Chapter 3: In Search of Sustainable Firm Performance: The Socio-Economic Approach to Management Interventions¹

Sustainable prosperity is a key to the success of companies of the 21st century. In their quest for sustained economic performance, firms are challenged to identify the endogenous drivers of their performance, notably the performance measurement system, the stakeholder economic value creation processes, and appropriate management methods and practices, and to validate the coherence among them. Among these many factors, the sustainability of the methods of management plays a critical role in helping to achieve the overall performance of the firm. The question therefore is how to develop and practice sustainable methods of management in companies in order to improve the overall performance of the actors and reconcile organizational change with high levels of satisfaction. Given the fact that the concept of sustainability is multi-faceted, however, we will first outline our approach to the concept in utilizing it as an illustration of overall economic performance.