Green Branding and the Moral Expectation of the Firm October 12, 2007 Caroline D Ditlev-Simonsen Norwegian School of Management

Societal development Moral expectations towards companies Moral reality among individuals

Private individuals opinion 58% of the general public across Europe feel that industry and commerce do not currently pay enough attention to their social and environmental responsibilities. Source: European Study on CSR (12,162 general public across Europe), MORI 80% of leaders and youth are of the opinion that companies must assume more corporate responsibility. Source: MMI og Dagens Næringsliv survey, January % of European consumers surveyed are willing to pay more for environmentally and socially responsible products. Source: MORI/CSR Europe, 2000

Corporate Responses Development of new environmentally friendly products Increased number of Sustainability Reports / Transparency Participate in the sustainability debate Collaborate with non-governmental organizations Pursue sustainable initiatives …… but how green can a polluting company become??

Reality = The market “Moral stops at the pocketbook. ” Devinney et al., 2006 “Normative influences do not automatically translate into behavior.” Journal of Marketing, 1997 Future generations? MBA students think business leaders’ motivation is solely to increase profit when pursuing corporate responsibility. MBA students thinks business leaders’ motivation should be to contribute to sustainable development.

The film – Sustainable Development Students Challenges Business Leaders Developed by: University of St. Gallen and BI Norwegian School of Management Supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pharmaceutical sector (Novartis) Energy sector (Statoil and Petrobas) Shipping sector (Wilhelmsen) Finance sector (Storebrand and FormaFutura)