Back to basics. Green Brand Equity e Sostenibilità. Un’analisi empirica nel settore delle acque minerali in Italia

Abstract

The environmental and social innovation is becoming the engine for the growth of the business and brand values . The Future of Business is the business sustainable while maintaining the integrity in the business and developing the ability to generate an ROI of sustainability. The New Economics of Happiness and sharing, the opportunities for radical innovation of the business and renovated successful brands , requires you to understand how to authentically include sustainability in the promise of the brand and build share in the process through the communication of sustainability to the brand building that express this value (Sustainability brands). Deciding to reverse the equation , according to which "business " does not necessarily express the value of sustainability is the step to be taken by the companies so that they can redefine their vision and profess ethical and responsible. Sustainability does not mean , in fact, simply focus on environmental initiatives , but is a much broader concept that integrates the social, environmental and economic aspects in order to build a stronger and more durable. If companies understand this concept and apply sustainability the same way as an indicator of efficiency, the latter may be considered a model of successful development . The impact of this " green wave " promises , therefore , to transform the world of business. A trend that requires a radical change of its business in search of new areas of opportunity and, consequently, new competitive advantages . The most important question that firms face is how the business interacts with society. The capitalist system is under siege . In recent years, the business world has been criticized and considered the main cause of social, environmental and economic benefits , and many believe that companies are prospering at the expense of their communities. Companies might reconcile business and civil society ridefinissero only if your goal in terms of creating " shared value " , which means to generate economic value in such ways that produce value for society by addressing the challenges it is facing this . An approach based on shared value is the one that puts in contact the company's success with social progress. The research carried out in this paper investigates this phenomenon; after a survey of the literature in evolutionary terms , and after having explained the key concepts explaining what is meant by the brand and Sustainability Green Marketing , analyzed in the perspective of the consumer, describes sustainable brand value up to the conceptualization of Green Brand Equity . The paper aims to investigate the level of awareness of the need for businesses to adopt an orientation to sustainability to create a sustainable brand value and groped to answer the basic : how to capitalize and include orientation to sustainability in the value of brand? Thus provide a valuable tool for brand managers to orient themselves on the path of sustainability through the strategic role of communication of sustainability , considering the risks involved (eg green washing ) and investigated in the perspective of the consumer in the gap between performance and perception, socalled Green Gap . To verify the argument has been used in an empirical study , the type of qualitative research , exploratory and applied with the aim of providing the results of direct aid in marketing decisions . For this purpose, the study makes use of the method of sampling. The unit of analysis is identified for sampling the mineral water sector , and the extension is located in the territory of Italy . The choice of this context detection is driven by the fact that corporate sustainability itself is consubstantial with the business itself of this sector and also because it is a sector of consumer goods and , therefore , useful to a recognition of interest want to identify a trend in corporate communication strategies . The work aims to highlight the managerial implications related to a sustainable brand orientation . The aim is to bring to the attention of brand managers and marketing directors of the growing need to adopt an approach to sustainability, which imbued the company in all its manifestations , surpassing the subjective perspective of social responsibility , which has only a limited connection with the business and acting on the reputation and focus instead on social innovation to create economic value by creating social value and therefore shared value , functional to profitability and competitive position of the company . The work suggests , with the proposal of a model of sustainable brand , the transition from building brand equity ( linked to reputation ) to Green Brand Equity (linked to social innovation ) through the communication of sustainability with regard to the risks that this entails. A circular process that starts by social sponsored by businesses, mediated by communication of sustainability, effect on the conduct of the over- consumption of the system and other stakeholders by creating shared value to increase Green Brand Equity , and thus creating competitive advantage for ' enterprise. The latter will be well equipped with new resources and therefore able to foster and sustain social innovation process enabled. The proposed model aims to be a tool to support marketing decisions to assist the process of orientation to the sustainability of the business towards building a sustainable brand. [edited by Author]

Il lavoro si propone di indagare il livello di consapevolezza della necessità per le imprese di adottare un orientamento alla sostenibilità per creare un valore di marca sostenibile e tentare di rispondere all’interrogativo di base: come capitalizzare e includere l'orientamento alla sostenibilità nel valore del brand? Fornire così un valido strumento ai brand manager per orientarsi sul cammino della sostenibilità attraverso il ruolo strategico della comunicazione della sostenibilità, considerando anche i rischi che comporta (es. green washing) e indagata anche nella prospettiva del consumatore nel divario tra prestazione e percezione, il così detto Green Gap. Per verificare la tesi sostenuta si è fatto ricorso a uno studio empirico, di ricerca del tipo qualitativa, esplorativa e applicata con lo scopo di fornire risultati di diretto ausilio nelle decisioni di marketing. A tale scopo lo studio fa ricorso al metodo del campionamento. L’unità di analisi individuata per il campionamento è il settore delle acque minerali, e l’estensione è individuata nel territorio Italia. La scelta di tale contesto di rilevazione è guidata dal fatto che la sostenibilità d’impresa è di per sé consustanziale al business stesso di questo settore e anche perché si tratta di un settore del largo consumo e, dunque, utile ad una rilevazione di interesse che vuole individuare un trend nelle strategie di comunicazione aziendali. Il lavoro mira ad evidenziare le implicazioni manageriali legate ad un orientamento sostenibile di marca. Lo scopo è portare a conoscenza dei brand manager e dei direttori marketing della crescente necessità di adottare un approccio alla sostenibilità che pregni l’azienda in tutte le sue manifestazioni, superando la prospettiva soggettiva della responsabilità sociale, che ha solo un collegamento limitato con il business e che agisce sulla reputazione e puntare invece sulla innovazione sociale per creare valore economico attraverso la creazione di valore sociale e dunque valore condiviso, funzionale alla profittabilità e alla posizione competitiva dell’azienda. Il lavoro suggerisce, con la proposta di un modello di brand sostenibile, il passaggio dalla costruzione di Brand Equity (legata alla reputazione) a quella di Green Brand Equity (legata all’innovazione sociale) attraverso la comunicazione della sostenibilità, con riguardo ai rischi che questa comporta. Un processo circolare che partendo dall’innovazione sociale promossa dalle imprese, mediata dalla comunicazione della sostenibilità, incida sui comportamenti del sovra-sistema del consumo e degli altri stakeholder generando valore condiviso per aumentare la Green Brand Equity e creare di conseguenza vantaggio competitivo per l’impresa. Quest’ultima sarà così dotata di nuove risorse e pertanto in grado di alimentare e sostenere il processo innovazione sociale attivato. Il modello proposto vuole essere uno strumento a supporto delle decisioni di marketing per favorire il processo di orientamento del business alla sostenibilità verso la costruzione della marca sostenibile. [a cura dell'Autore]