Influence of Customer Demand and Green Product Innovation on Firms ' Performance:ACase of Food Processing Firms in Tanzania

Abstract

The study aimed at examining relationship between customer demandand green product innovation to firms ' performance as a way of creatingwealth to the business. Lack of clear link between these variables andlimited literature in Tanzanian context produced a research gap to studywith the following research questions: a) Does customer demandinfluence green product innovation? b) Does green product innovationstimulate a firm ' s performance?Data were collected from 75 manufacturing firms in Dar es Salaamusing questionnaire from the CEOs, technical and marketing directorsof the selected companies. The collected data were analysed usingdescriptive statistics and Chi-square to establish the relationshipbetween the variables of the study.The study findings indicated relationship between customer demandand green product innovation, and between green product innovationas well as firm ' s performance. It implies that managers have to studycustomer preferences and buying behaviours so as to develop flexiblestrategies to satisfy their demand. By so doing, managers will be in a  position to develop new green products to meet customer needs thatare likely to be priced high and ultimately may enhance business revenuethat would lead to business performance.Keywords: Customer demand, Green Innovation, firm ' s performance andwealth creation