Going green across borders : A study on the impact of green marketing on the internationalization of SMEs

Abstract: In recent years, the aspects of sustainability and environmental friendliness have taken on an increasingly large role in our society and due to climate change and scarcity of resources, green technologies are growing. As the consequence, this ongoing trend has affected the business environment. Companies need to adapt their strategies to a sustainable manner and take advantage of the potential opportunities generated by this change. Considering the impact and importance of Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the global business environment and economic development, this paper has therefore addressed the question of how SMEs can gain a competitive advantage by implementing a green marketing strategy and how far possible advantages can be used for the internationalization of these companies. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five German and Swedish case companies to investigate to what extent they are implementing a green marketing strategy, if they have reached any competitive advantages generated by this strategy, and whether these competitive advantages have contributed to a smoother internationalization process. To answer these questions, the case companies are positioned on the green marketing matrix proposed by Ginsberg and Bloom (2004) which is the basic concept for analyzing the respective strategy, then case studies’ attitudes regarding the aspect of sustainability, competitive advantages raised from implementing a green marketing strategy and their potential impacts on internationalization process are analyzed. According to the empirical findings, the case studies have registered a tremendous change in customers' behavior regarding green behaviors in society, which emphasizes the need to implement a green business strategy. Particularly, applying a green marketing strategy enables companies to achieve several competitive advantages which help them develop an optimal position against competitors and even exploit them in their internationalization process.