Methodological proposal for business sustainability management by means of the Balanced Scorecard

Abstract Organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the need to include the concepts of economic, social and environmental sustainability within their different management models. To help them achieve this, they have a number of different CSR management tools available to them. However, despite offering recommendations on how and where to contemplate the concepts of sustainability within organisations, such instruments do not define a set of guidelines or a structured framework for implementing those concepts. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to enhance one of the tools that is most widely known and used in strategic management, the Balanced Scorecard, so that the concepts of sustainability can be implemented within the strategy and the day-to-day management of the enterprise. To do so, the case methodology was applied to 16 organisations in order to obtain what could be called a Sustainable Balanced Scorecard.


Introduction
The turbulent state in which society finds itself today is characterised by the globalisation of markets and by the need to reconsider what exactly is meant by the term 'welfare state'. Organisations are thus finding themselves forced to carry out a thorough review of the paradigms that until now have been considered the ideal context for them to work in. Furthermore, respect for the environment or the need to overcome the lack of trust generated by the ethically incorrect conduct of some organisations are now seen by customers as another value and their demands have changed accordingly. As a consequence of this turmoil, the world of business needs to consider aspects that, as pointed out by Lantos (2001), must go beyond the classical economic model of maximising profits for its shareholders. New models of socioeconomic management are therefore being put forward (Carroll, 1979;Freeman, 1984) in which, in addition to aspects related to economic profitability, the day-to-day management of organisations also takes into account new dimensions of work, such as the environmental and social impact of the organisation. This concept has been called business sustainability or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and can be defined as 'the voluntary integration of social and environmental concerns in the enterprises' daily business operations and in the interaction with their stakeholders. In a broader sense it is defined as a concept whereby companies decide voluntarily to contribute to a better society and a cleaner environment' (CEC, 2001).
In fact the concept of business sustainability, or CSR, is not new. Since the seminal article by Friedman (1970), academics and practitioners have debated over the extent to which companies have a responsibility to improve their environmental and social performance, and the costs and benefits deriving from such behaviour. In order to settle this controversy, Griffin and Mahon (1997) conducted a study of 51 papers on CSR published between 1972 and 1997. From their findings they concluded that most of them consider the existence of relations between social and financial returns to be positive. This conclusion was later confirmed by other studies, such as those conducted by Moore (2001) or Simpson and Kohers (2002), who chose to analyse the relation between social and financial returns in a sample of enterprises from the same sector in order to avoid distorting the findings. Like Orlitzky (2001) and Ruf et al (2001), their results showed that CSR improves the company's financial performance.
Nevertheless, the concept of CSR has only really been seen as part of business strategy and received a growing amount of attention from organisations in the last decade. From this perspective, sustainability management can be considered a strategic activity that can yield important benefits for an organisation. Thus, Simpson and Kohers (2002) claim that the integration of CSR improves the company's performance, which in turn leads to increased sales due to a higher degree of customer loyalty (Maignan, 2001) and as a result the company image is also enhanced (Smith, 2003).
The incorporation of CSR into organisational management models, however, is often more superficial than effective (Figge et al, 2002). In many cases, it is little more than just a response to external pressures calling for the incorporation of environmental management systems, but without including all the aspects involved in CSR (Deegan, 2002). One of the main causes of this lack of integration is that companies do not know how to address it in a holistic way, as well as the shortage of support management tools (Figge et al, 2001a, b).
Existing tools to support CSR management can be classified into three categories: K Tools based on proposals put forward by different governmental areas to help companies become aware of CSR by defining principles of action that have to do with labour, environmental and human rights, as well as the fight against corruption. This group can include, among other things, the Brundtland Report (Brundtland, 1987), as the first definition of sustainable development, or the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Both of these documents try to encourage enterprises to integrate these principles within their core business activities and to ensure that their projects and operations are oriented towards complying with CSR principles.
K Tools based on Standards defined as guidelines for integrating CSR within the management of companies through an implementation that may be auditable or not. Some of the most important of these norms are the Occupational Health & Safety Advisory Services (OHSAS), ISO 9001, ISO 14001 or the Social Accountability International SA8000 standard. Work is currently being carried out on the ISO 26000 standard, which is due to be completed in late 2010 or early 2011. Despite still being in the development stage, it has already come under some criticism about whether it is valid for application in small and medium-sized enterprises. Its detractors claim that, in its present form, it is too long and complex and that its content is neither relevant to the day-to-day management structures of SMEs nor can it be adapted to fit them.
