Marketing, Morality, and the Natural Environment
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Marketing, Morality, and the Natural Environment Andrew Crane Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, October, 1998. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii FOREWORD iv 1. MARKETING, MORALITY AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT: AN INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.2 AIMS AND CONTRIBUTION OF THE THESIS 3 1.3 DEFINITION OF TERMS 4 1.3.1 Marketing 5 1.3.2 Morality and Ethics 6 1.3.3 Natural Environment 9 1.3.4 Organizational Culture 10 1.3.5 Corporate Social Responsibility 12 1.3.6 Stakeholders 14 1.4 OVERVIEW OF THESIS 15 2. MARKETING AND MORALITY: PERSPECTIVES, ISSUES, PRACTICES 18 2.1 INTRODUCTION 18 2.2 MARKETING AS A MORAL SUBJECT 19 2.2.1 The Moral Basis of Marketing 20 2.2.2 The Functioning of the Marketing System 21 2.2.3 Impact of Marketing on Society 25 2.2.4 Social Role of Marketing 30 2.3 MORALITY IN MARKETING PRACTICE 39 2.3.1 Marketing Decision Making 39 2.3.2 Product Augmentation 50 2.4 TOWARDS A RESEARCH AGENDA: EXPLORING MORAL MEANING IN MARKETING 56 2.5 CONCLUSION 59 3. GREEN MARKETING: A MORAL VIEW 62 3.1 INTRODUCTION 62 3.2 THE GREEN MARKETING LITERATURE 64 3.3 GREEN MARKETING AS A MORAL DOMAIN 68 3.4 MORAL PERSPECTIVES ON GREEN MARKETING 71 3.4.1 'Shallow Green'Perspectives 71 3.4.2 'Deep Green' Perspectives 79 3.5 MORALITY IN GREEN MARKETING: AN ORGANIZATION CULTURE PERSPECTIVE 89 3.6 CONCLUSION 93 4. TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE AND METHOD IN RESEARCHING MORALITY IN MARKETING 95 4.1 INTRODUCTION 95 4.2 EPISTEMOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS 97 4.2.1 Paradigms of Research 99 4.3 RESEARCHING MORALITY IN MARKETING - METHODOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 103 4.3.1 Status of the Field 103 4.3.2 Sampling 104 4.3.3 Measurement 106 4.3.4 Frame of Reference 108 4.3.5 Bias 110 4.3.6 Context Ill 4.4 RESEARCHING ORGANIZATIONS AS CULTURES 113 4.4.1 Symbolic-Cultural Analysis 114 4.4.2 Political-Cultural Analysis 116 4.5 RESEARCH STRATEGY & METHOD: A GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH... 117 4.5.1 The Case Study Research Strategy 118 4.5.2 Data Collection 123 4.5.3 Data Analysis and Theory Development 129 4.5.4 Validation 134 4.6 CONCLUSION 138 5. CONVENTIONAL BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS 140 5.1 INTRODUCTION 140 5.2 BACKGROUND TO THE CASE STUDIES 141 5.2.1 Boots the Chemist (BTC) 142 5.2.2 ITT Flygt 143 5.3 GREEN MARKETING 144 5.3.1 Boots the Chemist 145 5.3.2 ITT Flygt 151 5.3.3 Green Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility 154 5.4 CULTURAL DYNAMICS OF GREEN MARKETING 155 5.4.1 Policy Entrepreneurs 157 5.4.2 Processes of Institutionalisation 160 5.4.3 Image Making 161 5.4.4. Moral Framing 164 5.4.5 Narrative Surfing 170 5.4.6 Value Dissemination 174 5.5 CONCLUSION 177 6. SOCIAL MISSION COMPANIES 180 6.1 INTRODUCTION 180 6.2 BACKGROUND TO THE CASE STUDIES 182 6.2.1 Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) 182 6.2.2 Ecology Building Society (the Ecology) 185 6.2.3 Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC) 187 6.2.4 Bioregional Charcoal Company (Bioregional) 190 6.3 MARKETING STRATEGIES 191 6.3.1 Campaigning Priorities 191 6.3.2 Mission Positioning 196 6.3.3 Strategies for Social Mission Marketing 200 6.4 GREEN MARKETING 202 6.4.1 Green Marketing and Social Responsibility 207 6.5 CULTURAL DYNAMICS OF GREEN MARKETING 210 6.5.1 Policy Entrepreneurs 211 6.5.2 Constructing the Environment 212 6.5.3 Moral Framing 216 6.5.4 Dexterity with Narratives 218 6.5.5 Disseminating Environmental Values 221 6.6 CONCLUSION 226 7. BUSINESS-NGO COLLABORATION 230 7.1 INTRODUCTION 230 7.2 BACKGROUND TO THE CASE STUDY 232 7.3 GREEN MARKETING 235 7.3.1 Marketing Strategy 236 7.3.2 Industrial Networks and Supply Chain Management 237 7.3.3 Marketing Relationships 240 7.3.4 Buying Centre 243 7.3.5 Green Marketing and Social Responsibility 244 7.4 CULTURAL DYNAMICS OF GREEN MARKETING 249 7.4.1 Sub-Cultural Divisions 249 7.4.2 Cultural Mediators 254 7.4.3 Constructing the Environment 259 7.4.4 Moral Circumscription 263 7.5 CONCLUSION 266 8. GREEN MARKETING AND MORALITY - EVIDENCE FROM THREE APPROACHES 270 8.1 INTRODUCTION 270 8.2 GREEN MARKETING IN PRACTICE 271 8.2.1 Strategic Responses 275 8.2.2 Marketing Mix Policies 278 8.2.3 Green Marketing Theory 288 8.3 GREEN MARKETESfG AND MORALITY 291 8.3.1 Green Marketing as a Moral Subject 291 8.3.2 Morality in Green Marketing Practice 299 8.4 CONCLUSION 306 9. AMORALIZATION, MORALIZATION, AND THE MANAGEMENT OF MORALITY IN MARKETING 310 9.1 INTRODUCTION 310 9.2 AMORALIZATION IN GREEN MARKETING 311 9.2.1 Agents of Amoralization 312 9.2.2 Processes of Amoralization 315 9.2.3 Causes of Amoralization 324 9.2.4 Consequences of Amoralization 332 9.3 MORALIZATION 337 9.3.1 Moralization Through Culture Change 