Controlling for Sustainability: New Research Maps the Future of Retail Management Systems

MMTC members Miguel Gil, Mart Ots and Timur Uman have published a new article in Business Strategy and the Environment examining how management control systems can support sustainability in the retail sector.

Sustainability has become a strategic priority in retail, driven by regulatory pressure, market developments, and growing consumer expectations. Yet retailers operate in complex environments characterized by global supply chains, high product turnover, thin margins, and increasing reporting requirements. Despite this, research on how management control systems (MCS) enable sustainability in retail remains fragmented and often lacks sector-specific insight.

In their article, Current Trends and Future Research in Management Control for Sustainability in Retail External link, opens in new window., the authors develop an integrated, contingency-informed framework for understanding sustainability-oriented management control in retail.

The study highlights that retail faces distinct control challenges compared to manufacturing and service industries. Retailers must balance cost efficiency and operational performance with environmental and social responsibilities—often across geographically dispersed supply networks.

A key contribution of the article is its structured synthesis of existing research. By applying a contingency perspective, the authors demonstrate that effective sustainability control depends on alignment between organizational context, strategy, and the configuration of control tools. The article also outlines a future research agenda and provides insights for retail managers seeking to translate sustainability ambitions into measurable and actionable practices.