“Rooting” sustainability into strategy through management control systems: a case study relating to an SME
We adopt the framework of Gond et al. (2012) to explore the role of control systems in promoting the integration of sustainability within the strategies of a SME. The study responds to requests for more investigation on the transition processes towards sustainability by SMEs. While the literature on the social responsibility of SMEs is well developed, there are very few studies that address the connections between control systems and sustainability. Thus, the study is based on a longitudinal case study of an Italian SME that operates in a field like pellets that are particularly sensitive to environmental challenges. The results show that the integration between control systems has had positive effects. Specifically, cognitive enabling factors, the interactive use of Sustainable Control Systems and sustainability strategies, mutually reinforcing each other, have contributed to making the integrated sustainability strategy stable even in the presence of adverse external conditions. From a more theoretical point of view, the paper responds to requests to carry out more studies not only on the drivers and motivations to adopt sustainable strategies but also on the role played by the internal management accounting and control processes in implementing them.
Keywords Control systems, Sustainability, SME, Case study, Social and environmental accounting
