International Journal for Quality Research 12(4) 925–940

ISSN 1800-6450

Luís César F. M. PROPOSITION FOR THE ALIGNMENT OF

Barbosa 1 THE INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT
Otávio José de Oliveira SYSTEM (QUALITY, ENVIRONMENTAL
Gilberto Santos AND SAFETY) WITH THE BUSINESS
STRATEGY

Article info: Abstract: With the current globalized and increasingly

Received 10.08.2018 competitive organizational scenario, organizations
Accepted 05.11.2018 increasingly need strategies to survive in the midst of excessive
competition. In order to optimize efforts and resources, the
UDC – 005.6 companies, especially industrial companies, started to develop
DOI – 10.18421/IJQR12.04-09
their own Integrated Management System (IMS), namely,
quality management system, environmental management
system and safety management system, among others, as a
plausible and efficient alternative in this sense. However, few
companies are aware of the difficulties in aligning their IMS
as a strategy. This paper is classified as qualitative, and has
used the bibliographic research method for its execution.
Therefore, the aim of this paper is formulate the propositions
that assist the IMS alignment as a business strategy. The
results of this paper allow identify that really exists an
interaction in both senses, i.e., the IMS influences a strategy
and the strategy influences the IMS. The main contribution of
this article is to support in the development based on the
articulation of the IMS-related theory and business strategy.
Keywords: Integrated Management System, Business Strategy,
Alignment.

1. Introduction To enhance their chances of surviving in this

scenario and satisfy these demands, the
The economy globalization and the recent organizations have searched for opportunities
financial crisis have taken organizations to of operational, technological, managerial
live with new challenges, featured by the improvements, among others, that allow, in
intense competitiveness, scarce natural an equitable form, to evolve in a productive,
resources, constant technological progresses, environmental and social point of view
new market demands and increasingly (Simon et al., 2014).
demanding clients that wants more The characteristics and the degree of impacts
concerning new products, quality and price, in industrial companies vary regarding the
which impose constant needs of operational sector in which they act, from the used raw
and managerial changes to the business materials, process characteristics,
scenario (Santos & Barbosa, 2006; Oliveira, manufactured products and, obviously, the
2013; Marques et al., 2018). technological and managerial mechanisms for
its control (Holton, Glass, & Price, 2010;

1
Corresponding author: Luís César F. M. Barbosa
Email: luiscesarfmb@gmail.com
925
Schaltegger, Lüdeke-Freund & Hansen, standard, OHSMS follows OHSAS 18001
2012). and ISO 45001 standards, and the CSRMS
The current business context has driven the follows the SA 8000 and ISO 26000
organizations to develop business strategies standards (Santos et al., 2014; Rebelo et al.,
even more flexible, with the aim of helping 2016; Nunhes, Barbosa & Oliveira, 2017).
the organizations to understand and subsidize The implementation and certification of these
the action planning in the environment in management systems have continually
which they are inserted in (Teece, 2010; increased in the last 20 years (Ribeiro et al.,
Tansey, Spillane & Meng, 2014). Thus, the 2017; Bernardo et al., 2017; Rebelo et al.,
business strategy aims at offering a unit, path 2017), with the purpose of obtaining
and purpose sense to all the organization excellence in business (Santos et al., 2018a;
sectors, facilitating the necessary changes Bravi et al., 2017; Doiro et al., 2017; Santos,
induced by the environment (Agarwal, Grassl Murmura & Bravi, 2018c)
& Pahl, 2012; Abraham, 2013; Santos et al., According to the ISO, in 2017, there was
2016). 1,644,357 certifications of all types guided
The implementation of certifiable through ISO throughout the world, from
management systems has become a common which 1,106,356 certifications are related to
practice among the different types of ISO 9002 and 346,189 to ISO 14001.
industrial organizations. In this context, the Regarding OHSAS 18001 and SA 8000, in
Quality Management System (QMS) 2017 there was 92,315 and 9,081
certification, according to the ISO 9001, certifications, respectively (BSI Group, 2016;
Environmental Management Systems (EMS), SAAS, 2018). Thus, in order to optimize
according to the ISO 14001, Occupational efforts and resources, mainly the industrial
Health and Safety Management System ones, have chosen for the development of
(OHSMS), according to the OHSAS IMS as a plausible and efficient alternative in
18001/ISO45001 and the Corporate Social this sense.
Responsibility Management System The integration of management systems, the
(CSRMS), according to the SA 8000 are the innovation strategy and client’s satisfaction
main center of attention, due to its great are relevant issues for the competitiveness of
applicability in the entire world, especially in any organization. The difficulties in the
the industrial sector (Nunhes, Barbosa & integration of management systems and its
Oliveira, 2017). relation to the innovation strategy and client’s
Besides these, the certifiable management satisfaction must be explored, by proposing a
systems can be integrated as a crescent variety model that aims at uniting theses three
of other implemented subsystems pursuant to concepts (Simon et al., 2014). However, as
other standards, including the ones regarding observed in the scientific literature
risk, social responsibility, human resources concerning these themes, few companies are
(Carvalho, Santos, & Gonçalves, 2018; aware and alert of the difficulties for the
Oliveira, 2013; Wening & Refflinghaus, development of a management system that
2015; Santos, Bravi & Murmura, 2018b). aligns, in a cohesively way, the IMS with the
business strategy, since in many cases the
Usually, the systems that compose the IMS
current strategies can become a bit dispersed
are normalized and certifiable, however, there
from the ones initially planned (Santos,
are exceptions, such as ISO 26000 that
Mendes & Barbosa, 2011; Simon et al., 2014;
instead of the requirements, they propose not
Santos et al., 2017).
only orientation guidelines to companies but
also social responsibility issues. Thus, for However, if they are aligned in a concise and
instance, QMS follows the ISO 9001 coherent form, they can facilitate and allow
standard, EMS follows the ISO 14001 the organizations to fully reach the integration

