SBSC of TVK’s “credible” strategy and associated benefits
The SBSC for TVK‟s “credible” strategy (see Table 1) was constructed bearing in mind that long-term success
and social acceptance not only are reflected in economic indicators. It clarifies the company‟s strategic goals, the
operational goals that stem from them, the indices applied to monitor their fulfilment, as well as the management
tools that can facilitate their implementation. This structure allows TVK to monitor its goal pursuit.
Among the perceived benefits observed, it is worth noting that the SBSC:
(1) facilitated a better understanding of the concept of sustainability, as well as of the efforts being made towards it throughout the company;
(2) helped to highlight the areas in which sustainability actions were lacking;
(3) helped to clarify how social and environmental issues were being integrated into the company‟s decision making
processes and activities; and
(4) provided a theoretical guideline for the Sustainable Development Department to plan its operational activities on the basis of long-term sustainability and business excellence objectives.
The expectation is that with time, as familiarity with the SBSC increases and it exerts an ever greater influence on the company culture, the values reported for the strategic indices will exhibit a corresponding improvement.
The first glimmerings of this can already be seen in the data presented in Table 1. However, the data presented
refer to a period starting in 2008, during which, severely hit by the global financial crisis, the Hungarian economy
went into severe recession, with a contraction of 6,8 % in 2009. Despite the signs of recovery, with 1,7 % growth in
2011, GDP growth was negative again in 2012. As such, the numerical values presented in Table 1 need to be
understood within this context.
Conclusion
Selecting of appropriate sustainability strategy is an increasingly important step in the strategy-planning
process; and equally important is then translating of that strategy into action. The present research contributes to
closing of the gap between principle and action at the business level, by creating a framework to facilitate the
formation and implementation of different sustainability strategies. This is done through the SBSC, which goes
beyond mere additions of the environmental and social perspectives, to recognize their interaction with the
traditional BSC perspectives, and include sustainability related goals within them. A company‟s sustainability
strategy is thus placed at the center of the SBSC, and its components and the steps required for its development
clearly enumerated.
To illustrate how the formation and implementation of such a SBSC could be carried out in practice, its
application in the chemical company was presented. This not only demonstrated the usefulness of the SBSC in
pursuing sustainability strategies and business excellence, but constitutes an important addition to the literature,
because practical applications of such tools are greatly lacking (cf. Volkery et al., 2006; Niinimaki & Hassi, 2011;
Kardos, 2012). It furthermore highlights the significance of corporate culture in the entire process of developing and
implementing of the SBSC, since the introduction of such a system is likely to lead to fundamental changes in the
way a company is managed.
These contributions not only add to the theory, but can also be of benefit to policy-makers and/or managers working in the field, and wanting to lead their companies to compliance with the requirements of sustainability. In this respect, it would be of interest to analyze further applications of the tool in different industries and/or companies, particularly those in which sustainability issues were previously not afforded great concern. Longitudinal studies examining the longer term impact of the application of the SBSC would also be of relevance. Finally, from a more theoretical perspective, a research
into the critical relationship between culture, structure, leadership and sustainability alluded to above would also
be of interest.
Acknowledgements
An earlier and less complete version of this work was presented at the 2012 International Conference on
Management, Knowledge and Learning: Global Empowerment, held in Celje, Slovenia. This research was
carried out as part of the TAMOP-4.2.1.B-10/2/KONV-2010-0001 project in the framework of the New Hungarian
Development Plan, supported by the European Union and co-financed by the European Social Fund. The authors
gratefully acknowledge the institutional support of the Tiszai Vegyi Kombinat Public Limited Company.