The darker side of supply chains and risks to brand value

Distinguishing marks: concentrated. It can't be any other way when a tomato is competing in the Olympics of quality. This is the new campaign of Heinz, a company founded in 1869 in Pennsylvania by Henry J. Heinz, a young entrepreneur and son of German immigrants. The claim links the athletes' determination with the brand's commitment to ingredient selection. A declaration of intent towards the supply chain of the American giant of over 25 billion dollars with 36 thousand employees worldwide and a global market of 40 countries. Thus dozens of tomatoes are transformed into as many athletes in their green crown that surmounts each product. The leaves are folded, shaped and oriented as if they were the disciplines of the China National Games.

Tell me who you're with and I'll tell you who you are: a warning that becomes central in times marked by the relevance of reputational capital, which is transformed - when correctly valorised and strategically reinforced - into economic capital. Hence the focus on new multilateral brand alliances. Because in order to win the commercial challenge it is necessary to considerthe extended supply chain in its plurality. Each brand can be a partner of several others and relationships can have shared nodes. Thus also the supply chain with third parties becomes circular and continuous, and always potentially at risk.

"Right now, marketing, which used to have a certain autonomy, cannot work unless it is perfectly in tune with everything else. The supply chain used to be delegated to the purchasing part, but today it affects everything and these silos breaks presuppose new competences. You have to be able to dialogue with others in a sort of multidisciplinary way,' says Carlo Alberto Pratesi, professor of marketing at Roma Tre University.

On the other hand, never before have the big giants been in communication check because of their relationships with third parties. This is highlighted by new American research in theJournal of Business Research: more alliances increase the overall share. "The contemporary consumer has become activist, ready to reward or punish brands based also on the behaviour of third parties. Today, they read ingredients, study them, they are also informed from a values point of view. In short, he wants to know upstream who made the product. This sensitivity is not necessarily high-spending, but certainly more sensitive,' Pratesi points out.

In the global geopolitical game when not properly manned, the extended supply chain becomes a trap. Invisible until everything goes smoothly, cumbersome when something goes wrong. In the economy of interdependencies, reputation becomes thin, permeable, vulnerable to mistakes. In recent months, the business world has offered a sharp sampling of this domino effect. In our country, prosecutors have accelerated their investigations on alleged abuses in several fashion companies, exposing them to potential image damage and jeopardising the economy of the entire industry. But the phenomenon is global and picking up speed in other sectors as well.