K Tools based on Indicators that are used to produce Sustainability Reports, which present the information deriving from the CSR management adopted by an organisation. Some of the most notable tools of this kind are The Sustainability Metrics (IChemE), the Business Social Responsibility Indicators (Ethos) and especially the G3 (Global Reporting Initiative). All these tools offer a series of indicators that are grouped in different categories to make it possible to monitor the evolution of ratios, to show the degree of implementation of the different sustainable management policies and to use the Sustainability Report to communicate the extent to which the CSR is integrated within the management of the organisation.
The main drawback of these tools when it comes to helping organisations implement and control the different concepts of CSR is that they remain merely recommendations on how CSR is to be taken into account in the organisation's goals and activities. They do not define any guidelines or a structured framework in which they can be accomplished. Within this context, one of the most suitable methodological tools for integrating the concepts of sustainability within the management of the company is the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), proposed by Kaplan and Norton in 1996. The BSC provides 'a framework that translates strategy into action', which is organised around four perspectives (Financial, Customers, Processes and Training). In formulating the BSC, a top-down process is employed to deduce the performance aims and indicators of all the perspectives from a number of long-term strategic goals. The BSC's hierarchical structure ensures that all the business activities are aligned with the implementation of the business strategy. This characteristic of the BSC, together with its relative simplicity when it comes to managing company intangibles, can also be used to manage the concepts of sustainability (Figge et al, 2002). Furthermore, as pointed out by Epstein and Roy (2001), in order to implement sustainability strategies managers need to be perfectly aware of the decisions that must be taken into account in order to improve performance, as well as their consequences. This requires a careful analysis of key performance indicators (key performance drivers), of their quantification, and of the extent to which they are aligned with the goals. The BSC continues to be a suitable tool for performing these tasks.
To date, little research has been conducted on the use of the BSC to implement the dimensions of sustainability in the strategic management of organisations. The main proposals that have been put forward concerning the use of the BSC to manage sustainability can be summarised in the following points: 1. Integration of social and environmental concepts within the classical perspectives of the BSC (Epstein, 1996;Johnson, 1998;Deegen, 2001;Figge et al, 2002). In this approach it has been suggested that objectives that include certain social or environmental components should be incorporated within each of the four classical perspectives of the BSC. 2. Incorporation of social and environmental concepts within the Customer Perspective (Johnson, 1998). This approach incorporates all the social and environmental concepts into the customer perspective, which would now be called 'Outside customers and stakeholders'. 3. Definition of a new perspective (Figge et al, 2001a, b).
The possibility of incorporating a new independent perspective that includes the objectives related to the dimensions of sustainability is considered. This approach should only be undertaken if social or environmental aspects are considered to be critical for the organisation. 4. Definition of a new BSC that takes into account only the dimensions of sustainability (Kaplan and Norton, 2001;Figge et al, 2002). This point depends on the strategic level of the social and environmental dimensions, and is considered by some authors to be an extension of alternatives 1 and 3.
However, there are few practical examples of how to implement correct sustainability management using the BSC. On this score it is important to understand how individual companies have gone about adopting the BSC as a support for sustainability management. The lessons learned from this understanding should be useful in promoting the adoption of sustainability by managers around the world. In order to make it easier for companies to manage CSR with the aid of a Sustainable Balanced Scorecard (SBSC), in this paper an exploratory study is conducted on the experiences of 16 organisations that agreed to include the dimensions of ecological and social sustainability within their strategic considerations and to manage them using the BSC. The results thus obtained make it possible to identify key aspects in the methodological process of using the SBSC as a tool for integrating the CSR within the management of the company.
The research methodology that was used was the qualitative case study method. This method has been proposed and developed by different authors, and in this study the application of the methodology was structured following the recommendations set out in Yin (1994). In addition, in order to allow for replication and extension to other individual cases, Eisenhardt's (1991) recommendation that organisations should be selected in such a way as to offer a balanced representation of the different characteristics of the companies was also followed. Such features included the size of the organisations, whether they belonged to the public or private sector, the industrial or services sector, if they had quality certifications or not, and so forth.
The paper is structured as follows. In the first section the conceptual reference framework is presented together with the main lines of research that have been carried out on implementing the concepts of sustainability on top of a classical BSC. The next section describes the methodological approach that was followed in order to carry out the research. The penultimate section offers the results obtained from the study conducted in several organisations with the aim of obtaining a methodological framework that can be used to implement an SBSC. Finally, in the last section, conclusions are presented and results are discussed.

