Reputation and stakeholder engagement: an Italian case study

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to argue that corporate communication reaches its full potential in building corporate reputation, when it moves beyond the influencing of public opinion's perceptions, towards the shaping of organizational reality by engaging stakeholders as the main reputation drivers.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper describes the case study of a leading dairy company in Italy, Granarolo, where stakeholder engagement activities have been put at the centre of the corporate reputation development.

Findings

It is argued that corporate reputation of Granarolo has been built on a network of stakeholder partnerships through which the company continuously improves organizational learning and develops new business solutions. In particular, the activation of co‐decisional processes involving stakeholders, the building of partnerships, and the stimulation of supporting behaviours, enabled the company to recover from a severe loss of confidence by investors in the second half of the 1990s.

Originality/value

The paper proposes the case of a company where the corporate communication function effectively contributed to reputation development, because it moved beyond the mere activity of listening to stakeholders, towards a deeper engagement with stakeholders which looked for shared business solutions.

Citation

Romenti, S. (2010), "Reputation and stakeholder engagement: an Italian case study", Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 306-318. https://doi.org/10.1108/13632541011090428