Proposing an Algorithm for Communication Planning Applicable to Investor Relationsin the Realm of Sustainable Innovation

In the last two decades, the growing concern for the environment has resulted in a veritable race for legislative changes and technological innovation. A prominent environment-related enactment is the ‘Single Use Plastic' Directive 2019/904, whose provisions push the European soft drinks companies to adopt a minimum content (30%) of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) in their ‘virgin PET' bottles until 2030. Such a technological disruption implies massive investments in bottling innovation, mainly grounded on attracted capital and propelled by the way the benefits of packaging sustainability are communicated to investors as key factors for investment decisions. In order to contribute to the way companies structure their multi-directional information exchange with potential investors, we transposed the features of the ‘Shannon-Weaver' linear communication model into a proactive planning tool, to be deployed by any IR (‘investor relations') department of entities seeking financing for their sustainability projects. In our adapted linear model, we factored in the fundamental role of ‘noise' in the process of communication between companies and investors, thus pioneering a connection between innovation, disruption, and IR. Eventually, we determined that social media and the internet are covering ever-greater parts of investor relations function by offering to investors convenience and the sought content.