Methodological design of the case study
The work plan that was followed is organised in seven stages and, based on the inductive analysis of qualitative data (Yin, 1994, p 102), adapted to Walsham's (1995) proposals for extending an existing theory: 1. Definition of research purposes, aims and questions. 2. Definition of the conceptual context, perspectives; literature review; proposed theoretical model. 3. Identification of the units of analysis; case selection. 4. Definition of research methods and resources. 5. Fieldwork; data collection; triangulation and classification of information. 6. Formulation of the enhanced methodology. 7. Verification of the rigour and quality of the study.
In the following sections, the results obtained in each stage are outlined.

Definition of research purposes, aims and questions
As was stated at the beginning of this work, the aim of this paper is to provide an answer to the question that is being asked in many organisations that are concerned about sustainability issues, that is How can they incorporate the social and environmental concepts within their management models? Or to put it another way: What tools are available to the business world to carry out this implementation?
Unfortunately, today the answer to this question is that there are hardly any real practical methodological frameworks that can be used to allow organisations to integrate concepts such as CSR into their management.
The aim of this work is to provide the business world with a tool that can help them to carry out this implementation in a structured manner using the BSC.
Definition of the conceptual context, perspectives; literature review and proposals; proposed theoretical model In this stage, first of all, the literature dealing with this line of research was reviewed and the results of different research projects related with sustainability management (especially when supported by the BSC) were analysed. This enabled us to gain a clearer vision and better understanding of the topic.
Then, the theoretical framework that would be applied to the different companies with the aim of enhancing it was defined. This theoretical framework is based on the BSC by Kaplan and Norton (1996). The aim is to define a set of indicators that, when organised in different perspectives, makes it possible to measure the outcomes of the decisions taken in order to reach certain previously set goals.
In order to obtain the BSC, a series of phases have to be followed (see Figure 1).
Initially, in Phase 1 it is necessary to define the scope of the project and also the organisation's management and control structures, which will be made up of specialists from the different areas involved in the project. The main tasks to be carried out in this previous stage will be the following: K Creation of teams for developing the BSC project. K Holding training seminars for the creation and implementation of the project.
K Development and communication of the Project Plan. K Establishing quality control mechanisms. K Development of the plan for change.
Once the structure and responsibilities of the project have been defined, its mission, vision, values, organisational  Figure 1 Theoretical framework for the development of a BSC.

