Marketing communications of value creation in sustainable organizations : the practice of integrated reports

This paper represents an investigation of the communication practices used by the organizations included in the International Integrated Reporting Council’s Pilot Programme, in order to investigate how integrated reports are used as instruments for the communication of information regarding the value creation and distribution. We analyzed the methods used by 95 organizations, experienced in sustainability reporting. We used both quantitative and qualitative data extracted from the integrated reports published in 2014. The theoretical framework of the research relies on the stakeholder theory. The perspective used in the analysis of the results was derived from the classic and modern theories in marketing, which include the use of annual reports as marketing communication tools. The main results show that the provisions of the International Integrated Reporting Framework were only partially observed by the organizations included in the sample. The analyzed reporting practices show evidence of the existence of correlations between the size of integrated reports and the disclosure of the value added distribution for the traditional stakeholders. The disclosure of information regarding the customers, environment and the society is correlated with the presentation of the value added statement.