Sustainable Green Marketing as a Business Model

This paper seeks to investigate sustainable green marketing as a business model in the African context. Promoting products or services that are eco-friendly is called green marketing. It involves incorporating sustainable principles into various aspects of marketing. Broadly, the sustainable business principles include investing profits in renewable energy, responsible waste disposal practices and avoiding printed materials. Nevertheless, some organisations in the global south are still grappling with the problem of balancing profit with sustainability. Against this backdrop, this paper is guided by three research questions: what are sustainable green marketing practices in the African business context? what are the benefits of sustainable green marketing to business? and which challenges are faced in implementing sustainable green marketing? Eventually, this study’s results would proffer a business model which can be a key driver of innovation and competitiveness and assist corporate organisations reap substantial economic benefits. Furthermore, green marketing can raise awareness among consumers about the importance of sustainability and environmental impact of their purchasing decisions. An integrative literature review methodology was employed by the authors to understand sustainable green marketing benefits and challenges. The study is guided by two key theories: stakeholder theory and institutional theory. The research findings indicated a deficiency in knowledge, skills, and proficiency in environmental sustainability, conservation, and eco-friendly practices within certain African businesses. Additionally, it was found that certain harmful products were still being used because individuals were unaware of the negative impact these products had on the environment. Notably, using packaging that produces no waste and promoting environmentally friendly advertising gives a competitive advantage and positive outcomes for manufacturing companies. Nevertheless, there are challenges in implementing green marketing, including the lack of standardized criteria for evaluating environmental impact, limited financial resources and tools to measure and monitor environmental effects, and difficulties in tracking consumer behavior.