Implementation of the BSC
R Chalmeta and S Palomero-Methodological proposal for business sustainability management strategy and company environment, as well as its internal situation, culture and organisational structure must then be analysed and defined. By so doing, it will become possible to identify the factors that are critical to the success of the company and to consolidate the teams that were set up in the previous phase (Phase 2). In Phase 3 the scorecard must be structured at the strategic level by defining the strategic objectives, goals and the strategic map. Following that, it is necessary to design the system of indicators that will allow it to be controlled in each of the basic work perspectives, which may be those defined by Kaplan and Norton (1996) (financial, customers, processes and training), for example. In Phase 4 an analysis of the initial situation (AS-IS) will be used as the basis from which to undertake the redesign and improvement of the business processes that play a key role in reaching the desired situation (TO-BE). In the next phase (Phase 5) the set of objectives and indicators for the different business units, departments or processes will be deployed and, at the same time, the cause-and-effect relations will also be established. The BSC thus obtained will have to be validated by the managers (Phase 6). In Phase 7, the BSC will then be implemented in the organisation with the support of two basic pillars: the computer system that assists the BSC, which is integrated with the company's information systems, and the training and learning activities undertaken by Human Resources in order to understand the BSC that has been designed.
Once the BSC has been implemented, it will provide the information needed to assess the extent to which the predefined aims are being fulfilled. In the last phase (Phase 8) a set of policies and procedures will have to be designed so that the BSC can be controlled and followed up. Hence, regular checks will have to be carried out (according to the cycles of measurement established at each level) in order to verify and assess whether the BSC is being implemented correctly. This is done by monitoring the system in real time using the indicators that were obtained and carrying out the necessary adjustments and improvements in keeping with a plan drawn up to define the periodic reassessment of the project.

Identification of the units of analysis; case selection
Following the proposals put forward by Walsham (1995) concerning the generalisation of a theory from an interpretative investigation of case studies by means of 'rich insight', this theoretical framework was applied to 16 organisations that agreed to integrate the dimensions of sustainability into their different models of management using the BSC. The interpretive analysis of the different cases is intended to provide a methodology that can be used as a work tool by organisations, which want to integrate CSR into their models of management using the BSC.
The research work was conducted over a period of 18 months, the first task being to select the organisations in which the case methodology was to be applied. First, an initial selection was carried out in the 120 companies with which our research group has collaborated at some time in the past. Of these, a shortlist was drawn up of 43 companies that were potentially more likely to be able to provide information that was valid for the purposes of the research. This first group of 43 organisations included companies with a wide range of sizes and activities. The theoretical basis underlying the selection of this sample was essentially a willingness to collaborate in the research and having the potential capacity to generate the necessary enhancement of the basic theory. In addition, the research group performed a second selection of the different candidate organisations, this time with a view to striking a balance among the different sectors of activity (public or private, industrial or services), number of workers, quality standards in use and so forth. The reason for this was to be able to work with a representative sample that covered the widest possible range of business activities. As a result of this second selection of companies, the decision was made to work with 16 organisations that satisfied all the requirements that were established in the design of this research. Table 1 shows a summary of the main characteristics of the companies that were selected for the case study.
Following recommendations put forward by Yin (1998, p 29), multiple data sources and therefore compliance with the principle of triangulation were chosen to ensure the research could be replicated theoretically. This made it possible to verify whether the data obtained from applications to different companies were related to one another, that is to say, whether the effects explored were in line with the aim of the research when the different models of management were applied to the cases under analysis. Following the principle of triangulation, the criterion adopted in this study was that of incorporating into the initial BSC Methodology any proposal that was put forward by at least four of the participating organisations.

Definition of research methods and resources
After selecting the 16 organisations, the fieldwork was prepared and begun. It must be noted that the characteristics of the different organisations were already known to the IRIS Research Group. In other words, the group was already familiar with the way they were organised, their facilities, their products and services, their technological resources such as websites, and the group already had documentary evidence about them. This prior knowledge about the selected organisations allowed the research to get off on the best possible footing because it meant that important cuts could be made in the time spent on the tasks involving the gathering and analysis of information that have to be performed in any fieldwork.
In addition to the foregoing considerations, to begin this research work an introductory series of group interviews was held in each of the organisations. Each of these meetings lasted for 120 min, and they were all based on a semi-structured interview protocol. The first 60 min were attended by all, or nearly all, the department managers and middle management staff who it was thought could be in some way related to the project. In those sessions they were informed of the goal of the project, the phases of the BSC methodology and the aspects related to CSR that had to be worked on in each of those phases. Furthermore, in order to perform all the research tasks during the application of the BSC methodology, mixed work teams were set up, whose members belonged to the IRIS Research Group and a CSR project team from each of the participating organisations. This CSR project team was made up of either the people in charge of the CSR activities (when such a department existed in the organisation) or members of staff chosen from among the employees who had taken part in the initial presentation, when the dimensions of sustainability were either not implemented or did not correspond to a particular area.
Later, 60-min interviews were held with the organisations' CSR project teams in order to plan the project and begin to apply the BSC methodology. All the interviews were videotaped and later transcribed so that they could be analysed.