926 L. Barbosa, O. Oliveira, G. Santos

of IMS with the business strategy, which can overlapping of tasks, redundancies, wastes, a
have a positive impact in its innovative skills, lot of bureaucracy, etc. (Santos, Mendes &
as well as in their employees and clients’ Barbosa, 2011; Oliveira, 2013).
satisfaction (Simon et al., 2014; Abad, There are different definitions in scientific
Dalmau, & Vilajosana, 2014; Gianni & literature about IMS, however, it is noticed
Gotzamani, 2015). that the concepts within these definitions are
This research explores this gap, aiming to convergent, once the system is a set of
show how the business strategy approaches interacting and interdependent parts that form
and models and techniques arising from it, as a unitary whole with a determined objective
well as the certifiable management systems, and perform such task generating one or more
can be used for the formulation of the results. Therefore, a truly integrated system is
alignment propositions of IMS to the business the one that combines different management
strategy. systems that make it possible to put all the
Before these arguments, the research issue relevant management standards into practice
that will surround the development of this in a single system (Simon, Karapetrovic &
article can be enounced as follows: how is it Casadesús, 2012; Simon et al., 2014; Rebelo
possible to align IMS to the business et al., 2016).
strategies? IMS deals with the integration of practices
Consequently, the main goal of this article is and procedures of different normalized
the formulation of propositions that assist in management systems. This integration
the alignment of IMS with the business process normally consists of a merger of the
strategy. For this, this article is structured as Quality Management Systems (QMS),
follows: following this introduction there is Environmental Management Systems (EMS),
the theoretical reference about IMS and Occupational Health and Safety Management
business strategy, afterwards it is presented System (OHSMS), and, most recently, the
the research method, followed by the Corporate Social Responsibility Management
presentation of results and discussions about System (CSRMS) (Oliveira, 2013; Wening &
the postulates for the alignment of IMS with Refflinghaus, 2015).
the strategy. Finally, there are the conclusion Among the benefits that the IMS
and references. development can offer to the organizations
are: cost and tasks reduction, decrease of
2. Theoretical Reference bureaucracy and conflicts among the systems,
simplification of the documentation, manuals,
2.1. Integrated Management Systems procedures and registrations. It also allows
the structured and systematized conformity to
The advance in globalization, the increasing the current legislation, enables time and
competitiveness among companies and the resources saving through its senior
need of a continuous improvements as a management, besides having a systemic
market requirement, have lead the companies approach for the risks, organizational,
to consider the integration of their communication improvement and
management systems as a good opportunity to organizational performance management.
rationalize processes, reduce costs, enhance (Santos, Mendes & Barbosa, 2011; Oliveira,
productivity and satisfy their employees and 2013; Bernardo et al., 2015; Nunhes, Barbosa
clients, once the development and & Oliveira, 2017).
maintenance of management systems and Rebelo, Santos & Silva (2016) highlights the
programs that are treated in an individual main justification for the integration of
way, can create avoidable problems of many management systems is the positive effect
kinds, such as the duplicity of documentation, that it can have on their employees, since the

