RESEARCH PAPER – WEIGHTAGE- 12% of grade The main goal for this assignment is that students gain an in-depth understanding about an emerging topic in Marketing. Each student will conduct in-depth re

RESEARCH PAPER – WEIGHTAGE- 12% of grade The main goal for this assignment is that students gain an in-depth understanding about an emerging topic in Marketing. Each student will conduct in-depth re
Paper Title Relevance of Green Innovation and potentials of Green Marketing in achieving Triple Bottom Line Results in the Global Clothing and Textile Industry Introduction Every business organizations market with the sole aim of making a profit from the value created for customers or consumers of products and services. As the creation of marketable value for customers/consumers, the operation of businesses has an impact on people and the environment, the concept of sustainability has become more important than ever for businesses around the world. The new norm is that the performance and success of businesses as a going concern is not solely based on profit anymore but also entails demonstration of their performance level at the social and environmental level (Jovanović & Doljanica, 2019). Aptly put it, the onus on businesses of nowadays is to consider along with their financial performance other metrics such as the social and environmental impact of their operations so as demonstrate that they are sustainable in their operations. The clothing and textiles industry, accounting for approximately $2 trillion in global revenue, is one of the largest industries in the world renowned for the large consumption of natural resources, large generation of waste and significant emission of greenhouse gases that represents a source of pollution (Connell & Kozar, 2017; Jovanović & Doljanica, 2019). Additionally, issues not limited to health and safety hazards, forced and child labor, wages not matching the excessive hours of work etc. constitute series of major social and economic sustainability challenges in the clothing and textiles industry (Connell & Kozar, 2017). This has made the concept of sustainability to be more important than ever in such an industry whose quest of maximizing economic return comes at a significant threat and higher tendency of compromising the social and environmental goals (Porter & Kramer, 2006). As businesses are expected to operate in a sustainable fashion, concepts including the “Triple Bottom Line” perspective have been earmarked as a strategy through which sustainability can be fostered and key performance metrics can be readily measured. Put in other words, the triple bottom-line perspective considers the natural environment, society, and economic performance i.e. planet, people, and profits as inseparable components of sustainability through which organizations demonstrate itself to be socially responsible to people, protect the environment (planet) and ensure that in achieving organizational profit (the prime objective of business), these social and environmental goals are not compromised (Porter & Kramer, 2006). Aims of Paper and Relevance of the Contributions This paper intends to contribute to the body of literature on marketing-themed initiatives that balance people, profit, and the planet for businesses in the clothing and textile industry. Specifically, this paper focuses on key sustainability issues in the clothing and textile industry and discuss the relevance of green innovation and green marketing as novel strategy and initiative through which fast fashion businesses can achieve the triple bottom line results in their operations without trading off any of the elements of the triple bottom line framework. Research Objectives and Research Questions In achieving the aim of establishing the relevance of green innovation and green marketing as a sustainable marketing initiative in achieving a balance between profit, people, and planet in the global clothing and textile industry, the following sets of objectives and research questions are intended to be achieved and answered. Table 1: Research Objectives and Research Questions S/N Research Objective Research Question 1. Evaluate the key sustainability issues in the clothing and textile industry What are the impacts of the global clothing and textile industry on the environmental sustainability 2. Establish the role of Green innovation and green marketing in achieving triple bottom line results in the global clothing and textile industry What are the potentials of green innovation and green marketing strategies in striking a balance between profit, people, and planet Recommend ways through which triple bottom line performance can be sustainably maintained in the clothing and textile industry Discussion 2.1. Sustainability Issues in Apparel Industry The prime objective of any business is to make a profit for every value created for the market. The profitability of any enterprise is dependent on the use of various strategies that have the potentials to contribute to increased economic return that enables and hence wealth maximization for the shareholder. When consideration is given to the growing trend of the fashion market (See Figure 1:Global Apparel Fashion market growth (2012-2021) (Sources: Shanbahdeh, 2020)) the apparel industry growing from 3.5% in 2012 to 6.16% in 2020 is one that full of potentials whose growth is highly favored by the increasing demand of customers for latest fashion (Shahbandeh, 2020). However, a challenge for businesses in the textile and clothing industry is pronounced on how to maximize profit without