Fieldwork; data collection; triangulation and classification of information
Once the aims of the research had been presented, data were then collected. This consisted in gathering the results of applying the BSC theory for managing sustainability in each of the companies. The next step was to structure and classify the different suggestions for improving the BSC theory for the sustainability management put forward by each of the mixed work groups as a result of their experience. Lastly, suggestions for improvements were selected from the proposals submitted by all the organisations. Conceptualisation/Formulation of the enhanced BSC methodology The following are the most important improvements suggested by the different organisations, arranged according to the phases shown in Figure 1.
PHASE 0: Preliminary. As the starting point from which to implement the concepts of sustainability, it was found that the firms taking part in the research deemed it necessary to implement an additional phase before beginning to apply the methodology. This preliminary phase consisted of the following tasks (Table 2). Although some of the aspects considered in this new phase had already been pointed out in the first phase of the BSC methodology, the workgroups thought that, as a step prior to beginning the actual methodology, it would be fundamental to explicitly identify certain important features. Such aspects included Management's formal commitment, the identification and beginning of talks with those who are going to be the main stakeholders, and the viability of the project.
PHASE 1: Project planning. As can be seen in Table 3, the main improvements proposed in this phase include the training and incorporation of the experts in CSR in the different project teams; setting the scope of the project, which must be extended so as to cover the social and environmental aspects; and the definition of a communication plan that enables all those involved to see topics regarding sustainability as a benefit for all the stakeholders and as a unique opportunity to increase competitiveness.

PHASE 2: Designing the business framework
In this phase, in the internal and external analysis of the organisation, all the conditioning factors that can affect sustainability must be taken into very close consideration (Table 4). Moreover, in formalising the Mission, Vision and Values, there must be a clear orientation towards the fundamental concepts of CSR. As far as defining the organisational strategy is concerned, although the classical BSC focuses almost exclusively on financial aims, with this new perspective of the BSC (SBSC) considering social and environmental aspects as strategic aims will have to take priority over the classical economic goals. Thus, the critical success factors that are related to responsible social commitments must be identified.
PHASE 3: Designing the strategic BSC. As a result of implementing the concepts of sustainability within the design of the BSC, it was in this phase where the main differences were obtained with respect to the initial methodology. This was because, although in the previous phases the classical arrangement was followed by including the different aspects related to sustainability, in the development of the strategic BSC, once they had seen the need to consider new perspectives, the different organisations tested the validity of the different methodological proposals suggested by Kaplan and Norton (1996) and identified by Figge et al (2002).
The different methodological proposals were taken as alternative ways of acting for the companies, and the following improvements were suggested (Table 5).
As can be seen in Table 5, the 16 organisations considered it wise to increase the number of analysis perspectives. Thus, in addition to the perspectives that have already been taken into account (Financial, Customers, Processes, Technology and Training), two new perspectives (Social/Labour and Environmental) were also implemented so as to be able to apply the requirements of sustainability within the BSC. The aim of this was, on the one hand, to help foster social well-being and cultural development and, on the other, to increase the organisation's commitment to environmental matters. The fact that the companies took these two new perspectives into account confirms the validity of the arguments set out in the paper by Figge et al (2002) and the finding that, on a practical level and at least in our case, organisations chose to increase the number of perspectives. This choice may have been a consequence of taking the concepts of sustainability into account in all the phases of the proposed methodology.
As a complement to the increased number of work perspectives, the larger organisations taking part in the study suggested that it might be interesting to include batteries of known CSR indicators, such as the G3 methodology developed by the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRIs), or to apply principles such as those of the Global Compact. Once the new objectives and indicators have been defined, it is considered wise to compare them with those of similar organisations that are developing what are known as 'best practices'.
PHASE 4: Process design and improvement. Process design and improvement must pursue the highest efficiency in each of the different processes in the organisation that are circumscribed to the different quality standards ISO 9000 (Table 6). Nevertheless, it was considered necessary to expand to include two new series of standards: K As a reference to the new social and labour perspective, while also seeking a set of standards that allow work conditions to be improved, the recommendations in the OHSAS 18000 series should be taken as the international standards concerning the management of occupational safety and health.
K With respect to the new environmental perspective, the ISO 14000 standards will be the reference norms serving as an environmental management system to ensure control over and compliance with a large number of legal requirements related to environmental issues.
Besides including the classical standards of the ISO 9000 series in the processes of continuous change, the fundamental novelty of this phase is that implementing the new standards allows the specifications that are defined in the two new perspectives to be incorporated within the work processes and the quality requirements. Furthermore, the requirements included in the new ISO 26000-CRS standard will also have to be analysed. An additional advantage gained by implementing these new standards is that the organisation commits itself to complying with them, since the fact that they must be audited on a regular basis means it will have to keep an ongoing check on them.
PHASE 5: Deployment of the scorecard by business units. This phase is not substantially different from the one presented in the initial methodology, except that it takes into account the concepts of CSR (Table 7).
PHASE 6: Validation of the scorecard. The changes introduced in this phase concern the validation of the indicators detected in the new perspectives (Table 8). This verification must take into account both the degree of fulfilment of the criteria defined to select them and their

