GREEN ALLIANCES: HOW DOES ECOPHILOSOPHY SHAPE THE STRATEGIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS? Alice Comi University of Reading Design Innovation Research Centre 216 Engineering Building, Reading RG6 6AY, UK
[email protected] Francesco Lurati Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) Institute of Marketing and Communication Management (IMCA) Via G. Buffi 13, CH-6904 Lugano, Switzerland
[email protected] Alessandra Zamparini Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) Institute of Marketing and Communication Management (IMCA) Via G. Buffi 13, CH-6904 Lugano, Switzerland
[email protected] This is the Authors’ accepted manuscript for self-archiving purposes. Please refer to the final publication on Springer’s website for pages and citation. The final publication is available on: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11266-014-9478-6 Running Head: How does Ecophilosophy Shape Green Alliances? Acknowledgments: The Authors acknowledge the input of members of Greenpeace and WWF. GREEN ALLIANCES: HOW DOES ECOPHILOSOPHY SHAPE THE STRATEGIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS? ABSTRACT The relationship between environmental organizations and the corporate sector has gradually shifted toward the collaborative end, resulting in a broad array of “green alliances”. In this paper, we focus on the strategies whereby environmental organizations seek to collaborate with private companies. In particular, we explore whether the ecophilosophy of an environmental organization—i.e., a set of values, attitudes, and beliefs about the natural environment— influences the selection of collaborative strategies. To address this question, we conducted two case studies of environmental organizations with a diverse ecophilosophy—namely, Greenpeace and WWF. In the cases, we covered a broad spectrum of collaborative strategies while also taking into account contextual factors with a possible influence on strategy selection.