927
synergy generated by the integration have elements of the systems to the integration of a
made them reach better performance levels. restricted set of elements considered
On the other hand, the difficulty that must be integrable. The ISO has a guide that presents
highlighted is that there isn’t an agreement a global reference framework for the
about the ideal manner of establishing and elaboration of references of management
managing IMS in organizations yet (Simon, systems, which aims at promoting the
Karapetrovic & Casadesús, 2012). alignment of requirements that is necessary to
The systems that integrated IMS are generally promote the harmonization of the
normalized and certifiable, and have implemented system (Oliveira, 2013; Simon
continuously increased in the last twenty et al., 2014).
years (Bernardo et al., 2017). However, there In general, the elements and functions of the
are exceptions, such as in ISO 26000 case that most commonly integrated management
instead of the requirements, it proposes systems in companies are: manuals, policies,
orientation guidelines regarding the social objectives and goals, structure and
responsibility issues. Thus, for example, the responsibility, manager, work instructions,
QMS follows the ISO 9001, EMS follows document control, records control, training,
ISO 14001, OHSMS follows the OHSAS internal communication, emergency plans,
18001 and ISO 45001, and CSRMS follows performance indicators, acquisition,
SA 8000 and ISO 26000. treatment of nonconformities, control of
According to Simon, Karapetrovic, & inspection, measurement, testing equipment,
Casadesús (2012), there are ways of preventive actions, corrective actions,
implementing a IMS that depend on the internal audit, external audit, management
companies’own characteristics that intends to review (Nunhes, Barbosa & Oliveira, 2017).
implement them. The author also emphasizes However, it is worth noticing that some of
that satisfying these needs does not these elements, such as manuals and the
necessarily implicate a formal process of person in charge for the direction, are not
certification, and can be restrict only to the mandatory anymore in the current versions of
improvement of the company’s processes and ISO 9001: 2015 e ISO 14001: 2015.
products.
2.2. Business Strategy
Some normalization agencies have already
made some specific standards available for
Although there is no consensus on the
the integration of management systems, like
meaning of the term Strategy, it is a word
in the case of Denmark (DS 8001:2005),
originating from the Greek term strategia,
Australia and New Zealand (AS/NZ
which means plan, method, process,
4581:1999), Spain (UNE 66177:2005) and
maneuvers or decisions used to achieve a
the United Kingdom (PAS 99:2006). Besides
specific goal or result. Strategy originated in
these, ISO recently disclosed
the military area, from the planning and
recommendations manuals known as Annex
execution of the movement of troops in
SL to guide the organizations that wish to
situations of conflict, in which it was
integrate their management systems, which
considered the psychological and behavioral
favors the trend that the standards are even
abilities of the general in charge of an army
more compatible among one another and,
(Dalby, 2007; Ghemawat, 2016).
consequently, more appropriate for
integration (Bernardo et al., 2017; Nunhes, Strategy began to stand out in a more
Barbosa & Oliveira, 2017). effective way in the organizational contexts
with the post-Second World War demands,
In the scope of integrable elements, the
which were intensified after the globalization
researches present several conclusions that
of economy and creation of several economic
alternate, from the total integration of the
blocks (Zott & Amit, 2008). The constant