BSC methodology activities Proposed changes and improvements
Creation of teams for developing the project Creation of the project teams, including the main stakeholders. Creation of a sustainability and CSR team, and incorporating it within the project team. Selection of the multidisciplinary teams and raising their awareness of topics concerning sustainability and social responsibility. Appointment of one person who is clearly in charge in each group, and explanation of his/her responsibilities/duties. Definition of the schedule of follow-up meetings.
Scope of the project Definition of the scope of the project: areas in which it is to be implemented, processes to be dealt with, deadlines, initial estimation of the indicators included in the BSC. Determination of the stakeholders who are affected, both directly and indirectly, by the development of the project. Consideration of social and environmental aspects within the scope of the project.
Project plan Timeframe of the project and clear statement of the aims, goals and socially responsible criteria. Creation of a project plan in accordance with process-oriented management.

Create a project communication plan
Transmission of the communication plan from the management team in order to make the project known, special emphasis being placed on its awareness of and interest in sustainability issues. Achieving a positive perception of the organisation by those both inside and outside the firm (by making the organisation's project known to all the stakeholders).
The plan should stress that adopting CSR measures will have a positive effect on the organisation and that it is a factor that helps to make it more competitive.
validity as a support in decision making. In order to begin to act on the indicators of the new perspectives, they must be estimated subjectively and it must be possible to quantify these estimations by analysing similar indicators from companies within the sector that stand out for their model of management. Another important aspect to be taken into account when auditing the new indicators is to check whether they cover the whole range of stakeholders and whether their implementation helps make it possible to manage objectives better.
PHASE 7: Implementation of the scorecard. The main improvements suggested by the different organisations The elements that make up the Organisational Culture (Vision, Mission and Values) will specifically reflect CSR-related aspects, which are based on business ethics, so that the set of ethical values becomes an important tool for making decisions in accordance with the strategic goals and aims. In this phase it is necessary to define aims that are related to the environmental and social aspects of the organisation, thus going a step beyond the traditional economic aims.
Vision and values will have to incorporate social and environmental aspects so that a CSR strategy can be defined. Encourage concepts of sustainability in Values (actions) and Vision (future). Concept of Alignment: related to vision, which must be good, realistic and common for all, as well as taking into account the proposed value given to the customer.
Internal and external analysis of the company. SWOT matrix A risk analysis must be performed based on knowledge about the major stakeholders, their impact and their expectations. The strategy of the organisation will rest on a set of values and it will be directed towards a vision that includes social and environmental aspects, with more value being granted to people. Include Environmental Impact, together with its consequences, in weaknesses and threats.

