Building on the first year plan, this research further attempts to depict how consumer perceptions distinct from current corporate green positioning. The second year plan, accordingly, centers on two stages to accomplish this: framework development of corporate green brand positioning, and comparison between consumer perceptions and corporate positioning respectively.
The two stages are detailed next.
3.2.1 Stage 3: framework development of corporate green brand positioning
The stage 3 mainly aims to develop a framework that describes the various green positioning manifested in corporate websites of green brands. The emphasis of this stage encompasses: data collection of green positioning in corporate websites, content analysis, NVIVO analysis, and trustworthiness assurance, described below.
Data collection of green positioning from corporate websites
After the preliminary exploration of survey in stage 1, the websites of sample firms yielded will be focused for following content analysis. The URL addresses related green brand positioning for the sample companies are generated by search engines. Each of the corporate websites will be accessed and viewed to ascertain what text they contain that might be perceived as brand positioning.
Content analysis
The method of content analysis, used in this research, is defined as “a research technique for the objective, systematic and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication (Krippendorff 1980).” This ‘bottom-up’ approach enables the definition of components and measurement of their occurrence in the sample. During the analysis, the code evolves when each new code entered prompts the review of the previously coded themes. Codes vary between each other, recognized as mutually exclusive and separate themes. Theory serves as a guide to interpretation of latent meaning, not used to construct themes. The arising of the themes continues
until no additional data can be found and added to the categories being developed and examined.
This type of analysis is rather intuitive, using terms which are defined by the analyst (Riessman 1993). Once the thematic coding is completed, a quantitative analysis will be carried out using the themes as categories. By following this approach, flexibility in the exploratory process and higher inclusivity during quantification will be allowed.
The attention of this research given to the arising themes on corporate websites will be measured to build the exploratory model. The websites are used to pull out recurring common themes, which constitute the green brand positioning components researched. The units of analysis are subjects and themes arising from the text of green commitment or corporate responsibility in websites (e.g., Figure 6), which is a more interpretative approach that focuses on not just manifest content but latent content as well as Bryman (2001) claims. Of the text related to green positioning, the meaning is not difficult to be discerned and interpreted that the codes could be explicit or implied, shown in the quote in Table 2 and Table 3.
The differences between explicit and implied positioning interpreted in this research lie in weather the text of green positioning is explicitly classified and focused in more details, disclosed in corporate websites. Companies such as McDonald’s (Table 2) and Starbucks (Figure 6) have clear classifications of focused area in announcement of green commitment and corporate responsibility.
On the contrary, the green positioning of some corporations is embedded in the description of corporate commitment to the environment without explicit and detailed emphases and categories, which is well evidenced by the website of AVON company (Table 3).
It is common that different manifestations of text for green positioning implicate the same meaning. Accordingly, the text with same connotation is categorized into an identical concept in this research. Such as a similar positioning is revealed in Table 2 and Table 3, including: waste management, and reducing waste respectively. The two concepts will be interpreted and coded into a same category− waste reduction. This type of analysis is rather intuitive, using terms which are defined by the analyst (Riessman 1993).
Table 2: Example of explicit green positioning
“At the restaurant level, we are focused on three areas:
Energy conservation – Find further ways to increase energy efficiency in our restaurants in order to save money and reduce our environmental impacts
Sustainable packaging and waste management – Continue exploring ways to reduce the environmental impacts of our consumer packaging and waste in our restaurant operations
Green building design – Enhance our strict building standards to incorporate further opportunities for environmental efficiencies and innovation in the design and construction of our restaurants
On all of these priorities, we continue to engage with experts and NGOs like World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, Environmental Defense Fund, the U.S. Green Building Council and similar organizations around the world to get their best thinking on how we can improve our environmental performance.”
----by McDonald’s
(http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/csr/about/environmental_responsibility.html)
Table 3: Example of implied green positioning
“Our commitment to the environment has been deeply rooted in Avon’s principles for more than a century. At our locations worldwide, we remain committed to reducing our global environmental footprint, including the issue of climate change, by recycling, reducing waste, conserving energy and water, and monitoring and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. New Avon facilities are developed using green building standards, and we are proud of recent LEED, BREEAM and equivalent certifications in countries including Brazil, the US and the UK, where Avon received a
“Green Apple Award” for the Northampton facility. We are dedicated to ensuring compliance with environmental regulations around the world, and we strive to continuously improve our environmental performance by setting and achieving measurable goals….”
----by AVON
(http://www.avoncompany.com/corporatecitizenship/corporateresponsibility/whatwecareabout/e nvironment/index.html)
Figure 6: green positioning revealed in Starbucks website
(Data source: http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/environment)
NVIVO analysis
The process of content analysis is combined with the application of NVIVO software. As aforementioned, systematically classification of multiple thick description data is allowed in NVIVO. More importantly, the frequencies of individual cases are automatically revealed during the coding without manually calculating in tabulation as traditional ways. This allows the objectivity and reliability in analysis.
Trustworthiness assurance
For ensuring trustworthy interpretation, a second coder was employed to assess the dependability and confirmability of the findings. The interpretation of the themes requires no particular experience of green branding in academic or practical areas; however, the coder’s background as a practitioner in the green brand industry may reduce the risk of misinterpretation or data omission. To further substantiate the coding process, accordingly, the research will recruit a second coder with pragmatic experiences related to green brands to review the coding scheme, reducing the risk of misinterpretation and conducting a trustworthy research.
3.2.2 Stage4: comparison consumer perceptions with corporate positioning
Building on the performance of prior stages, the difference between consumer perceptions and corporate positioning in the online environment will be drawn in final stage. Stage 4 involves two main focuses: data comparison, and elicitation of implication. The latter will shed light on final research question in this research− namely the understanding of the gap and varied characteristics that exist between the declaration on corporate web sites and consumer perceptions toward green brand positioning.
Data comparison
Owing to systematical classification and analysis of prior phases, two conceptual frameworks regarding consumer and corporation perspectives are yielded and allow for conducting the further comparison. The comparison will be made on the basis of the conceptual connotation through the
application of NVIVO. The results will be given to the second reviewer for assuring the trustworthiness of research.
Elicitation of implication
After the comparison, the research will center on the green brands which have variations of green positioning strategies between corporation and consumer aspects. The differentiated characteristics will be elicited and draw significant implications for the marketing strategies and management of current green branding in Taiwanese firms. Particularly, no matter similar or distinct features among consumer perceptions and corporate positioning, the results will be a crucial reference for Taiwanese companies in conducting corporate responsibility with environmental awareness.
4. Results
This chapter provides the results of 1st year project. The study firstly reports the characteristics about the participants, followed by the results of the ZMET interviews.