trading off any of the remaining two elements of triple line bottom performance indicator. Figure 1:Global Apparel Fashion market growth (2012-2021) (Sources: Shanbahdeh, 2020) The clothing and textile industry has a penchant for massive consumption of natural resources, significant generation of waste, and large emission of greenhouse gases. In today’s era of fast fashion in which the clothing and textile production now follows an increasing growth trend in the mass production of clothing and apparel to cater for the increasing market demand for the latest “fad, trends and craze” of the broadening population, the impact of the clothing and apparel industry on the planet and environmental resources cannot be overemphasized (Kiezak, 2016). The critique here is that at the cost of meeting the demand of the market for the new and latest fashion, the apparel industry contributes significantly to the depletion of resources and environmental pollution (Connell & Kozar, 2017; Jovanović & Doljanica, 2019). When the concept of sustainability is taken into consideration, the industry is far from being sustainable as research data and statistics (Table 2: Global Resources and Environmental Impacts of Clothing and Textile and Industry (Sources: Drew & Yehounme, 2017)) about the global textile and clothing industry operations indicates a serious negative impact on the environment in the quest for profit maximization Table 2: Global Resources and Environmental Impacts of Clothing and Textile and Industry (Sources: Drew & Yehounme, 2017) S/N Sustainability Issue/Impact Facts Climate Foot Print Fashion production contributes up to 10% of total carbon emissions with the potential to rise up to 26% by 2050 if the industry continues on the current trajectory. Landfill Waste Generation As much as 85% of textiles goes into landfills on a yearly basis. In the year 2020 alone, the sector reportedly generated 18.6 million tons of waste majority of which are not properly disposed of. Generation of Microplastics Washing of clothes releases around 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean on a yearly basis and many of those fibers are polyester, a plastic found in an estimated 60% of garments and synthetic textiles Water Consumption and Pollution The clothing and textile industry ranks second as the largest user of water in the world. It takes around 700 gallons of water to make a cotton shirt while around 2,000 gallons of water to produce a pair of jeans. The industry account for the generation of 20% of industrial waste water on a global standard. As the increasing demand for cheaper and newer clothing and textiles escalate in the market, the clothing and apparels operation have been earmarked to be taking their toll on the environment (Connell & Kozar, 2017). For instance, on average, people bought 60% more garments in 2014 than they did in 2000 and some types of clothes send thousands of bits of plastic into the ocean while others go into landfills and due to improper waste disposal contributes to greenhouse gas emission (Drew & Yehounme, 2017). Even more so as the world population is expected to grow and with people from the middle class (growing from 3 billion to 5.4 billion people by 2030) expected to contribute significantly, there is an expectation for the increase in global natural resource use and consumption from industries such as the textile and clothing industry (Drew & Yehounme, 2017). While the growth in the global population and hence increase demand for fast fashion is good for the financial performance of businesses in the clothing and textile industry (See Figure 2: Past and Projected Spending in Key Clothing and Textile Markets (Sources: Drew & Yehounme, 2017)), the net impact on resource consumptions (expected to triple by 2030) and threat on the environment cannot be overlooked especially if consideration is given to the negative contributions of major market regions such as china that on a yearly basis reportedly produces around 26 million tons of used clothing waste which has been forcasted to reach to 50 million tons after 2030 of which majority will go into landfill (Chen, Qie, Memon & Yesuf, 2021) Figure 2: Past and Projected Spending in Key Clothing and Textile Markets (Sources: Drew & Yehounme, 2017) Green Innovation and Triple Bottom Line in Apparel Industry In today’s fast-fashion production-based clothing and textile industry, it has become a challenge for businesses to see that products are designed and produced in the form that will not pose threat to the society and the environment on one hand and be profitable on the other hand (Lundblad, & Davies, 2016). Green Innovation represents an initiative that has been earmarked to have the potentials to enable balance to be achieved between profit, social and environmental goals (Bhalerao & Deshmukh, 2015; Chen et al., 2021). In the resource consumption intensive clothing and textile industry, in which businesses are taking the advantage of fast fashion to be more profitable by relying on the mass production of clothing and apparel, green innovation has been described as a strategy through which environmental protection materials, energy-saving technology, are adapted to the production system in optimizing production and reducing process pollution and hence achieving a balance between profit, planet, and profit (Jovanović & Doljanica, 2019). In this context, in the quest of achieving profit and maximizing wealth for shareholders without trading off either of the social and environmental goals, the concept of green innovation (e.g. reverse logistics of packaging materials) used in driving apparel production, a rational management of the company’s resources can be followed when clothing and apparel manufacturing environments are designed to be environmentally safe in such a way that old clothing and textile materials can be recycled and reused to minimize resource production consumption and hence contributing to the conservation of natural resources, reduction in waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprints, and better economic performance at optimized production cost (Connell & Kozar, 2017). As the scope of green marketing to facilitate exchanges that satisfy human wants without detrimental impact on the natural environment, it has the potentials in ‘fast fashion” clothing and textile industry in the production of garments from biodegradable materials that will not become recalcitrant to the environment (Wiederhold and Martinez, 2018). 2.3. Green Marketing and Tripple Bottom Line Performance Green marketing, a subset of green innovation, is another initiative that is linked to the achievement of triple bottom-line results and high relevance in the garment and apparel industry. According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing as a concept captures the area of triple bottom line metrics as it represents (1) an approach through which superior competitive and environmentally safe products can be designed, developed, and produced; (2) represents an approach through which business can demonstrate in the market in a manner sensitive to ecological concerns; (3) represents an effort by organizations to produce, promote, package, and reclaim products in a way that it improves the environment (Bhalerao & Deshmukh, 2015). The scope of green marketing as applicable to the clothing and textile industry has been described to be all about greening the four concepts of the marketing mix including product, price, place, and promotion (Bhalerao & Deshmukh, 2015). In the aspect of greening the product for profit, the social and environmental onus on clothing and textile producers is to ensure that clothing and garments produced for the market correspond to those that are developed with eco-friendly materials using eco-friendly technologies that yield environmentally safe products that can be efficiently cleaned with eco-friendly materials using fewer resources such as water (Khan, 2020; Chen et al., 2021). This is because consumers themselves are becoming more knowledgeable and are more aware of the need to protect the environment through the use of products that contribute to the conservation of the already depleting resources and protection of the environmental quality (Dhir, Sadiq, Talwar, Sakashita, & Kaur, 2021). The cost of producing greener products is way too high than that for non-green products and while it is through product sales that profit can be maximized, incorporating social and environmental goals into profit-making plan entails the greening of product price by ensuring that the price of green products is not set at a standard which demotivates customers from switching to the use of green products (Fraj, Martínez, & Matute, 2011; Bhalerao & Deshmukh, 2015). In the same vein greening the place under the scope of green marketing represents an approach through which producers of garments and apparel can reduce the barrier limiting customers access to green products while the green promotion is all about businesses creating awareness about the product not because of the profit it intends to make off it but in terms of how the product can solve sustainability issues (Bhalerao & Deshmukh, 2015, 2015). This is of noteworthy essence when consideration is given to the fact that customers and the social public will naturally want to associate with businesses that show themselves to be sensitive to ecological concerns and commitment towards its improvement. Recommendation and Conclusion Irrespective of what they do and offer to the market so as to maximize profit, the triple baseline (TBL) of people, planet, and profit has become an influential approach to the reputation and performance of every business organization around the world and the competitive edge of every organization is strongly based on how they can achieve the balance between its commitment to shareholders who are interested in profit, the social public who expect it to be more socially responsible and the environment who calls for it to be sustainable. The clothing and textile industry, a historically major consumption of natural resources and a great contributor to environmental pollution, is an industry in which the businesses operating in it gave found themselves more in the spotlight in the areas of sustainability. While achieving profit in the market is the prime objective of businesses, balancing the demand of social and environmental responsibilities is not something that is far farfetched when the endless potentials of green innovation and green marketing as sustainable initiatives are considered. In this regard, green innovation and green marketing are ways through which “fast fashion” businesses can ensure that they are sustainable when eco-friendly materials and adaptive green technologies are used in the production of clothing and apparel for the market. Concepts including recycling and re-use are ways through which the amount of waste generated or improperly disposed clothing and textiles can be re-used as production inputs and hence reducing the amount of GHG emissions from landfills and conservation of natural resources that