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Companies along the forestry‐wood value chain from four European countries were surveyed in order to examine social responsibility in values and environmental emphasis in their marketing planning. Most of the Finnish, Swedish, German and UK companies emphasise environmental issues in their values, marketing strategies, structures and functions. The companies were classified into three groups according to their responsibility values based on the concepts of redirecting customers towards sustainability and the role of governmental balancing of markets. “Proactive green marketers” (companies emphasising pursuing sustainability and believing in free market system) emphasise environmental issues in their marketing planning clearly more than traditional “consumption marketers”, and more than “reactive green marketers” (companies emphasising pursuing sustainability under governmental balancing). We interpret that proactive marketers are the most genuine group in implementing environmental marketing voluntarily and seeking competitive advantage through environmental friendliness. Thus, the example of these progressive companies should be the direction towards sustainable development in business and society. The results also give evidence that green values, environmental marketing strategies, structures and functions are logically connected to each other as hypothesised according to the model of environmental marketing used to guide this study.

The basic purpose of this research is to compare and describe various aspects related to student perceptions of forest industry CR performance in Finland and the USA.

With a quantitative research method, this study investigated 568 students. CSR and CSR reporting are the fundamental concepts that shape the development of the hypotheses and thus are integral to this empirical study.

Finnish students have a stronger belief that reporting is reliable and open than their US counterparts. Finnish students show more positive views on the way forest industry companies implement environmental responsibility than their US counterparts. US students show more positive views on social responsibility, especially those connected with stakeholder relations, than their Finnish counterparts.

The obvious connections between reporting views and perceptions of corporate responsibility highlight the significance of reliable reporting in the context of CR. Major fields of study significantly affected student perceptions of CR. The results of the study can help schools and enterprises to design proper CR‐related education courses or programs. Results of this study indicate that the CR weakness of the industry still lies in environmental responsibility. Thus, while forest industry companies should strive to apply a multi‐dimensional CR strategy, emphasis should still be on the environmental component.

The purpose of this paper is to examine current and prospective consumer perceptions, purchase intent and parent brand evaluation due to green brand – line and category extensions by marketers of established (non‐green) brands for products with high vs low perceived environmental impact.

The paper analyses responses to online surveys by 602 pet‐owners at social networking websites. The quasi‐experiment considered perceived environmental impact of core product, parent‐brand user status, and green extension strategy (line vs category). Brand extension evaluation, purchase intent, and parent brand evaluation were then measured.

Results suggest that consumers are more likely to purchase green extensions of products with high perceived environmental impact and that current consumers prefer green line extensions to green category extensions. Both have similar reciprocal impact on parent brand evaluation among current consumers.

The data have external validity but lack the control possible in laboratory experiments. Future research should replicate the study in other product categories.

Managers of established brands should consider brand extensions of products associated with high environmental impact only.

This paper examines managerial implications of line vs category extension strategies for green brand extensions of established brands.

In these economically and ecologically challenging times, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how innovation theory can be used to design more effective, proactive B2B green marketing strategies in order to meet the triple bottom line of economic, social, and ecological sustainability.

This conceptual paper provides a literature review of green marketing strategies and competitive advantage, and relates it to diffusion of innovation theory in a new way. First, a brief overview is described of corporate social responsibility (CSR) theories related to green marketing, with this paper providing value by adding innovation theory to address the gap in the literature. Next, a discussion is provided on reactive and proactive B2B green marketing strategies, degrees of innovation, and diffusion theory research, and propositions are developed. Then, a new model is presented on B2B green marketing innovation strategies and competitive advantage. Next, a conceptual analysis is presented using a diffusion of innovation characteristics framework to show relationships of the innovation characteristics with proactive B2B green marketing strategies and competitive advantage.

Five propositions are developed to reflect the relationship of B2B green marketing strategies with types of innovations and competitive advantage. In addition, a conceptual analysis found seven areas of B2B proactive green marketing strategies related to the diffusion of innovation characteristics. Findings also showed diffusion characteristics are associated with 11 key benefits of sustainable B2B green marketing competitive advantage.

Limitations and managerial implications are discussed. Also, this paper suggests recommendations related to diffusion of innovation characteristics in future research.

This paper provides a diffusion of innovation characteristics framework to test the effectiveness of B2B green marketing strategies and to help generate competitive advantages in an ecologically‐sustainable way. Managerial implications are discussed on how organisations can achieve successful competitive advantage while contributing to environmental sustainability for the common good of society.

This study addresses a gap in the literature on environmental/green marketing by being the first study to expand the CSR category of instrumental theories to include diffusion of innovation theory. Diffusion of innovation theory is applicable to green marketing because it includes new innovations (products, services, processes, etc.). An application of diffusion of innovation characteristics and their relationship to proactive B2B green marketing strategies can help shed light on how to increase the rate of adoption for green products, services, and processes to create a competitive advantage, and at the same time, help move the world toward greater ecological sustainability.