i-strategies is the corporate partner of an Innovative PhD program.
Starting from November 2020, and for the next three years, i-strategies will be the corporate partner of the Innovative PhD in “Global Studies, Justice, Rights, Politics” of the University of Macerata with a research topic that focuses on “Corporate and Local Cultural Heritage as Marketing Lever for Made-in-Italy Companies”.
The project aims to investigate the role of cultural heritage as a factor of potential competitive advantage for the purposes of positioning companies in the traditional sectors of Made in Italy in the global market. As strategic assets, both the history of the company and the tangible and intangible cultural heritage associated with it.
In the context of heritage marketing studies and, in particular, in the context of the resource-based view, it is now widely shared that the success of companies depends on the ability to value the distinctive characteristics of their products and the symbolic values associated with them. In this context, cultural heritage plays a central role in strengthening the “basket of attributes” that qualify the products, the corporate identity and the brand identity.
In this perspective, the PhD aims to investigate the function of cultural heritage not only for the purposes of external marketing but also for the purposes of the well-being and quality of life of the company’s staff and residents in the area, as well as local sustainable development, with particular reference to the repercussions for tourism.
For the objective of the PhD, the study of best practices is envisaged, including the analysis of the success factors and the methods (strategies and operational tools) to manage them for the purpose of the survival of companies in the long term. In particular, the companies of the Agrifood Cluster could benefit from it.
i-strategies will share the experience and the methodology developed carrying out Heritage Marketing projects for wine&food companies and trade associations, EU project in the field such as MARHER and PhD communication.
Academic partners of the PhD programme are the University of Macerata, the Research Team in Arts and Cultural Management of the Burgundy School of Business (BSB) and the “Carlo Bo” University of Urbino.