Management control systems and sustainability in manufacturing companiesproposal of a framework for measuring sustainable performance

Resumen

The present study aims to explore the incorporation of sustainability in the strategy and Management Control Systems of Peruvian manufacturing companies in the plastics sector in order to propose a holistic Sustainable Performance Management System framework that allows them to evaluate the full integration of sustainability in their business strategy and the creation of value for each of their stakeholders. It was decided to conduct this study in Peruvian manufacturing companies in the plastics sector due to the fact that Peru is a country with an emerging economy in which awareness of the need to incorporate sustainable management in business organizations is low, with only 5% of Peruvian companies applying social responsibility management. Furthermore, the plastic manufacturing sector is an important industrial sector that contributes 4% of the Peruvian industrial GDP, generates 52,000 direct jobs and 13% of the industry's internal taxes, and whose products are used by all industries and whose demand continues to grow. However, in the near future, this growth may be affected by new market pressures, as well as increased stakeholder expectations regarding sustainability. Hence the importance for this industry sector to incorporate sustainability into its strategy and management control systems. It is also important to mention that the study will focus mainly on manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as they play a very important role in social development because they have a great capacity to generate employment and wealth, which contributes to reducing poverty and increasing the economic prosperity of households. But, although SMEs also have to respond to the challenges related to sustainable development, they lack adequate management tools to assess the state of sustainability based on key performance indicators. As a result of this work, we have proposed the "Sustainable Balanced Scorecard for SMEs", which integrates the three pillars of sustainability performance within four different perspectives: the Sustainability perspective (instead of the traditional "financial perspective"), the External Stakeholder perspective (instead of the "customer perspective"), the internal business process perspective and the learning and growth perspective. Finally it is necessary to mention that through the proposed framework we are unveiling a new approach that will allow to replace the current hierarchical architecture of the Sustainable Balanced Scorecards, where the social and environmental objectives of the organization are subordinated to the economic objectives, by a Sustainability Assessment Framework with a flat hierarchical architecture in which no one objective predominates, satisfying economic, social and environmental objectives simultaneously and equitably, which will allow Peruvian manufacturing SMEs in the plastics sector to meet the requirements and expectations of all their stakeholders and achieve sustainable development.