Management control systems: Encouraging agility and resilience in the twin transition era The current entrepreneurial landscape is shaped by the twin transition, which requires companies to rethink their business models across ecological and digital dimensions. To handle these complex shifts effectively, firms should embed sustainability and digital integration within their core values system to ensure long-term socio-economic value creation. In this context, traditional Management Control Systems (MCS) are evolving into Sustainability Management Control Systems (SMCS). These new systems not only support the monitoring of multidimensional performance (economic, social, environmental, governance, and digital) but also enhance firm agility and resilience. Indeed, SMCS should play a crucial role in translating twin transition strategies into actionable initiatives, driving organizational behavior towards ESG objectives, and promoting a culture of sustainable and digitally enabled innovation. Despite their importance, more research is still needed on how MCS can be redesigned to fully support sustainability and digital integration. The articles contained in this issue contribute to reduce this gap across three key areas: (1) strategic corporate governance for sustainability; (2) performance measurement systems that incorporate multidimensional and multi-stakeholder perspectives; and (3) organizational enablers—including culture, risk management, and agile structures­—that influence the MCS contribution to sustainable and digitally driven management. Keywords: Sustainability management control systems (SMCS), Digital transformation, ESG, Sustainability-oriented management

This paper aims to explore a company’s transformation process into a Benefit Corporation (BC) by analysing the reasons behind their choice, the obstacles encountered, and the effects, also in terms of sustainability, obtained through the specific case of an SME operating in the cosmetics industry. Findings show that the decision to become a BC was driven by the founders’ intrinsic desire to preserve the company’s ethical mission and ensure the continuity of its social and environmental values. The participatory transformation process involved key steps: defining the company’s purpose, stakeholder mapping, materiality analysis, and setting common benefit objectives. Challenges emerged from internal engagement efforts and regulatory complexities. Results demonstrate that becoming a BC enhanced the company’s consistency, accountability, and sustainability performance, enabling it to structure pre-existing practices and increase stakeholder trust. The study contributes to the literature on hybrid organisations and offers practical insights for SMEs pursuing sustainable transformation. Keywords: Benefit corporation, Corporate social responsibility, Sustainability, cosmetics industry, SMEs

Sustainability is crucial for safeguarding ecosystems and promoting collective well-being, increasingly influencing company management practices through various institutional pressures. Leveraging extended institutional theory (Kauppi, 2013) and the institutional framework proposed by Gonzalez and Zamora-Ramirez (2016), this study explores the drivers that prompt micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to adopt sustainable practices and it examines how these responses differ by firm size. Through an in-depth case study of the Apuan-Versilian marble industrial district in Italy, we analyze the dynamic interplay between institutional pressures and sustainability adoption patterns, and the role of management control. Our findings indicate that institutional pressures have led firms to transition from predominantly symbolic to more substantive sustainability responses. This shift was facilitated by recognizing the economic benefits inherent in sustainability-oriented practices, such as improved raw material efficiency, cost savings, and optimized packaging. Management control tools emerged not merely as outcomes of increased institutional pressures but also as essential enablers for integrating sustainability into strategic decision-making processes. Additionally, the consortium’s role as an institutional mediator significantly supported SMEs, enabling them to overcome resource constraints and adopt sophisticated sustainability practices. The study contributes to existing literature by clarifying the interplay among institutional pressures, firm size, and management control tools sustainability-oriented, highlighting the pivotal role of collective intermediaries. Keywords: Management Control Systems, Corporate sustainability, Institutional theory, Institutional pressure, Marble industrial district APPENDICE_1