928 L. Barbosa, O. Oliveira, G. Santos

financial crises have boosted organizations to performance guidelines, the implementation
develop flexible business strategies even of corporate and business strategies becomes
more in the face of the challenge of living one of the fundamental points in order to
with increasingly demanding customers who achieve the desired objectives, to overcome
are expecting more in terms of new products, the challenges of the market and the
price and quality (Teece, 2010). The competition, achieving an adequate
incorporation of the term strategy into the performance in front of all the c ontingencies
business environment was important and and favorable or adverse situations that
necessary for the planning of the present themselves (Salavou, 2015; Parnell,
organization, since one of the objectives of Long, & Lester, 2015).
the business strategy is to help organizations Strategic planning can be understood as an
understand how to subsidize the planning of administrative practice that, based on the
their actions in the environments (internal and evaluation of the condition of an organization
external) in which they are inserted. (Oliveira, and the situation of its operating environment,
2013; Simon et al., 2014; Tansey, Spillane & results in a critical recognition of its
Meng, 2014). opportunities, threats, strengths and
The business strategy presents a weaknesses for the length of its objectives,
multidisciplinary character and seeks to offer establishing structured and formal guidance
a sense of unity, path and purpose to all to guide the organization (Agarwal, Grassl &
sectors of the organization, facilitating the Pahl, 2012). Strategic planning also considers
necessary changes induced by the likely future scenarios based on the
environment (Agarwal, Grassl & Pahl, 2012; recognition of the organization's condition,
Abraham, 2013). It is also characterized by the situation of internal and external
presenting a macro structure, because it environments, the relationship between these
involves organizational elements that two dimensions and alternative business
encompass the company as a whole (Teece, strategies (Salavou, 2015; Zhang, 2015).
2010; Lee, 2014; Cano et al., 2015). There are several ways to develop business
Business strategy is almost always a forecast, strategy, however, we realize that there is no
that is, it is a bet of how the competition will well-defined business strategy without a well-
develop and how this evolution can be defined and structured strategic planning of
exploited to obtain competitive advantages the real internal and external conditions that
(Teece, 2010). The problems of business make up the business context of a given
strategy are usually unstructured, dynamic, organization (Rosenzweing et al., 2003; Peng,
non-cooperative. In some cases, they may Wang & Jiang, 2008; Zhang, 2015).
have incomplete information or even be The so-called Competitiveness Era changed
treated by agents acting according to their the configuration of strategic planning, which
own interests, therefore, they do not allow a began to be developed with the objective of
logical solution (Magretta, 2012; Agarwal, formulating competitive strategies in order to
Grassl & Pahl, 2012; Miles, 2013; Tansey, promote competitive advantages for
Spillane & Meng, 2014). companies. One of the pioneers to introduce
The development of business strategy is this concept was Michael Porter through his
important and necessary for planning and model of the five competitive forces
organizational success. The formulation of (Magretta, 2012). As competition moves
the business competitive strategy must be companies to seek new ways to develop their
adjusted to the conditions of the environment strategies and many have sought strategic aids
in which they guide the business of an to formulate their business strategies, in
organization (Abraham, 2013; Caskey 2015). addition to Porter's model, models such as
When establishing an organization's Resource Based View (RBV) and Balanced

929
Score Card (BSC) are largely used by 3. Research Method
organizations (Magretta, 2012; Agarwal,
Grassl & Pahl, 2012; Miles, 2013; Tansey, In this section information about the article
Spillane & Meng, 2014). classification, definition of the used
Thus, it is understood that the formulation of techniques and sequence of developed
the business strategy evolves, based on the activities to carry out the research will be
initial ideas of the strategic planning, exposed. This article is classified as
adjusting the variability of all the elements qualitative, being used to execute the
involved in the process, among them: the bibliographic research. (Jupp, 2006; Kothari
internal structuring and the resources of the & Garg, 2014). According to Jupp (2006), the
organization; the external environmental bebliographic research is a theoretical
conditions; and the possible relations investigation and does not have elements such
(synergies and antagonisms) between the as interviews, surveys, tests and the
elements in the various fields of the business participant’s observation to explain the issue.
environment (Salavou, 2015). As of a bibliometric study about the evolution
The different lines of thought in the literature, of the publications regarding IMS it was
as well as the various strategic models, must possible to identify some gaps in researches
be considered in the concept of strategy to be that approached the IMS as an alternative to
adopted by the organizations, whatever their foment and develop the business strategy
field of action, and the strategy adopted (Nunhes, Motta & Oliveira, 2016). Thus, we
should lead the company to differentiate itself decided to investigate the best research
from the competitors seeking to establish opportunities of this relation, for this, a
competitive advantage that must be specific exploratory study on papers that
permanently monitored, since it cannot be related IMS to the strategy was conducted,
predicted how long it will last. At the same and it was noticed that, until June 2018,
time, it is a way to be followed in order to fifteen articles that somehow pointed to the
reach the objectives set and to fulfill the relation existing between IMS and strategy
defined mission (Parnell, Long & Lester, had been published in the scientific literature
2015; Zhang, 2015). (Scopus, 2018; Web of Science, 2018). The
Therefore, the strategy formulation process methodological flow in which the research
should also address the benefits of was developed is presented in figure 1.
stakeholders, providing a basis for After defining the key elements of the
establishing the series of transactions and research, such as the theme, introduction,
social contracts that link the company to its research question and goals, the theoretical
shareholders (Caskey, 2015; Parnell, Long & reference was developed, which supported
Lester, 2015). Therefore, business strategy the analysis and discussions of this paper.
can be considered as a frame of references so Then, in order to enhance the existing
that the organization can maintain the synergies and mitigating the antagonisms
continuity of its business within standards between the IMS and the business strategy,
considered ideal and at the same time, the theoretical elements for its alignment
facilitate its force of adaptation to possible were elaborated and discussed.
environments in constant change (Salavou, In this sense, the alignment is understood as
2015; Parnell, Long & Lester, 2015; Zhang, the interface relation of the business strategy
2015). with the integrated management systems and
vice versa. Subsequently, the conclusion was
developed based on the results and
discussions.

