Green Marketing and Management in Emerging Markets, 1st ed. 2021 The Crucial Role of People Management in Successful Implementation Palgrave Studies of Marketing in Emerging Economies Series

Adverse environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions and chemical spills have put the topic of green business firmly on the sustainability agenda. Despite the burgeoning literature on green business and green marketing from the globalised north, there is relative parsimony of green business literature in the global south. This book offers a greater understanding of what green marketing is, as well as the various levels of practices and the implementations thereof. It places specific emphasis on the people through which green marketing excellence can be achieved. Contributors argue that, given the complexity of green marketing, people management plays a key role in achieving green marketing success, and the chapters consider the role that green human resource management practices play in marketing.

Providing a unique perspective on the successful implementation of green marketing, this book is an important resource for students, researchers and practitioners. It is of particular interest to those who desire a greater understanding of how organisations deal internally and externally with increasing pressure to become more socially responsible and embed ?greenness? in all their marketing activities.

Chapter 1: Green Business Practices in Emerging Economies

Contributors to this chapter will argue that rapid industrial modernisation has led to adverse environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions, toxic pollutions, and chemical spills (Peng and Lin, 2008). In response to the growing global environmental awareness, green   business practises have emerged and been embraced as business seek to remain relevant and have a green competitive edge.  Green practices have proliferated as companies seek to reduce the environmental impacts of their products and services. Institutional theorists argue that external pressures play a critical role in determining organisational actions by pushing firm leaders to adopt certain practices and to refrain from practising others (Powell & DiMaggio, 1991). External and internal forces have prompted firms to consider and choose green business practises in emerging economies. Despite the burgeoning literature on green exercises in Western Developed countries, little research exists on the topic in small emerging and developing countries. In this chapter, the aim is to explore green practises in Emerging economies (Rettab, Brik and Mellahi, 2009). The questions the chapter seek to answer include but not limited

Chapter 2: Green Marketing Planning: The people management perspective

Planning is a strategic endeavour that  cut across all organisational activities. To achieve a strategic goal, there must be a strategic plan this resonate in daily actions and departmental endeavours. Green marketing goals will not be achieved without a green marketing plan which also need people with the right green culture and orientation. This chapter will assess green marketing planning from the perspective of people management. Planning and people are key themes in the  8Ps of Green Marketing  identified by Liu,  Kasturiratne and  Moizer (2012), this chapter will therefore focus on green marketing planning: a people management perspective in emerging market.

Chapter 3  Green Human  Resources Management and Green Skills for Green marketing in an Emerging Market

Green human capital availability in an organisation fosters the adoption of environmental management practices such as green supply chain management including green manufacturing and reverse logistics to attain sustainability (Lee and Klassen, 2008; Jabbour et al., 2019). Iqbal et al. (2018) suggested a definite link between employees’ green behaviour and environmental sustainability of organisation. Besides, the allocation of talented individuals who are specialised in environmental management plays a substantial role in adopting green strategies (Sarkis et al., 2010). Top management commitment and sustainability culture play a critical moderating role in enhancing environmental management practices and developing resource (green human capital) pool in the firm (Fraj et al., 2011; Renwick et al., 2013; El-Kassar and Singh, 2019). However, other researchers are of the view that the hiring environmentally-oriented staff is very costly and may create an economic burden on companies (Hahn et al., 2014), especially for firms operating from emerging countries where environmental, institutional voids and the lack of environmentally conscious personnel are significant challenges. Given the conflicting arguments, this chapter will seek to determine the status and challenges of green human resource management practises. To what extent does green human resource management promote green innovation? And lastly what are the factors that facilitate the adoption of Green HRM? GHRM is increasingly being treated as an essential tool for implementing green strategies and environmental management practices

Chapter 4:Treating and Managing People The Green Way

For the transformation of a harsh unapproachable work environment to a soft, tolerant green environment, special characteristics are needed, both from the company and the workforce. This chapter will focus on green people management through the various stages of employment and will elaborate on how to manage each stage. Green people management will be discussed on all levels, from the establishing of a job description of the position to be advertised up to the retiring/resigning of the employee in an organisation.

The business must discover the answer on the “it” question. What is “it: that this company has that compels employees to work for this company? What makes the company better to work for than another company? What should a company do to make a significant impact on the manner employees view this company? Are changes to convert ordinary employee management into green people management sustainable? It should be clear that the company is a proponent of green people management. With green people management, the company also adheres to social justice. Green work ethics and ethics of care should be at theorder of the day. The company's top structure must be at the forefront of research on the green concept regarding all aspects of the company. The layout of the company infrastructure must be indicative of what the company stands for. In carrying out its duties, the company must be at the forefront of practices that embraces healthy green people management and environmental practices and benchmark their company as such.

Chapter 5: Exploring the Interrelationships between Green People Management, Internal Communications and Employee Engagement

Chapter 6: Green People Management Practices and Its Implementation in Green Marketing Firms in China

China continuous growth in the global economy and in the green movement will be the focus in this chapter. China has one of the largest economies in the world and sustainable practices should be a key part of their business principles. Green marketing brings to an equilibrium marketing goals and environmental sustainability with a plan of action which is achieved through people. This chapter will focus on green people management practices and its implication on green marketing firms in China.

Chapter 7: Conclusions and Implications for Theoretical Development, Policy Formulation and Firm Managerial Decision Making

This chapter will provide a synthesis of  the recommendations from other chapter while providing practical implications for policy formulation and firm managerial decisions which will not be limited to green marketing but all other green practices the organisation might want to engage in. Sustainable business is the way forward and emerging market must be part of this train.  People remain at the core of sustainability practices and goals, a reality, businesses in emerging market must wake up to and start putting into practice.

Robert Ebo Hinson is Professor and Head of the Department of Marketing & Entrepreneurship at the University of Ghana Business School. Before becoming an academic, he worked in advertising as an Account Director supervising global brands such as Microsoft and Mercedes Benz. Since turning academic, he has worked in various capacities for African, North American and European Universities. Robert is a Professor of Marketing and holds a DPhil in Marketing and a PhD in International Business. 

Ogechi Adeola is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Head of Department of Operations, Marketing and Information Systems at the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria. She has published several academic books and articles in top scholarly journals, with a focus on emerging economies. Her co-authored papers won Best Paper Awards at international conferences in 2016–2019, consecutively.

Isaiah Adisa is an astute and dynamic management researcher. He has co-authored book chapters and journal articles. His co-authored paper won the best paper award in 2019 at the 13th MBAcademy International Conference on Management Businesses Organization and Innovation (IMBAC2019). Isaiah’s research interests cut across human resources management, organisational behaviour, marketing and gender studies.

Explored the extent that green people management / HRM practices promote green innovation

Examines how green people management can drive employee engagement to achieve sustainable business practice and green marketing success

Features contributions from a case of international academics from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, France, Australia, and the UK