ISM AND ISEG MBA - Développement durable

considered to fundamentally include environmental protection, in line with the example of
Germany (a country in which the ecological party ranks third place).
This commitment and political awareness have taught companies two things:
First, the political parties have become sensitive to environmental issues because there is a
corresponding expectation from the population and consequently from the consumer. Therefore
company policy needs to address environmental considerations in their communication strategy,
their marketing, and possibly in their global strategy.
Second, this sudden awareness by political parties is capable of leading to changes in
fundamental policy. Companies will be obliged to adapt their production and distribution
methods.
The fact that the environment is more than just a concept can also encourage companies to
consider environmental factors at the drafting stage of their policies and strategies. Consequently,
as suggested above, even if sustainable development is a concept which may disappear,
environmental issues are not just trends and will not itself disappear.
Current company involvement in environmental protection issues can be shown on three different
levels.
The first level relates to those companies with little involvement. These companies have little
desire to exhibit any responsibility towards environmental protection. Nevertheless, they do not
want to loose face or future business with environmentally minded consumers, so they endeavour
to portray a green aspect of their firm by restricting their communications to external matters.
These firms are not particularly concerned by the environment and just publish propaganda.
There are no real operational activities or financial commitment to protect the environment.
Consequently, company communication avoids concrete facts. Prudence must be observed by
such companies using Green Marketing only from an external point of view and not as an
inherent part of their global strategy (or at least within manufacturing or distribution strategies). It
could prove to be very negative marketing indeed if consumers were to discover the true strategy
of such companies and their desire to simply portray a “green” picture without doing anything to
21