Eco-labels and "credible" paths of sustainability: an overview of companies with the EU Ecolabel in the Italian country

Journal title MERCATI & COMPETITIVITÀ
Author/s Alessandra De Chiara
Publishing Year 2015 Issue 2015/2
Language Italian Pages 28 P. 111-138 File size 1102 KB
DOI 10.3280/MC2015-002007
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What are the sustainability strategies pursued by companies which expose the ecolabels on their products? To this question the paper tries to give an answer, focusing on the European ecolabel, "EU Ecolabel". Italy is leader in the number of this license, then the paper makes a cross-sector analysis on 109 companies which have obtained this license on Italian territory. The author proposes a point of view for analyzing the credibility of these actions, choosing to investigate the relationship among eco-labels, corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies and CSR communication, in order to identify the presence of tangible paths of sustainability. Moreover, choosing to analyze the use of internationally recognized eco-label, the paper also focuses on the analysis of the relationship between the EU Ecolabel and companies’ international development strategies, going to assess whether its choice is somehow influenced by giving companies access to ecologically emotional foreign markets. The work contributes to the discussion on eco-labels and their value, offering insights into the desirable behavior in companies in order to strengthen the credibility of the eco-labeled products.

Keywords: Eco-label, sustainability, CSR communication, green advertising, differentiation strategies, EU Ecolabel.

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Alessandra De Chiara, Marchi ecologici e percorsi "credibili" di sostenibilità: uno studio sulle imprese con l’Eu Ecolabel nel territorio italiano in "MERCATI & COMPETITIVITÀ" 2/2015, pp 111-138, DOI: 10.3280/MC2015-002007