Hardwiring sustainability into business practice through the use of management controls : A case study of Solvay Group

Abstract: This is an exploration into how large companies, well placed in the sustainability field, embed sustainability in their corporate practice through the use of management controls. This was investigated empirically based on a case study of Solvay S.A. The framework by Crutzen et al. (2017), with its pattern approach to sustainability management controls, was employed in this study as a theoretical lens and as a tool for the evaluation of data output. Evidence indicates systemic and systematic deployment of formal management controls to direct the sustainability performance within the Group.  Such technocratic institutionalization of sustainability through formal controls is topped by the application of informal cultural controls, concrete signals of which were identified in relation to sustainability. The paper concludes that the researched Group deploys a full package of formal and informal management control mechanisms for sustainability.