Identification of the critical success factors
The maximum degree of integration and compatibility with existing responsible management systems, or those being implemented, will be pursued: Models of quality and business excellence (ISO 9000, EFQM), CSR Framework for EFQM, ISO 14001, SGE21, Global Compact, GRI Reports, OHSAS 18001 and so forth. Medium and long-term sustainability.
BSC methodology activities Proposed changes and improvements.

Mission, vision, values, organisational strategy
The elements that make up the Organisational Culture (Vision, Mission and Values) will specifically reflect CSR-related aspects, which are based on business ethics, so that the set of ethical values becomes an important tool for making decisions in accordance with the strategic goals and aims. In this phase it is necessary to define aims that are related to the environmental and social aspects of the organisation, thus going a step beyond the traditional economic aims.
Vision and values will have to incorporate social and environmental aspects so that a CSR strategy can be defined. Encourage concepts of sustainability in Values (actions) and Vision (future). Concept of Alignment: related to vision, which must be good, realistic and common for all, as well as taking into account the proposed value given to the customer.
Internal and external analysis of the company. SWOT matrix A risk analysis must be performed based on knowledge about the major stakeholders, their impact and their expectations. The strategy of the organisation will rest on a set of values and it will be directed towards a vision that includes social and environmental aspects, with more value being granted to people. Include Environmental Impact, together with its consequences, in weaknesses and threats.

Identification of the critical success factors
The maximum degree of integration and compatibility with existing responsible management systems, or those being implemented, will be pursued: Models of quality and business excellence (ISO 9000, EFQM), CSR Framework for EFQM, ISO 14001, SGE21, Global Compact, GRI Reports, OHSAS 18001 and so forth. Medium and long-term sustainability.
have to do with extending the initial methodology so as to be able to take into account all the sustainability factors (Table 9). Thus, the key point underlying the selection of the computer system must be that it is capable of supporting the different business processes related with the new social/labour and environmental perspectives. On the other hand, in the human resources area it will be necessary to draw up and implement the so-called 'Management of Change Plan' so as to be able to create a new corporate culture with a new focus on the values of sustainability.
PHASE 8: Control and follow-up. This phase of the methodology considers the possibility of using the different auditing methods that exist on the new perspectives to help perform regular reassessments of the new scorecard (Table 10). Thus, if the process audit was previously performed using ISO 9000 standards, then regular reassessments to determine whether the commitments deriving from the new social and environmental perspectives are being fulfilled or not can be carried out using the mechanisms set out in the ISO 14000 series, the OHSAS standards or with the new ISO 26000-CRS. Moreover, monitoring the functioning of the new BSC will have to take into account both the achievement of objectives related to sustainability and the communication of results to all the stakeholders.

BSC methodology activities Proposed changes and improvements
Financial perspective: The possibility of taking ethical investment criteria (SRI) into account in the financial management of the organisation will be valued positively. Ethical criteria will be incorporated into cash flow management, especially in planning the payment of suppliers and outsourced services, and the management of collections on accounts receivable. If necessary, negotiated solutions will be sought with suppliers, outsourced services and customers in order to manage the cash flows in the most appropriate and efficient way.
Customer perspective: Aspects of CSR will be included in the planning of the life cycle of each product or service, from their conception and design to the moment they are marketed, including after-sales service and picking up the product when it reaches the end of its useful life, if applicable. The possibility of using, adapting or creating products or services for social applications outside the core business will be valued positively.
Internal processes perspective: (a) Customer-oriented processes (b) Support processes Efficiency and effectiveness in customer-oriented processes will be pursued, with the intention of achieving customers' maximum satisfaction. The Purchasing and Materials Procurement function is currently very poorly developed. This aspect should be developed in greater depth. CSR processes: K Evaluation and certification of suppliers. K Ethical management of the value chain (eg Audits of centres of production). The Production function should be developed more in accordance with the sector, the activity of the organisation and its size. CSR processes: K Responsible Product Marketing. Permanent innovation will be sought in order to improve the support processes, under the four dimensions of the management of change: innovation in the process, innovation in the product, technological innovation and innovation in the organisational culture.
Training perspective: Widen the scope of this perspective (Training) to the generic domain defined in the BSC: Training and Development of people. The aim is to consider the members of an organisation, above all, as people, thus overcoming the old 'human resources' system for production.

