Marketing Research
Marketing decision making depends upon marketing research into customers, competitors, markets, industries and the broader environment. The growth in marketing research agencies and regular market research surveys considering the sustainability dimensions of consumers and particular market are now becoming commonplace. There are now agencies specialising in researching the ethical, social and environmental concerns of consumers.
It is worth noting that the wording of the questions asked by researchers has a strong influence on the nature of the answers that are given, and that the questions can effectively communicate something to those being interviewed. The frequently asked question “How much extra would you be willing to pay for environmentally superior products” contains a message that such products will be more expensive, which is not necessarily the case. Research data often frequently reports purchase intentions, which can be very different from actual purchase behaviour for a number of reasons.
http://www.mpgintl.com/sustain
The report gives an overview of recent research related to sustainability with
implications for marketing. It is part of the Sustain project that is being
organised by UNEP and ESOMAR.
http://www.ncc.org.uk/pubs/pdf/green_choice.pdf
Research report undertaken with UK consumers on attitudes towards sustainable
consumption
http://www.mori.com/polls/2001/globalisation.shtml
World-wide survey conducted in 2001 covering attitudes towards environmental
and globalization issues.
http://www.mori.com/polls/2002/waste_recycling.shtml
A survey on 'Green Behaviour - Sustainable Trends, Sustainable Lives?'
http://www.mori.com/polls/1998/iem_02.shtml
International Mori poll on attitudes towards environmental regulations.
http://www.mori.com/pubinfo/sl/reputation-and-csr.pdf
This links to an article published by Mori on corporate social responsibility
and reputation.
http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?cid=1077610044424&pagename=CoopBank%2FPage%2FtplPageStandard&c=Page
Major survey on trends in ethical consumerism in the UK.
http://www.globescan.com
Provides results of a range of surveys on environmental attitudes.
http://www.roper.com
Includes a range of environmental survey information.
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=487
Survey of US consumers environmental concerns including global warming
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_37/b3698004.htm
A survey of US citizens on attitudes towards 'Corporate America'
http://www.choice.com.au/defaultView.aspx?id=102314&catId=100165
Australian Consumer Association testing results and reports
http://www.frisch.uio.no/prosjekter/p3113_eng.html
This project is concerned with the behaviour of consumers and producers who
are willing to pay more to protect the environment.
http://flag.blackened.net/intanark/faq/secE7.html
An article on green consumerism - "Can green consumerism stop the ecological
crisis".
http://www.unep.org/children_youth/homepage_files/youth/campaign.htm
Information on UNEP's Youth and Sustainable Consumption programmes.
http://www.wbs.ac.uk/downloads/hot_topics/hot_topics_01.pdf
A report covering The Green Challenge - The Market for Eco Friendly Products.
http://www.jusbiz.org/
This 'Just Business' web site provides information and activities about global
and ethical issues for students and teachers of Business Studies and Economics.
http://www.sirigroup.com/pdf/SRI-Funds-Report2002.pdf
Research into growth of ethical investment market.