In a relatively recent phenomenon, the ESG agenda gained notoriety, attracted companies and brought focus on the urgency of caring for the planet, human and business relations with more attention.
As if with ESG practice, reputation is guaranteed.
The great truth is that sales people rarely realized that at the time of the let's see, the decisive factors for closing orders were others.
Perhaps (or mainly) because of this ESG began to be affected by a set of different factors, among them, the difficulty in making it evident that the investments were giving practical results, capable of affecting the bottom line.
In a kind of ideological falsehood, very greenwashing much has been abused this resource used by companies to defend a sustainable profile since childhood with the dissemination of practices neither so legal nor so concrete. There were geopolitical effects, such as the turn back on the adoption of clean energy in Europe with the war in Ukraine and the spanking of farmers against blockades by more demanding buyers. Research published by the newspaper Meio and Mensagem among the 106 CMOs interviewed, 90% recognize its relevance, but only 20% say they know the discipline in depth.
Brand image is the main motivation of the group (76%), followed by positive impact for society (74%) and reputation for the brand (63%). In the rabeira, more direct impact issues such as attraction and retention of talent (37%) and stakeholder pressure (31%).
The concern with image can cause distortions as marks responsible for environmental tragedies of nothing wanting to personify Artemis, the Greek goddess protective of nature. The positive impact for society is a diffuse concept and, in fact, is “dentro” of what makes up the reputation.
It is of little use both for an investor to know if the brand sponsors the football field of the neighboring community and for a consumer to know if the company is transparent on the stock exchange.
Reputation is built on the correction of day to day. And often here also comes some confusion. Many brands linked to the end consumer have already suffered reputational scratches amplified by the increasingly digital world, caused by issues that touch ESG as having mistreated customers with a certain profile (the S, social), or end the environment (the E, English environment).
Let's talk clearly: there is an impact with implications on even more direct sales 'EXternal pressure IS. In addition to end consumers, large companies, pressured by the capital market and other factors, begin to demand from their suppliers behavior more adherent to ESG practices. And here is where the greatest reputational requirements come in, supported by concrete attitudes.
Brazilian agricultural giants have begun to suffer demands from European customers.Have you said they are green in body and soul? Nothing. Deviations in conduct are attested by instruments that even include satellite images made available by third parties.
Not a few practical cases require answers. Reputation built step by step on concrete bases (ESG is one of them, among many others) is one of the main pillars for results idem. Apple can sell products with prices out of the average not only for the quality of its products, but for the reputation built over decades. As we said before, good reputation helps to sell more and better and contributes to perpetuate favorable results.
