L'integrazione della sostenibilità ambientale nei sistemi di controllo e gestione delle imprese: evidenze dal settore energetico italiano

The Corporate Social Responsibility is becoming increasingly important for companies, not only for the fundamental value of its contents (environmental, social and governance), but for its economic value in terms of ability to generate value for the system. From a parallel dimension to the financial one, Corporate Social Responsibility must become an integrated dimension to the financial one. Regarding the application of scientific theories in the business field, there are several tools and models idealized for integrating Corporate Social Responsibility into companies' internal performance measurement systems. The inside-out, outside-in and twin-track approaches represent different methodologies for integrating environmental and social issues into corporate processes and strategies. In addition, the sustainability balanced scorecard model can allow companies to consider the impact of their activity on the environment, the risks of environmental damage, the use of resources or customer satisfaction for the implementation of a sustainable strategy. This research focuses on the analysis of the development of control and performance measurement systems of Italian companies in the energy sector in the last five years: these companies have been integrating environmental sustainability into their internal company processes for years now, but only recently they are moving towards intensify their commitments and redesign their organization not only for external reporting purposes, but increasingly at a strategic level.