Moving from crisis to sustainable development. The role of control systems
This article offers some reflections and insights to interpret the economic impact of the current pandemic crisis, and similar crises that could arise in the future, and the conditions for recreating sustainable development.
Firstly, to move from evaluating crisis to generating economic value and sustainability requires a new corporate governance approach for interacting with the social and environmental context, integrating risk management and performance management (Marchi, 2019; Greco, D’Onza, 2020). Sustainability can be reinforced by adopting a new theory of value created for all stakeholders, included suppliers, customers, employees, the territory and the social community, but also for the environment and for the company itself, ensuring adequate remunerations of the resources and conditions of lasting economic equilibrium of companies (Giannessi, 1960).
To guarantee a long-term economic balance together with social, environmental and corporate sustainability, the role of measurement and control systems is fundamental. In this regard, the following aspects can be highlighted (Marchi, Paolini, 2020):1) integrated accounting and budgeting systems must be developed with an income perspective; 2) excessive emphasis on specific performance indicators, especially financial ones, must be avoided, in order to pass to a “systemic reading” of the set of indicators at an economic-social level; 3) a circular choice and an adequate remuneration of the production factors in the supply network must be guaranteed in order to increase the value created internally in the network, with the contribution of strategic suppliers who must be partners of the company; 4) finally, a “culture of sustainability” must be implemented in the personnel planning, control and incentive systems (integrating financial indicators with sustainability indicators) and not only in the reporting systems for the outside.
Keywords: value, value creation, sustainability, control systems, financial indicators, sustainability indicators
