Internazionalizzazione e comunicazione delle PMI nei mercati esteri: la reputazione digitale e l’influsso dei social media

This work aimed at investigating the impact of digital technology on business management and internationalization process. In particular, this study examined the role played by corporate and personal reputation in the digital context, by focusing on digital reputation as an intangible resource allowing both individuals and companies to emerge in the global context. The study analyzed how digital technologies can provide tools that facilitate the commercial expansion of SMEs, as a result of the ease of finding information, the availability of new sales channels, and the increased networking opportunities. In particular, the analysis concentrated on how the advent of the Internet and social media mutated relations between company and its stakeholders, as they could directly influence the creation as well as the damage of businesses´ digital reputation. In particular, interactions between a SME in the fashion sector and its stakeholders were examined through the use of artificial semantic intelligence implemented by means of "sentiment analysis". This type of analysis measured qualitative data voluntarily expressed by users by turning them into quantitative data to monitor the brand's digital reputation, supporting managers’ orientation in terms of management and corporate communication. The results demonstrated the relevance of digital relations established between company and stakeholders, as well as recognizing the role of social platforms to both increase brand awareness and expand business. The theme of reputation is then addressed from a legal perspective, which describes its pluralistic essence and declinations, delineating its value as a personality right. The concept of digital reputation emerges as a "projection on the web" of the individual (physical or legal person), which now adopts new ways of expressing both its personal and economic dimensions. Digital reputation enjoys a specific form of protection, which was created by adapting the tools traditionally provided by the legal system to digital reality. Specifically, the analysis focused on different legal protection means aimed to safeguard the reputation from social and digital threats. Finally, this study addressed the phenomenon of disinformation on the web as a digital reputation risk, by identifying causes and effects of its diffusion, then describing existing public and private actions to counter it.