are unevenly distributed as well as reducing overall production cost. When these are achieved, it will be easier to green the four concepts of the marketing mix as eco-friendly designed products that are manufactured using adaptive technologies at optimized production cost can be marketed at competitive and affordable prices for customers through the greener supply chain and distribution networks. Furthermore, eco-labeling of clothing and textile materials, sustainability-themed promotional campaigns are also green marketing strategies through which fashion textile and clothing producers can demonstrate that they are indeed sensitive to social and environmental sustainability issues while deservedly making a profit from the valuable green products they are creating for the market. REFERENCES Bhalerao, V. R., & Deshmukh, A. (2015). Green marketing: Greening the 4 Ps of marketing. International Journal of Knowledge and Research in Management & E-Commerce, 5(2), 5-8. Chen, L., Qie, K., Memon, H., & Yesuf, H. M. (2021). The Empirical Analysis of Green Innovation for Fashion Brands, Perceived Value and Green Purchase Intention—Mediating and Moderating Effects. Sustainability, 13(8), 4238. Connell, K. Y. H., & Kozar, J. M. (2017). Introduction to special issue on sustainability and the triple bottom line within the global clothing and textiles industry. Dhir, A., Talwar, S., Sadiq, M., Sakashita, M., & Kaur, P. (2021). Green apparel buying behaviour: A Stimulus–Organism–Behaviour–Consequence (SOBC) perspective on sustainability‐oriented consumption in Japan. Business Strategy and the Environment. Drew, D., & Yehounme, G.. (2017). The Apparel Industry’s Environmental Impact in 6 Graphics. Accessd from https://www.wri.org/insights/apparel-industrys-environmental-impact-6-graphics Fraj, E., Martínez, E., & Matute, J. (2011). Green marketing strategy and the firm’s performance: the moderating role of environmental culture. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 19(4), 339-355. GlobesNewsWire (2021). Insights on the Fast Fashion Global Market to 2030 – Identify Growth Segments for Investment. Accessed from https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2021/05/26/2236162/28124/en/Insights-on-the-Fast-Fashion-Global-Market-to-2030-Identify-Growth-Segments-for-Investment.html Khan, M. S., Saengon, P., Alganad, A. M. N., Chongcharoen, D., & Farrukh, M. (2020). Consumer green behaviour: An approach towards environmental sustainability. Sustainable Development, 28(5), 1168-1180. Księżak, P. (2016). The CSR challenges in the clothing industry. Journal of Corporate Responsibility and Leadership, 3(2), 51-65. Lundblad, L., & Davies, I. A. (2016). The values and motivations behind sustainable fashion consumption. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 15(2), 149-162. Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2006). Strategy and society: the link between corporate social responsibility and competitive advantage. Harvard business review, 84(12), 78- 92. Rivera‐Camino, J. (2007). Re‐evaluating green marketing strategy: a stakeholder perspective. European Journal of marketing. Shahbandeh, M. (2020). Market growth of the apparel industry worldwide from 2012 to 2020. Accessed from https://www.statista.com/statistics/727541/apparel-market-growth-global/ Wiederhold, M., & Martinez, L. F. (2018). Ethical consumer behaviour in Germany: The attitude‐behaviour gap in the green apparel industry. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 42(4), 419-429.
RESEARCH PAPER – WEIGHTAGE- 12% of grade The main goal for this assignment is that students gain an in-depth understanding about an emerging topic in Marketing. Each student will conduct in-depth re
Impacts of Branding in attaining final decisions in the food industry Business enterprises are established with the sole purpose of making a profit from the service and products provided to satisfy customers. The branding of these services and products creates value for customers. The business operations impact the organization, the environment, and the people. Today, managers, business owners, and organizations are becoming interested in sustainability as a business strategy to drive change and success. Business owners are not solely focused on making profits anymore but are also focused on the organization’s performance level socially and environmentally. Organizations are now concerned with the sustainability of their operations. The food industry is comprised of four main objectives, they include; ensuring safety, customers deriving satisfaction, offering product information and the continuance of commercial viability (Mettler, 1986). According to (Gutierrez-Cruz, 2021) the food industry amounts to $8.9 million in 2021 and is expected to rise 4.50 between 2021 and 20216. With the largest segment from the snacks and confectionery division. 40% of consumers now go out of their way to purchase from companies that align with their beliefs of reducing negative environmental impacts and includes environmental stewardship (Magnani, 2021). This makes it important for other companies within this industry to adopt to these sustainability plans to gain environmental goals. Issues like income, occupation, culture, and disability constitute to the social and economic challenges in the food industry. Organizations are required to function in a sustainable fashion, References Mettler AE. The role of the food industry. Acta Paediatr Scand Suppl. 1986;323:84-95. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1986.tb10354.x. PMID: 3463120.