CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Corporate Green Branding

(Meena !"i #"ar$a % Ana$i&a !ing", 2'1() described that Green IT is a buzzword, doing the rounds all over the world these days. Considering todays scenario, we can easily make out the growing awareness of organizations ecological responsibilities and sustainability. lso management depicts that sustainability is literally taking a leap to develop environment friendly technologies, also it has been noticed that to solve the sustainability concern, together organizations green competitive positioning and sustainability less work has been done. lthough, not much of researches has been conducted to e!plore how Greening Technologies "Green IT#, can help organizations attain competitive advantage with branding of Green IT and develop sustainability. The main motive of this paper is to propose a framework with regard to the roles of branding of Green IT in the $uest of sustainable development of IT companies. (Bo*en+ 2''') described corporate green branding as an initiative which re$uires several areas in the marketing literature% building strong corporate brands, green brand positioning strategies, greenwashing, and the use of visual and verbal components on websites. In recent years, environmental visibility can be an e!planation for the pressures put on firms and as a result a catalyst for green responses. &ut (,a-+ 2''.) said that while there is not a coherent theory in corporate branding, the notion of consistency and difference is the logic behind strong corporate brands that shaped management branding practices. corporate brand is the product of a social co'production process which consumers participate in a dialogue'like relationship. (Ri/era0Ca$ino+ 2''1) suggests that a firms (greening process) is not linear, but an (uneven process) which several green marketing strategies are used to target different stakeholders. *inking a corporate brand to a social cause, such as environmental sustainability, is a first step toward building a strong corporate brand that is connected to consumers values. (,a-+ 2''.) Therefore, any corporate branding effort re$uires a logic that is different and a message that can be repeated with some consistency.

2.2 Green Brand Po!itioning #trategie!

(Patri& Hart$ann and 2. 3a/ier 2or&ada#ain4 . 2''.# indicates that an overall positive in+uence of green brand positioning on brand attitude. ,urther -ndings suggest distinct functional and emotional dimensions of green brand positioning with the interaction of both dimensions in the formation of brand attitude. .ighest perceptual effects were achieved through a green positioning strategy that combined functional attributes with emotional bene-ts. well implemented green positioning strategy can lead to a more favourable perception of the brand, giving support to the green marketing approach in general. This study supports signi-cant attitude effects of both functional and emotional green positioning strategies. Thus, brand managers should deliver emotional bene-ts through the brand, at the same time making sure that target groups perceive real environmental bene-ts. (Ant"on- C"an+ 2''5) derived the reasons behind the discrepancies between perceived (greenness) of a brand and an ob/ective evaluation of the companys sustainability practices through the study of corporate websites as brand positioning tools. 0ifferent elements of a corporate branding strategy are e!amined. 1ey findings include% 2# Corporate websites of all studied companies are similar in terms of content and design, indicating websites are not a differentiating factor. 3# Company websites appeal to the functional dimension of green brand positioning strategies and less on the emotional dimension. 4# Companies are mindful of accusations of greenwashing and are careful about their environmental claims. reas for further research are suggested. (Ea!ter6ing et a6+ 1557) said that for environmental advertising to be successful, a firm must first have an environmental strategy in place dvertising strategies have changed overtime from (image) orientation to (product) orientation in the 2556s.(7rocess) and (factual) orientations are the least utilized orientations which the authors suggest is an opportunity. (Hart$ann et a6+ 2''.) suggested two dimensions of positioning strategies are found to have significant impact on brand attitudes% functional and emotional dimensions 8esults of the same study indicate there is an overall positive influence of green brand positioning on brand attitude. 9hile the emotional dimension proves to be more effective for the product "a car# used in the study, it cannot be concluded decisively which dimensional is more effective.

