Download ABSTRACT Globally, energy scarcity coupled with

ABSTRACT
Globally, energy scarcity coupled with climate change is the dominant theme
in the energy research domain and a major concern in most of the national level plans.
Renewable energy has been seen as a viable alternative to mitigate this crisis. This
research focused on the eco-innovations of New and Renewable Energy Technology
Products (NRETs), which have domestic applications, for the study. However, the
literature review revealed that despite the favorability of socio-economic factors at
micro and macro level these products have not been able to garner a widespread
response. This required a deeper evaluation of the consumer expectations, marketing
efforts and the policy initiatives for their promotion.
The literature relating to adoption of innovation, eco-innovation, greeninnovation and technology adoption was reviewed. Several definitions of these
themes were reviewed like the one proposed by Cloudy (2010) wherein he defines it
as “green product innovation is an iterative process, initiated by the opportunity for
environmental improvement of the product‘s physical lifecycle via a technologybased invention, which leads to the development, production and marketing tasks
striving for the commercial success of the invention”. It was concluded that majorly
these themes are synonymous.
To answer the first research question of “Why are the Indian consumers not
adopting New and Renewable energy products?” the study furthered on the objective
of identifying and assessing the factors affecting the customers’ buying decision for
Renewable energy technologies products for domestic use .For this purpose initially
the literature related to consumer behavior was reviewed. Recent researches now
point that the new researches should be more product and situation specific, more
specifically for products which involve substantially higher cost for the consumer.
The review of literature related to Green Consumer Behavior brought forth a pertinent
definition from Peattie (2010) who defines green consumer behavior as, ‘Purchase
choice, product use and post use, household management, collective, and consumer
activism behaviors, reflecting some degree of environment-related motivation”. The
definition rightly highlights that green consumer is not just related to sensitivity
towards the environment, but it exists with the other aspects of buying behavior .For
the purpose of factors affecting the technology adoption various models were
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analyzed, they were Theory of Reasoned Action, Theory of Planned Behavior,
Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior , Technology Acceptance Model, Extension
of Technology Acceptance model, Trandis Model, Rogers’ Model and the Model of
Adoption Ecological Products’. The comparison of these models highlighted that each
one had successive superiority to the previous one. However, the Model of Adoption
Ecological Products’, which was built on the Rogers’ Model was found to be
incorporating all the factors proposed in the other models as well as the ones which
are specific to green products. The study followed both exploratory and descriptive
design. A schedule, evolved from the constructs of this model, was developed for
administration to the Adopters and Rejecters of NRET products. A sample 1136adopter, 442 Rejecters was collected. The data analysis was done using Logistic
Regression. The analysis pointed out that in terms of adoption the understanding of
the Product and System Properties had the greatest role in influencing adoption.
For answering the second research questions “Why have the marketers of New
and renewable energy products not been able to create widespread diffusion of the
technology?” the research furthered on the objective of evaluating and analyzing the
factors inhibiting the marketing of New and Renewable energy technologies products
for domestic use. For this purpose the literature related to marketing of green
innovation, green marketing and success stories in green marketing were reviewed.
The common thread, in all the organizations, has been the acceptance of the products
these businesses. The acceptance of products of these firms is not due to chance or
primarily these products are less harmful to the environment, but they were useful to
the customers. It can be further concluded that NRETs being eco-innovation, the
manufacturers will have to learn from the best practices of the industry for success.
The study gauged the perception of manufacturers on the elements of a marketing
audit. A sample of 32 manufacturers was collected, and the data was analyzed with
the help of One-sample and two samples T-test. The macro-economic environment is
perceived favorable for the industry growth. However, in terms of Marketing Strategy
Audit, Marketing Organization Audit, Marketing Systems Audit, Productivity Audit,
Marketing Function Audit there is much scope for growth.
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For answering the third research questions, “Why has the policy initiative of
the government not been able to provide the intended impetuous to the widespread
adoption and diffusion of New and Renewable Energy Products?”. The research
furthered this objective by critically evaluating the policy initiatives of the
government for the adoption and diffusion of New and Renewable energy products
for domestic use. The third, objective involved the review of the role of policy in
facilitating diffusion. For this purpose the literature relating to the successful policy
initiatives in various countries was reviewed .This was coupled with the literature
relating to policy cycle. For this purpose Policy Analysis was done. The policy
analysis highlighted that the subsidy on conventional fuels coupled with beaurocratic
approach, lack of funds and lack of focus on product promotion and also low low key
emphasis on research and development were the primary factors for ineffectiveness of
the policy.
The study concludes with suggestions in terms of changes in the orientation of
the manufacturers’ perspective in terms of product and system properties- firstly the
product utility has to be enhanced, secondly the interconnectedness has to be
improved and finally the symbolism has to be developed to communicate the utility
and environment friendliness of the product. In terms of operations, keeping the
theme of eco-innovation central, and identifying them as SMEs, the firms have been
suggested to restructure their operations on sound managerial and marketing
principles. The fuel subsidy on conventional fuels is a necessary evil in India, as
discussed earlier still a large majority of population depends on these fuels, out rightly
removing the subsidy would not only escalate the energy prices but would have an
inflationary impact on other consumer commodities as well. To counter act them, as
proposed above, innovative pricing and cost reduction of the product can be targeted.
The manufacturers can, rather should, lobby with the government to reduce fuel
subsidy on conventional fuels. Another option can be to offer some part of
conventional fuel subsidy in terms of purchase linked to the NRET products.
The study suggests that further studies in the level of experience of usage and
actual usage behavior can be studied.
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