SHIFTING CONSUMER TASTE TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PRODUCTS

Concern for the environment initially, did appear automatically in individuals who have concern for the environment. Environmental care arises without coercion from certain parties who try to influence. Entrepreneurial awareness of the environment is able to foster spontaneous awareness of protecting the environment. Personal awareness and the desire to protect the environment lead to personal motivation to meet all needs that have an impact on efforts to protect the natural environment (Walley and Taylor, 2002).

People as individuals now appear to be more aware of the natural environment, aware of the importance of healthy living, so that awareness arises of the need for natural products, which can encourage them to become consumers who care about the environment (Kim and Chung, 2011). This awareness raises the demand for environmentally friendly products that are increasing (Marketing, 2010), so that product manufacturers (especially cosmetic products) are competing to create quality products with traditional ingredients from their own regions or countries.

Consumer awareness on the environment facilitates companies to redesign existing products or develop new ones that meet environmental regulations (Nidomolu, 2009). Some countries have implemented environmental protection laws to reduce the environmental impact caused by industry (Yang and Chen, 2011). Indonesia already has these regulations, included in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH) and the Company Performance Rating Assessment Program in Environmental Management (PROPER).

The tendency to meet the needs of consumers today tend to use natural products, a very promising opportunity. This opportunity is seen in the growth formed by the increasing tendency of consumers in meeting the needs of environmentally friendly products (Wong, 2014). The availability of high opportunities to market natural products, provides clarity to entrepreneurs to try to meet these opportunities. These opportunities are increasingly clear with the increasing need of consumers for natural products. This situation shows a good growth rate in the natural product market. That is why there is a high level of confidence in the growth of the natural product market. These beliefs and beliefs become a force to develop environmentally friendly products with high consistency and sustainability (Freiman, 2005).

The shift in consumer tastes to environmentally friendly products is very much motivated by the innovation of efforts to apply innovative ideas in company activities, such as those relating to new product development, introduction of new services, or using new processes and / or the formation of new businesses (Schumpeter, 1934). The intended innovation is innovation to produce environmentally friendly products called green innovations. The term green innovation approach is now familiar, even the application of the green innovation approach is widely implemented by the wider community. Even large companies have begun to shift their products towards green innovation.

The term green innovation was first revealed in 1962 by Rachel Carson, stating that the green innovation approach grew because of human awareness on the impact of business activities on the environment. Green innovation is a shared responsibility because it is the product of government, the private sector, and individual communities. Some authors have concluded that traditional innovation theories applied to organizational management must be useful and apply to green innovation (Foster and Green, 2000). Foster and Green (2000) mentioned that several concepts that explain innovation and factors related to the success of innovation in responding to the issue of the green approach. However, only a few are trying to apply these concepts empirically (Johansson and Magnusson, 1998).

The basic principles of innovation remain the same, namely innovators must make new offers that are valuable to customers, excel in competition, and benefit innovators. However, green innovation emphasizes innovation results that do not harm the environment. Green innovation is basically part of the innovation process, but what distinguishes green innovation is the main consideration of entrepreneurs in generating new ideas, namely their impact on the environment. Furthermore, green innovation is expected to produce environmentally friendly products. That is, not only for product survival, but also for environmental sustainability.

The green innovation approach is different from conventional innovation. The green innovation approach seeks more to overcome environmental challenges, which starts from meeting the requirements categorized as a green approach and targeting the target customers who need herbal or environmentally friendly products (Porter, 1991). Conventional innovations are more common and are used for all types of companies. The green innovation approach is a part of innovation so the green innovation approach is quite complex and requires diverse competencies. The green innovation approach is an effort to expand the concept of conventional innovation, namely introducing innovations that care for the environment, both product innovation and process innovation.