| Abstract |
In the last decades more and more researchers have concentrated on identifying the new rules and values such as tools to guide businesses ethical behaviour in the global economy towards sustainable development. The relationship between business and the environment is so deep that it should be seen as an integral and essential part of its strategic planning to become a real management regulation. This is true for all types of companies: international companies, small-medium enterprises, family-business, farm, public utility. This paper aims to explore one model of a family business in the wine sector where year by year they apply traditional methods of production: this is their "philosophy" of knowledge management. They believe in a good business together with a good environmental responsibility, thanks to a successful transition of the business from one generation to the next. This goal is possible to realize thanks to a really green production, an excellent quality of product and a good level of know-how: in other words, by adopting a sustainable development. This is the typical value system referred to as a family business model, such as a strong dependence on the territory, the local institutions and the employees. This system became the paradigm of development, both economic and social. This paper adopts a qualitative approach through a field case study: this methodology permits one to explore what the internal factors are, the corporate characteristics and the general contextual factors, to show also the influence in improving value of different intangibles, such as a good name, a good corporate reputation, a good credibility, a "good sentiment" in the stakeholders' world. The study has used different sources: direct interviews with the family, social accountability, archives, observation of the company's life, etc. In this way it is possible to build others "hidden intangibles", such as cohesion with stakeholders, engagement, better efficiency, protection against boycotts, easier loan facilities. The alignment between environmental and business interests, is also possible through know-how passed from generation to generation and the trust generated by a good reputation. The following study was developed according to a qualitative approach and a methodology based on field case studies (Emidio Pepe winery). Then, the research question of this work is: how to control the development about of an intangible such as Corporate Reputation (CR) in a family business like Emidio Pepe. Therefore, it must identify the values of the family that are shared from generation to generation and finally it creates a WiRe framework in order to evaluate and to monitor the value of Corporate Reputation - in this paper, the Wine Reputation created by the Emidio Pepe Winery. The goal is to invest "correctly" in order to achieve good results in the medium to long term. |