Measuring sustainability in practice: exploring the inclusion of sustainability into corporate performance systems in Brazilian case studies

Given the challenge of measuring corporate sustainability in practice, the aim of the present exploratory research is to investigate the incorporation of sustainability in corporate performance measurement systems, towards sustainability performance measurement system (SPMS). More specifically, the research seeks to explore the factors that affect the interaction between sustainability indicators regarding their relative priority for decision making and to investigate how firms include sustainability indicators into their corporate performance measurement systems. To address these objectives, cross-sector case studies were conducted in five firms located in Brazil. Data were collected based on semi-structured interviews and triangulated with published reports and internal documents. The results show four performance measurement systems that encompass sustainability indicators: (a) periodic performance measurement system of a specific area/department; (b) individual performance assessment; (c) sustainability reporting; and (d) project assessment. The paper value lies in bringing a structured view of integrating sustainability in a corporate performance measurement system, based on empirical evidence. However, further research is still needed to develop a more integrative and dynamic SPMS encompassing both leading and lagging indicators to better understand the priorities, interactions and tradeoffs between sustainability indicators.