Green Products and Green Marketing: A Study on

Consumer Awareness in Chennai Region

Ph.D thesis defence by V.Varalakshmi

Research Supervisor: Dr.L.Cesis Dastan, Associate Professor, Department of Commerce,
Presidency College, Chennai.

Green Products are made from natural resources and cause no or minimal
environmental hazard. These products are easily biodegradable and do not harm the
environment as the other man-made products such as plastic. Often made of recycled
materials or content or from renewable and sustainable sources. Such Green products are
available in food, non-toxic chemicals and construction materials, green energy, green
fertilizers and so on.

The present study has collected data from respondents of Chennai region. It is fixed
that the minimum number of years a respondent should have stayed in Chennai is 5 years.
Further, for the purpose of data collection, questions are framed with the idea that the green
products which are too scientific and domain specific should be excluded. The products
which are commonly used or encountered by the general public in normal circumstances are
included in the questionnaire. In short, the products covered in the questionnaire are green
energy, green fabrics and textiles, organic foods and green building materials.

This study is divided into five chapters. The following is the structure of the chapter
division: Chapter one forms the introduction to the thesis. This chapter presents a complete
overview of the study. It discusses the need for the study, objectives, hypotheses formed,
scope and limitations of the study, along with a brief introduction to green products and green
marketing. This chapter also talks about the primary data and secondary data collected for
this study and introduces the research tools which are applied to the primary data for analysis.

The second chapter attempts to present the literature review in detail. The relevant
secondary data, books, articles, web sources, theses on green marketing and green products
are read and discussed in this section.

The third chapter would give the profile of the study area namely Chennai city.
Though Chennai city has a rich history and heritage, for the purpose of this study, the
geographical zones, population, environment and industries are focused.

The fourth chapter analyses the primary data collected from the 400 respondents
through the schedule prepared by the researcher. (The schedule is enclosed in the appendix
section)
 The fifth and concluding chapter summarizes the whole study and presents the
research findings. This chapter also gives ideas for further research on green products and
green marketing