Title: Green marketing as a strategic tool for the sustainable development of less favoured areas of Greece: women's agro-tourism cooperatives

Authors: Stefanos Tsiaras; Eleni Triantafillidou; Effimia Katsanika

Addresses: Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece ' Department of Business Administration, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Street, Thessaloniki 540 06, Greece ' Department of Business Administration, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Street, Thessaloniki 540 06, Greece

Abstract: Sustainable development and green marketing are two terms that dominate in the modern era. The aim of this paper is to examine how green marketing can contribute as a strategic tool to the sustainable development of less favoured areas, focusing on women's agro-tourism cooperatives and their impact on local and national level. Women's agro-tourism cooperatives, whose number has considerably increased in Greece in the past 20 years, are a perfect example for the application of green economy. Despite certain obstacles, they fulfil the principles of sustainable development, taking under consideration the three pillars of sustainability: economic growth, environmental protection and social equity. The future of women's cooperatives in Greece is very promising; the vast majority has already survived the economic crisis and there is room for further improvement regarding product, price, place and promotion.

Keywords: agro-tourism; Greece; green marketing; less favoured areas; sustainable development; women cooperatives; sustainability; female cooperatives; economic growth; environmental protection; social equity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECRM.2016.079376

International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management, 2016 Vol.10 No.1, pp.54 - 64

Received: 08 Mar 2016
Accepted: 25 May 2016

Published online: 27 Sep 2016 *

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