Environmental Strategy: a Typology of Companies Based on Managerial Perceptions of Customers' Environmental Activeness and Deterrents
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: When discussing environmental strategies, previous studies almost completely neglected the \nimportance of companies’ perceptions of their customers’ eco-characteristics. This study aims to \naddress this gap, first, by proposing a typology of companies based on their perceptions of \ncustomers’ environmental activeness and deterrents and, second, by analyzing the differences \namong the obtained groups of companies in their environmental strategies and the motives for and \nresults of these strategies. The paper covers a conceptual background of environmental strategies, \nthe motives for and results of these strategies, and managerial perceptions of customers’ \nenvironmental activeness and deterrents. The study included all manufacturing companies with \nmore than 50 employees from a business directory in Slovenia. It was administered via mail to 434 \nCEOs, out of which 153 returned the questionnaires (a 35.3 % response rate). The sample is \nrepresentative of a population of medium sized and large manufacturing companies from 22 \ndifferent manufacturing industries, including practically all large polluters in the country. Factor \nanalysis was used for the data reduction/summarization and cluster analysis was performed to \nidentify company segments according to their perceptions of customers’ environmental activeness \nand deterrents. The typology of companies based on managerial perceptions of customers’ \nenvironmental activeness and deterrents is proposed, and the differences among the obtained \nclusters in their environmental strategies, motives and results are analyzed. The findings show that \nthree clusters of companies exist, namely eco-believers, eco-disbelievers and eco-hampered \ncompanies. These clusters significantly differ in their perceptions of customers’ eco-characteristics \nas well as in their corporate and marketing environmental strategies and the motives and results \nof these strategies.
Institution: University of Ljubljana
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2182989686