930 L. Barbosa, O. Oliveira, G. Santos

 Figure 1. Research Methodological Flow. Authors (2018).

4. Results and Discussions the organizations, besides threatening those

that benefit from the current attribution of its
The organizational culture is one of the most resources and financial aids. This can happen
critical factors for the good development of horizontally, between the organizational
the normalized management systems and eve units, and on the vertical axis (Oreg, 2007;
more for its integration and interaction with Thomas, Sargent & Hardy, 2011).
the business strategy, thus, great attention and Thus, the implementation of a IMS, due to its
effort must be given to the elements related to form and structuration, will cause changes in
it (Santos-Vijande, Sanchez & Trespalacios, the company’s culture, its procedures,
2012; Barbosa et al., 2017). In this sense, it is bureaucracy, tasks performance, members’
emphasized that the development of an IMS, habits, among other factors, i.e., it will have a
led by the high administration, must great impact on the business strategy. In
guarantee the commitment of all the people, addition, the presence of conservative and
direct and indirectly, involved in the process reactivated strategies can harm the integration
and it must be coherent with the of systems, thus causing rejection to the
organization’s culture and strategy. system due to the maintenance of outdated
A previous diagnosis of the organization’s habits and traditions that prevent the advance
culture overview characterization, as a whole, of new management tools. (Zeng, Shi & Lou,
is fundamental to assure the adequacy and 2007).
success of IMS. This will prevent adverse Figure 2 illustrates how the development of
effects in its development, such as lack of IMS integration with the business integration
collaboration between departments, lack of can be, in order to propose a bigger
motivation, etc. (Bernardo et al., 2012). understanding and comprehension of the
The resistance to change can threaten the research, which has as its goal the formulation
development of the IMS and groups within of propositions that assist the alignment of
IMS with the business strategy.

931
 Figure 2. Alignment of IMS with the Business Strategy. Authors (2018).

Thus, it is understood that the formulate.n of inspections, document analysis, etc., and that
propositions concentrates in how to promote establish common indictors of performance,
the correct alignment of the IMS developed in in a way that one drives the other, then
companies, together with the business establishing high strategic, quality,
strategies adopted by them, once the IMS is environmental, health, safety and social
inserted internally in the companies, while the responsibility parameters in order to obtain
business strategy is characterized by the clients’ higher trust and satisfaction.
presenting a macro structure, i.e., involves Pursuant to Schein (2009) every and any
organizational elements that englobe the company, regardless its size, segment that
company as a whole (Lee, 2014; Cano et al., acts and goods and services it produces, has
2015). an organizational culture that can be formally
In order to conduct the characterization of this instituted or not. Generally, the organizations
phenomena, it was explained how this are constituted of own personalities and can
behavior is generated, suggesting ways to be rigid or flexible, supporting or hostile,
change its current state. The purpose of the innovative or conservative, with a weak or
alignment is also to evaluate and explain the strong culture (Schein, 2009; Lunenburg,
effectiveness of initiatives or provide new 2011). The organizational culture influences
organizational alternatives to enhance the and supports all members of the organization
behavior of a certain system, for example, the with premises to guide its behaviors and
possible existing synergies between the IMS mentalities. It is composed by practices,
and/or with certifiable systems separately symbols, habits, ethical and moral values,
with the business strategy. principles, beliefs, ceremonies, internal and
Thus, Figure 2 shows a hypothesis of how the external policies, systems, jargon, besides the
alignment of the IMS with the business organizational climate and culture. (Schein,
strategy can be, in which, e adequate 2009; Lunenburg, 2011).
alignment shall allow that the organizations Lunenburg (2011) emphasizes that the
reach their goals and these can be convergent essence of the culture in a company is
and with actions aimed towards: investments, expressed in a way that it develops its
trainings, awareness, motivation, control, businesses, how it treats its clients and

