Green marketing
of industrial areas
Marino Cavallo
Training session
University of Algarve
Faro, 1st of April 2014
1 April 2014, Faro
Sustainable Industrial Areas: our key words
Sustainable industrial areas: network of SMEs managed
through common and shared patterns and located in
sustainable equipped areas
Blue economy principles: the sustainable industrial areas are based
on the same principles of blue economy that are systemic approach,
closure of cicles, symbiotic processes.
Green marketing and territorial marketing: the Province of Bologna
invests on the assumption that green marketing of sustainable
industrial areas can be an added value for the marketing of all the
territorial capital
www.merproject.eu
10 steps for developing a green marketing plan
for eco-industrial parks
The project MER is an opportunity to enforce and enwider the
tools designed within the project Ecomark for the
the promotion and the green marketing of
eco-industrial parks.
One of these main tools is
the green marketing plan for eco-industrial parks
www.merproject.eu
First step: the theoretical framework
The base of a green marketing plan for eco-industrial parks has to be
the identification of the main characteristics of innovative industrial
areas. In order to do this, the green marketing plan experiemented in
the project Ecomark project takes into account 9 international best
practices in terms of eco-industrial parks
in order to highlight their main characteristics in different fields:
Waste recover and recycling, Resources, Efficiency, Building
sustainability, Protection of the landscape, Common environmental
actions, Assistance for businesses, Social actions
Step 2: the objectives of a green marketing plan for ecoindustrial parks
- to communicate the economic advantages brought by ecoindustrial areas to businesses
- the environmental benefits of eco-industrial areas
- the intangible capital of eco-industrial parks (for example
the possibility of becoming part of a team)
-the features distinguishing an eco-industrial area from other
industrial areas
-to overcome the alternative between sustainability and
competitiveness in the perception of all businesses, public
opinion, local stakeholders
www.merproject.eu
Step 3: identifying the strategic objectives of eco-industrial
parks:
- To reach and promote the standards of environmental and
competitive excellence
- to encourage businesses and enterprise to settle in the
sustainable productive areas
-to activate and join a virtous circle of integration among the
bussinesses settled in the area and between them and the
Managing Body
www.merproject.eu
Step 4: identifying the targets
Whom do eco-industrial areas speak to?
- To businesses: enterprises already located in the area or
willing to relocate and to find another area to settle in.
- to local stakeholders: public administration, local
authorities, associations representing local bodies and local
residents
www.merproject.eu
The eco-industrial parks have to take into account at the
same time both businesses and local stakeholders
Businesses
Local
stakeholders
EEIAs can be considered as
a complex product
responding to the private
demand by taking into
account the needs of local
stakeholders
www.merproject.eu
Step 5: identifying the needs and the attractive factors
IAs have to respond both to the needs of businesses and
to the ones of local stakeholders:
Main needs
To find a productive site where to
succesfully locate their
productive activities taking into
account both the policies for
sustainability and competitive
success
Businesses
Local Stakeholders
To encourage the sustainable
development of the territory
through industrial policies aimed
at responsible ecomomic growth
www.merproject.eu
Step 5: identifying the needs and the attractive factors
IAs have to be attractive both for businesses and
for local stakeholders:
Main Success factors
For Businesses
EEIAs have to be equipped with
advanced services
For Local Stakeholders
EEIAs have to include sustainable
and innovative businesses.
Relationships between businesses
and local actors may be an added
value
www.merproject.eu
Step 6: identifying the distinctive factors and added value of
eco-industrial parks
- Sustainable industrial areas result from a project aimed at
improving environmentally friendly productive context
- Sustainable industrial areas allow businesses to implement
effective policies for sustainable development
- In the long-term, sustainable industrial areas may represent
a positive competitive factor
www.merproject.eu
In addition to the distinctive factors, the added value of ecoindustrial parks is represented by:
- increasement of environmental impact positively affecting
the reputational capital and the corporate image
- possibility of participating to the local policies for
sustainable development
- providing incentives
www.merproject.eu
Step 7: the positioning
By considering the eco-industrial park as a Product and by applying
the marketing strategies, the positioning of eco-industrial areas in
respect to the competitors can be represented as following:
Quality of the
settlement
Ecoindustrial
parks
Economical
advantages
Sustainable
development
Low cost for the settlement
www.merproject.eu
Step 8: defining the general vision to communicate
Taking into account all the issues and the features
dealing with the attractiveness of eco-industrial parks, a
marketing strategies for sustainable industrial areas has
to be the result of a joint and integrated approach
combining:
the vision, the main subjects involved (businesses and
local stakeholders), the success factors of eco-industrial
parks and their added value in respect to the
competitors.
www.merproject.eu
Step 9: combining the targets and the messages
An effective marketing strategy has to take into account the
selection of the contents to be delivered to the different
targets in order
to choose the most suitable messages according to the
characteristics of each target group
www.merproject.eu
The marketing strategies for eco-industrial parks: combining
the targets and the messages
For the target group of businesses the most important
messages to be delivered are:
- the economic advantages of being settled in an
eco-industrial parks
- the advanced services provided by an eco-industrial park
- the advantages in terms of reputation for the corporate
identity
www.merproject.eu
The marketing strategies for eco-industrial areas: combining
the targets and the messages
For the target group of local stakeholders the most important
messages to be delivered are:
- the environmental benefits represented mainly by a lower
impact of productive and industrial settlements
- wider vision of sustainable development
- creation of a network aimed at improving and enforcing the
territorial capital
www.merproject.eu
Step 10: the channels for implementation
A marketing strategy for eco-industrial areas includes:
traditional communication tools (events, fairs, merchandising,
advertising, sponsorships)
and
one to one tools (consisting largely in institutional networking
in order to build a wide institutional support for further
development and improvement of eco-industrial parks)
www.merproject.eu
To sum up:
A green marketing plan for eco-industrial parks has to
promote the ability of innovative and sustainable industrial
areas of being a meeting point between the needs of
businesses and industrial actors and the needs of local
stakeholders.
A green marketing plan for eco-industrial parks meets the
territorial marketing approach because eco-industrial parks
can be also a driver for the whole territorial development.
www.merproject.eu
Thank you for
your attention
marino.cavallo@provincia.bologna.it
www.merproject.eu