O engajamento dos stakeholders no processo de Place Branding

Abstract

Place branding processes are strategies related to the public sector to drive the economic advancement of a country, city or region. It is a deep, complex and participatory process with a holistic long-term vision that pleads impasses such as conformity between government, citizens and stakeholders of a region, around a common purpose (MALAMUD et al., 2021). The general objective of this study is to analyze how stakeholder engagement occurs in the place branding process in the Vale dos Vinhedos region (RS). The specific objectives were established: i) to identify the factors that promote stakeholder engagement; ii) Knowing the factors that hinder the engagement of stakeholders in relation to the place branding process; iii) specify which actions are used by public management to engage stakeholders in the place branding process. This is a qualitative field research, carried out through 14 interviews with open questions, in addition to the characterization of the interviewees' profile. The target audience for this study focuses on stakeholders residing in the Vale dos Vinhedos region, located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, comprising the municipalities of Bento Gonçalves, Garibaldi and Monte Belo do Sul. Thus, it was found that the factors that promote stakeholders in the place branding process are economic, social and environmental. And, the factors that hinder the stakeholder engagement process in the place branding process are identified as failure in communication, insufficient territorialization of the entire region, use of inadequate tools and lack of community sense. It was also identified which public management actions promote stakeholder engagement in the place branding process, in three steps: analysis, strategy and participation, as these are the steps that make up the place branding process. This study contributes by demonstrating that organized civil society needs to be in evidence in relation to the public sector, directly contributing to increase stakeholder engagement in the place branding process.