(8tt$an et a6+ 2''7) shows that three principals guide the development of successful green products% consumer value positioning, calibration of consumer knowledge, and credibility of product claims. (Ra$9! et a6+ 2''.) :nfortunately, there is evidence to suggest that stated policies are not always implemented and that e!ternal stakeholders should be skeptical of policy statements if there is no economic incentive for their implementation. (Montoro0Rio! et a6+ 2'':) discussed about the time when all IT companies studied are honing their green branding strategies, there is evidence to show that environmental associations do not always enhance brand performance. Consumers have been found to process attributes of environmental practices of a brand in a fashion similar to that of information processing to any other attribute; but environmental beliefs have less importance. (Vane!!a Apao6a4a I;<=e4) helped in analyzing the communicational implementation of green brand associations. Three distinct types of emotional brand benefits suitable for green branding are identified% the feeling of well'being "(warm glow)# from acting in an altruistic way, self'e!pressive benefits, and nature'related consumption e!periences. 8esults of the study confirm significant perceptual effects of green brand communications, proposed dimensions of green brand benefits, as well as significant positive attitude effects of green brand associations. (Wein;erg 15::+ 1552> Wein;erg+ and Gr?ppe6 15:5> Wein;erg+ and @ie"6 2''1) talked about generation of emotions through green brands in certain target groups by simply offering information on environmentally sound product attributes. 1nowing that a brand is environmentally sound makes some consumers feel better while purchasing and consuming the brand. .owever a much stronger and effective emotional response can be obtained through specific emotional benefits evoked actively by the brand. There is a large number of well studied approaches to the implementation of emotional brand benefits and brand e!periences through advertising (Coddington+ 155(> #&"6ege6$i6&" et a6.+ 1557> 2966er 1555) summarized by saying that regarding the attitudinal effects of green branding, some studies show that in certain situations consumer attitudes can be less positive towards green brands as a conse$uence of a

perceived trade'off between functional performance of the brand and its environmental impact. <eenakshi =harma > namica =ingh "3624#,) 0evelopment of IT companies, ?ournal of Clean @nergy Technologies, Aol. 2, Bo. 4. &owen, ,. "3666#, (@nvironmental visibility% a trigger of green, organisational responseC), &usiness =trategy and the @nvironment, Aol. 5 Bo. 3, pp. 53'26D. @asterling, 0., 1enworthy, . and Bemzoff, 8. "255E#, (The greening of advertising% a twenty'five year look at environmental advertising), ?ournal of <arketing Theory and 7ractice, Aol. F Bo. 2, pp. 36'44. Green ,actor =tudy. "3623#. .ansen, ., > <achin, 0. "366G#,) Aisually branding the environment% climate change as a marketing opportunit)y. 0iscourse =tudies, 26 "E#, DDD'D5F. .artmann 7, IbaHnIez A , =ainz ?,, "366J#,)Green branding effects on attitude% functional versus emotional positioning strategies). <arketing Intelligence and 7lanning , 34"2#, 5'35. 1ay, <. ?. "366E#,)=trong brands and corporate brands.) @uropean ?ournal of <arketing, F6 "D' G#, DF3'DE6. *aufer, 9. =. "3664#,) =ocial accountability and corporate greenwashing.) ?ournal of &usiness @thics, F4 "4#, 3J4'3E2. <itchell, . . "25GE#,) The @ffect of Aerbal and Aisual Components of dvertisements on &rand ttitudes and ttitude toward the dvertisement.) ?ournal of Consumer 8esearch, 24 "2#, 23'3F. <ontoro'8ios, ,. ?., *u$ue'<artinez, T., > 8odriguez'<olina, <. . "366G#,) .ow Green =hould Kou &e% Can @nvironmental ssociations @nhance &rand 7erformanceC) ?ournal of dvertising 8esearch, FG "F#, JFD'JE4. Lttman, ?. ., =tafford, @. 8., > .artman, C. *. "366E#,) voiding green marketing myopia% 9ays to improve consumer appeal for environmentally preferable products. @nvironment, FG "J#, 33'4E. 7olonsky, <.?., Carlson, *., Grove, =. and 1angun, B. "255D#,)International environmental marketing claims.) International <arketing 8eview, 2F "F#, 32GM343. 8ivera'Camino, ?. "366D#,)8e'evaluating green marketing strategy% a stakeholder perspective.) @uropean ?ournal of <arketing, F2 "22'23#, 243G'24JG.