The organization performance framework considering competitiveness and sustainability: the application of the sustainability evaluation model

Remaining competitive and profitable in addition to meet environmental and social demands, mandated by regulation and valued by the stakeholders, is a current challenge for companies. This scenario has awakened the interest of academics in the association of sustainability with organizational performance, creating models such as SEM (Sustainability Evaluation Model). This article aims to validate the practical application of SEM as useful to managerial decision-making process in a multi-case study in the factories of a Brazilian food and beverage manufacturer. Based on the TBL X BSC matrix, integrating sustainability and performance concepts, SEM has provided managers with a clear view of business units performance, naming their gaps to improve performance and enabling a classification among them. In addition, the correlation analysis allowed the company to clearly identify its differentials from competitors, which in this study was its focus on people as the basis for a competitive operation.