External Drivers of Dominant Green Positioning for Organic Food Brands: Evidence from an Emerging Market

Mihai Stoica (), Mihai Ioan Roșca, Laura Daniela Roșca and Ioana Cecilia Popescu ()
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Mihai Stoica: Faculty of Marketing, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania
Mihai Ioan Roșca: Faculty of Marketing, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania
Laura Daniela Roșca: Faculty of Management-Marketing, Romanian-American University, 012101 Bucharest, Romania
Ioana Cecilia Popescu: Faculty of Marketing, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 19, 1-27

Abstract: Growing consumer interest in personal health and environmental sustainability has driven a significant number of companies to enter the organic food market. While this offers valuable opportunities, companies face substantial challenges in making marketing decisions which are aligned with the specific characteristics of this sector. This paper studies the impact of three external drivers—environmental customer pressure, environmental competitive intensity, and environmental regulatory pressure—on companies’ decision to adopt a dominant green positioning strategy within the Romanian organic food market. To this end, an online survey was conducted among 77 companies, including producers, processors, distributors, and retailers, all of which own an organic food brand. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was applied to assess the measurement model and test the hypothesised structural relationships. Our findings confirm that customer pressure plays a significant role in shaping green brand positioning decisions. Accordingly, companies must be responsive to consumer expectations, even in the absence of strict regulations in Romania’s organic food sector guiding organisational behaviour. Furthermore, competitive dynamics were also found to be vital, as evidenced by the positive and direct relationship between environmental competitive intensity and the strategic green positioning decision examined.

Keywords: brand positioning; organic food brand; organic food market; competitive intensity; customer pressure; emerging market; structural equation modelling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:19:p:8589-:d:1757447

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