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Sustainability Strategy and Management Control Systems in Family Firms. Evidence from a Case Study

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  • Fabio Caputo

    (Department of Management, Economics, Mathematics and Statistics, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

  • Stefania Veltri

    (Department of Business Administration and Law, University of Calabria, Ponte P. Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy)

  • Andrea Venturelli

    (Department of Management, Economics, Mathematics and Statistics, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate how the integration of new forms of sustainable control systems (SCSs) and traditional management control systems (MCSs), and the use of these control systems affect the integration of sustainability within organizational strategy. A qualitative case study based on a longitudinal investigation of an Italian family firm operating in an environment-sensitive context, the intermodal transport industry, has been used to trace the company’s pathway to sustainability integration based on the Gond et al. framework. The paper enriches the Gond et al. conceptualization providing evidence of the external and internal factors relevant in affecting the organization’s pathway towards sustainability integration. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study is the first analysis that investigates the integration of sustainability into organizational strategy in the context of family firms, from the point of view of performance management systems (PMSs).

Suggested Citation

  • Fabio Caputo & Stefania Veltri & Andrea Venturelli, 2017. "Sustainability Strategy and Management Control Systems in Family Firms. Evidence from a Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-23, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:6:p:977-:d:100742
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