The author stated in Ando (2021) that the concept of environmental goal congruence is the most important in the development of environmental management control. Environmental goal congruence can be developed in three main directions: (1) external environment axis, (2) time axis and (3) organizational structure axis. In the second dimension of time axis, environmental management control systems aim to realize the company's environmental plan, but the environmental plan can have a time axis from long-term to medium-term and short-term.
As a leading factory automation company, Omron Corporation has designed and used systems to integrate philosophy, vision, and plans that span from the super-long term to the short term. In short, to realize corporate philosophy, there were business plans, which spanned from the long term to the short term. As it approached the short term, these plans tended to become more concrete, and quantitative or economic perspectives, such as performance evaluation, rewards, and those indicators. Through these practices, the company aimed to implement sustainable management at the short-term and on site level. In other words, they sought to convey to each member the importance of and methods for engaging in sustainable management in a clear and understandable way.
This practice can be considered an effort to enhance environmental goal congruence over time axis (Ando 2023a.b.). The key point in enhancing this congruence is identified as the “interpretation, prioritization, and concretization” of the management philosophy. This study implies that, financial and non-financial values are essential facets of a single corporate activity that cannot be perceived as separate other subject. Furthermore, it is crucial to integrate these two aspects over the long-term and systematically.