NEW PERSPECTIVE
Technologies perspective: Selection and implementation of technologies will be carried out always taking into account their social, occupational and environmental impacts.

NEW PERSPECTIVE
Social/Occupational perspective: Include the aspects of diversity and equality in employment, labour conciliation, social practices, codes of ethics, promotions, professional career, collaborations with associations, public administrations, philanthropy, sponsorship of equal opportunities for the disabled, etc.

NEW PERSPECTIVE
Environmental perspective: It is necessary to include environmental criteria that are relevant in the processes carried out by the organisation and which may have an effect on the environment.

Draw the cause-and-effect map
Conduct surveys in order to determine the scope of the introduction of new initiatives (cause-andeffect). Perform experimental analyses of the perception of the management.

Conclusions
The fundamental aim of this work was to offer business organisations a tool that enables them to implement the concepts of sustainability in their day-to-day management, while also responding to the basic question posed in this research, that is How can our organisations integrate the social and environmental concepts within their management models?
Since the data sources were real organisations and the methodology for conducting the research was based on the case study in 16 organisations from a variety of sectors and of different sizes, it was essential to define a framework that ensures the validity of the study. To do so, as has been made clear throughout the study, the work was carried out within a structure that ensures the validity of the analyses of the cases, by following each of its phases and finally verifying the validity of the rigour and quality of the research.
The main conclusion from this study is that the classical BSC methodology, which has been widely tested in real business situations, can be used as the initial support structure for implementing the concepts of sustainability in the participating organisations. This enabled us to take at least the first step towards accomplishing a tool to support the implementation of the BSC that is valid for enterprises of any size and which also takes into account the concepts of sustainability-a methodology that could be called the Sustainable Business Scorecard.
This first approach can be considered the beginning of future research work that, following the guidelines for ensuring rigour that have been taken into account here, could test its validity for use by academics and practitioners. For the first of these two groups, the methodology proposed could be complemented by new theoretical contributions that improve on the notions set out in this study. And in the second case, analyses of a greater number Opt for software that is as standard as possible, provided that it takes aspects of sustainability into account. Implement and parameterise the software in all the perspectives.
Integrate the application with the ERPs and other systems Homogeneity of the configurable Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) will be preferred to custom-built applications. Get all the stakeholders involved in the new system.

System test
To be carried out jointly with staff from inside and outside the organisation, thus preventing initial rejection by final users.
HR Seminars to train HR in the use and interpretation of the computer system It is important to provide the final users with assistance throughout the first tests and initial use of the new computer system. Involvement of the HR department in the new management of the organisation. 'Management of Change Plan.' Control of the external audit by the company and proactive actions for learning improvements. Follow-up and control of the Balanced Scorecard, the economic, social and environmental results being regularly reported to the different stakeholders. Regular evaluations to identify possible initiatives to bring about improvements in the future. Decision making in accordance with the previous point: creation of an Improvement Plan.
Monitoring the functioning of the BSC Regular meetings with the Board of Directors to evaluate the contribution made by the indicators to the fulfilment of the strategic objectives and, in turn, how these are affecting the sustainability of the company. Measurement of the stakeholders' satisfaction.
Validation of the company's chain of contacts with the different stakeholders. Inform the departments on how the new management strategies are evolving. Drawing up and dissemination of the Triple Bottom Line Report, which indicates the impact of the results on each of the following aspects: economic, social and environmental. It would be advisable to follow the guidelines set by bodies such as the GRI for writing CSR reports.
of organisations and industrial sectors could allow the model put forward for them to be validated.