Green brands on electricity market in Finland and Sweden

Abstract

Green values on electricity market have become more important and has upraised also wide discussion in society about electricity production’s environment friendliness. Electricity retailers have responded to this demand for green electricity by establishing green electricity brands. The objective of this research was to find out what differences and similarities are there between green brands in Finland and Sweden and are they culturally related. The research was an explorative cross-case study, comparing two green electricity brands in Finland and Sweden. The research studied the structure of these green brands. The structure of the brands was seen as services and associations related to it. These elements were analyzed from cultural point of view by using Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. This made possible to gain information about how different companies in different cultures have tried to create green electricity brands. The data for research was collected from by using secondary data and interviews. The research revealed that these two green brands operate quite differently on the market. Other has segmented its product to certain customers and the other is competing with the combination of prize and green values. The differences and similarities between brands were partly culture related, but also elements that do not fit from the culture’s point of view to brand’s structure were became evident.