Green Marketing Practices by Kenya Petroleum Refineries: a Study of the Perception of the Management of Oil Marketing Companies in Kenya

Abstract

Environmental concerns are increasingly continuing to dictate the way businesses are managed. The issue has been given impetus by parliament and activists who have pressed for tougher legislation towards the protection of the environment. Companies are now being pressurised to preserve the environment. The objective of this study was to study the perception of the management of Oil Marketing Companies towards green marketing practices by the Kenya Petroleum Refineries.

A descriptive study was conducted among the oil marketing companies in Kenya. Data was collected from the managers of the 32 Oil Marketing Companies. One respondent each in the position of Supplies and Planning Manager was targeted. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. The questionnaires were e-mailed to the respondents, and follow up done through telephone calls and personal visits.

Only 19 questionnaires that had been sent to the respondents were returned. This presented a response rate of 59.38%. Data was analysed using frequencies, percentages, mean scores, standard deviations and coefficients of variations. Findings revealed that the majority of the targeted companies were between 10 and 20 years, with the majority ownership being wholly locally owned. There was no firm that was jointly owned. In addition, the products price settings and corporate activities of the company were perceived to a medium extent while the rest of the dimensions were considered to a large extent. The variation of the responses towards price settings was significant as the standard deviation was above one. In general, the Kenya Petroleum Refineries was perceived to be practising green marketing by the management of the oil marketing companies. This shows that the business had been reshaped to take advantages of the developments towards the environment.

A major challenge facing the company was on corporate social responsibility. Respondents perceived the company as not doing enough to give back to the society what it got from it. It is therefore imperative for the management to reconsider its attitude towards the society. In addition to that, pricing was also an issue as organizations felt exploited when processing at the refinery. The refinery should therefore consider lowering the processing fee so that the Oil Marketing Companies can process more crude oil at the firm. The study was limited to the marketing companies that had signed a processing agreement with the refinery. However, there are other companies in the industry that do have a refining contract with the company. A similar study should be done to determine whether all the Oil Marketing Companies in Kenya practice green marketing.