of green marketing literature, the paper introduces four approaches to green marketing by means of a matrix outlining four factors associated with perceived and actual greenness of new products and new technology. Then, for each of the four approaches, an appropriate coping strategy is proposed that includes the issues that firms should consider when they use green marketing.

Findings

Customers' green values should be well understood when marketing plans for technology products are developed and implemented. Green marketing arguments should be communicated to customers in a coherent and truthful way, to avoid customer scepticism or disbelief.

Research limitations/implications

The paper calls for an increased awareness of the way to utilize green marketing in technology firms. Supporting empirical evidence is still needed from future studies.

Originality/value

The contribution of the paper to academics and practitioners is increased understanding of how green marketing can be applied in technology firms.

Citation

Simula, H., Lehtimäki, T. and Salo, J. (2009), "Managing greenness in technology marketing", Journal of Systems and Information Technology, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 331-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/13287260911002486