Company-Related or Product-Related Environmental Market - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Company-Related or Product-Related Environmental Market Communication? Emma Rex FLIPP Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, emma.rex@chalmers.se

FLIPP Communicating with the Market Talk ”The company” Act n e t s i L

An Interpretative Approach Act The customer’s Talk env. interest n e t s i L The chosen representation and resulting perception of the customer’s environmental interest influence what actions are taken by the company (cf. e.g. Business barometer 1997; 2003, Heiskanen et al. 2005, Rex 2002). FLIPP

Study Design Case study of Volvo Trucks – Part of AB Volvo – October 2006 – January 2007 Data collection – Interviews (15 employees: about 500 pages of interview transcrips) – Observations (meetings, road show, ’shadowing’) – Document analysis (reports, brochures, status documents, sales support, training material, media coverage…) FLIPP

Aim and Scope The customer’s env. interest What perception of the customer’s environmental interest exists in the company and how does it influence external communication? FLIPP

FLIPP External Communicaiton The customer’s env. interest

Communciation Strategies Company related communication – Focus on brand or company – Policies, visions, environmental reports etc. – Processes and procedures e.g. ISO 14 0001 – Public affairs, brand management Product related communication – Focus on product features and information in the purchasing situation – Brochyres, ads, labels, declarations – Product offers and promotion – Market communicaiton, sales support FLIPP

External Communication ”Public” The customer’s env. interest ”Customer” FLIPP

Two ’Arenas’ Market/ product Company Market Communication Corporate Communication Little env. communication Vital and increasing env. communication Low priority High priority FLIPP

Result Environmental challenges and achievements were… … mainly communicated by corporate communicaitons and in relation to the company as such or its products in general …and less so by market communications and in relation to specific product offers FLIPP

Corporate Communication Market Communication The customer: Society, general public The customer: Driver, purchaser Interest: money, prestige, image Increasingly interested in env. Environmental matters are Environmental matters generally not important per se for most important for the survival of industry and society customers No willingness to pay FLIPP

g n i t s t e l r ’ u ! e e c t l n i b f ’ I a f s ’ i t D s i f e o ’ l r t p i u d r n f a d n a Market Communication Corporate Communication We have nothing to say: People indeed listen: - Trucks in general have a negative We have a common problem impact on the environment We are part of the solution - No unique sales points: All having Interest all ’citizens’ the same standards Other areas have higher priority We have the power to change the market (e.g. lobbying, standards, We sell what is already developed regulative frameworks) FLIPP

Focus: Company-Related Env. Comm. ”Public” The customer’s env. interest ”Customer” FLIPP

A Common Phenomena? Is there generally a preference for communicating environmental matters in relation to company/brand instead of product? - Similar examples in other industries, e.g. Erlandsson (2007) - ”Brand imprint” (Unilever) - Consumers beeing addressed as citizens rather than customers (Burningaham et al. ) - ”We do LCA” instead of product specific information (e.g. SCA) - The success of EMS vs. LCA FLIPP

Implications for LCT? Any implications for the advance of life cycle thinking in industry? - Less focus on specific products - Less interest in specific environmental information? - Less interest in promoting and labelling specific ’green’ products? - Focus being shifted from the impact from production and consumption of goods to being responsible citizens? - Less focus on a life cycle perspective? - Need for another approach to life cycle thinking? FLIPP