The Key Value Drivers of the Company’s Sustainable Development Strategy: An Integrated Framework

One of the greatest challenges facing the contemporary research and academic world is to review the relationship between sustainable development and performance management system (PMS). More and more companies are moving towards a strategic approach that includes sustainability issues into their corporate strategy. However, to date, sustainability and corporate strategy are still not adequately integrated in the organizations. Several criticisms are connected to its effectiveness and its practical implementation. In this context, in view of the numerous critical issues emerged in the literature, the aim of this paper is twofold: 1) to provide a clear view on the main sustainability dimensions considered relevant in the managerial practice, and 2) to identify a suitable approach to align the sustainability dimensions identified in the corporate strategy. To this end, we conducted a semi-structured interview with 70 middle and senior managers of Italian companies, specializing in sustainable development issues. Accordingly, the findings have revealed that to implement sustainable development strategy, organizations need to integrate five sustainability dimensions (environmental, social, economic, cultural and organizational) in the PMS execution. By incorporating these dimensions in an early stage of the PMS cycle, the strategic coherence and sustainable alignment are provided that can help companies to integrate sustainable development as integral into their corporate business models and decision-making processes.