337 9.3.2 Routes to Moralization 343 9.4 CONCLUSION 345 10. CONCLUSIONS 349 10.1 INTRODUCTION 349 10.2 MAIN CONCLUSIONS 349 10.2.1 Marketing as a Moral Domain 350 10.2.2 Green Marketing Theory and Practice 351 10.2.3 Cultural Dynamics of Green Marketing 352 10.2.4 Moral Meaning in Marketing 353 10.3 MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS 355 10.4 LIMITATIONS 358 10.5 DIRECTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 361 10.6 MAIN CONTRIBUTIONS OF THESIS 362 REFERENCES 365 APPENDIX A: SAMPLE CONTACT LETTERS AND RESEARCH PROPOSALS 392 APPENDIX B: 1995 PLUS GROUP MEMBERS 404 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors, Professors Christine Ennew and Ken Starkey for the help, ideas, insight and encouragement that they have given me during the preparation of this thesis. My thanks also to Mick Rowlinson for his invaluable support and advice. This work would also not have been possible without the time and information provided by the various respondents whose reflections and opinions illuminate the text, and bring to life the practical realities of marketing, morality and the natural enviroimient. My sincere thanks then to the following organizations: B&Q, BBC Magazines, Beauty Without Cruelty, Bioregional Charcoal, Boots the Chemist, CWS, Do It All, Ecology Building Society, EC Waltons, ITT Flygt, Laing Homes, Mainstream Environmental Consultants, Railtrack, Spicers, Strategic Environmental Consulting, WH Smith, Wickes, WWF UK. Finally, I should like to express my gratitude to the University of Nottingham Business School, and more latterly Cardiff Business School, for the time, facilities and financial support which have enabled me to undertake and complete the doctoral studies which have resulted in the production of this thesis. Abstract This thesis is a study of morality in marketing, focusing specifically on marketing in relation to the natural environment, i.e. green marketing. An interdisciplinary approach is adopted, incorporating a broad range of literature pertaining to issues of morality in marketing. The contribution of this literature is analysed, and the green marketing literature is assessed according to the moral perspectives applied. The need for greater insight into the development and communication of moral meanings in the marketing process is thus identified, and an organization culture perspective is articulated by which to effect this in the context of green marketing. This cultural perspective is then used as the basis for the exploratory, empirical research which forms the core of the thesis. Utilising an interpretive, comparative case study approach, and following a grounded theory methodology, data is presented to illustrate the content and process of green marketing strategies and tactics in three types of organizations - conventional, social mission, and business-NGO collaboration. The moral tone of these projects is examined and the cultural dynamics which attend the greening process are explored in order to reveal the moral meanings subsequently communicated and legitimised within and around the case organizations. Consequently, a picture of contemporary green marketing practice grounded in empirical data is developed, and the theoretical implications discussed. Moreover, the proposition is advanced that there is a tendency in corporations for green marketing to be accompanied by a process of 'amoralization', i.e. a removal of moral meaning and significance for the natural environment. Specific actor roles and processes of amoralization are set out, and potential explanations advanced. The implications and wider ramifications of these findings are discussed, and the possibilities for introducing greater moral consciousness and feeling into marketing are discussed. Finally, some management implications and directions for further research are considered. ill Foreword Some of the work in this thesis, in a significantly revised form, has appeared in publications elsewhere. Material from chapter 4 (mainly 4.2 and 4.3) is to be published as: Crane, A. (1998), "Are You Ethical? Please Tick Yes or No : On Researching Ethics in Business Organizations", Journal of Business Ethics, in press. Chapter 5 has been pubUshed in revised form as: Crane, A. (1997), "The Dynamics of Marketing Ethical Products: A Cultural Perspective", Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 13 (6), pp. 561-577. Chapter 7 has been published in a revised form as: Crane, A. (1998), "Exploring Green Alliances", Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 14 (6), pp. 559-580. Some of the material in chapter 9 (section 9.3.1) was adapted from: Crane, A. (1995), "Rhetoric and Reality in the Greening of Organizational Culture", Greener Management International, vol. 12, pp. 49-62. IV 1. Marketing, Morality and the Natural Environment: An Introduction 1.1 Introduction This thesis is a study of morality in marketing.