932 L. Barbosa, O. Oliveira, G. Santos

employees, the level of autonomy or freedom maintenance of an IMS, such as the insertion
existing in its work environment, units and of concepts of continuous improvements,
departments, and the level of loyalty of its systemic vision, incessant search for the
employees. In addition, the culture can reduction of actions, processes, information
influence the definition of the mission and the and duplicated documents, the persistent
establishment of the organization’s goals and “fight” for the reduction of costs and
strategies. In this sense, it is important to mistakes, and by the focus on increasing
highlight that for the management of the clients’ satisfaction, will direct and
organization to be efficient, the culture must considerably impact the organizational
be aligned to other decision aspects and strategy, in light that these probable changes
business actions, such as methods, planning, of paradigms and behavior of each individual
organization, direction, control, strategies and and the company as a whole shall adapt, with
the most varied and different management the purpose of an efficient and complete
systems (Schein, 2009; Lunenburg, 2011). integration of systems so it is a real
Many organizations have opted for competitive differential.
implementing an IMS as an alternative to Thus, to have the assistance needed to the
optimize efforts and resources, aiming at development actions of the correct alignment
gaining competitiveness (Rebelo, Santos & of the IMS with the business strategy it is
Silva, 2014; Oliveira, 2013). The IMS is advisable to consider the characteristics of the
composed by the total or partial integration of organizational culture. Thus, an innovative
the QMS, EMS, OHSMS and, most recently, and flexible company, for example, will
CSRMS (Santos, Mendes & Barbosa, 2011). probably accept new ideas and challenges
Each one of these systems has, at least, one with a more easily than a familiar and
certifiable standard, being ISO 9001 for traditional company (Barbosa et al., 2017).
quality, ISO 14001 for the environment, The development plan of an efficient
OHSAS 18001/ISO 45001 for labor safety alignment between the IMS and business
and health and SA for social responsibility strategy must take into account these
(Santos et al., 2018b) peculiarities. In the first hypothesis
On the other hand, the business strategy has (innovative and flexible company), the IMS
great influence in companies’ must be disclosed as a great challenge,
competitiveness, since it affects internal aligned to a technological support common in
aspects related to employees’ capacitation innovative companies, to get the attention and
and formation, and also in external aspects, guarantee the involvement of everybody. In
such as the relationship with suppliers and the second case (familiar and traditional
clients. Such characteristics can directly companies), a detailed action plan will be
influence the organizational strategy, necessary for the preparation and convincing
impacting business sales and purchases, what of the big work forces, it will be necessary
reveals a great interaction with the IMS efforts to show the benefits that this new
development (Mintzberg & Quinn, 2001; system (IMS development) will bring to the
Schein, 2009). Thus, it is possible to say that company and, consequently, the maintenance
between business strategy and IMS there is a of their job positions.
two-way interaction, i.e., the IMS not only Thus, the ideal situation considered in this
influences the strategy but also the strategy study in order to have the correct IMS and
influences the IMS (Schein, 2009; business strategy alignment, is that the
Lunenburg, 2011). possible systems that integrate them can
Barbosa et al. (2017) claims that the become part of the business daily life of its
preparations and structural and behavioral employees, i.e., be effectively incorporated to
changes demanded by the development and the organizational culture and, therefore,

933
don’t need to be treated as news or changes in concluded that the integration of the systems
the organization. aligned to the business strategy must be
effectively incorporated to the organizational
5. Conclusion culture so that a correct alignment of IMS
with the business strategy can happen.
The economic globalization, world financial It is important to emphasize that the main
crisis and the enhancement of competition has contribution of this article is the support in
made organizations to act in an even more assisting the development of a recent
turbulent environment, which is characterized scientific knowledge block that is based in the
by the considerable increase of the customer’s articulation of the theory related to the IMS
demand level related to price, quality and and the business strategy, in which It was
commitment the business have with ethic, verified that the relation between the IMS and
human being and the environment, increasing the strategy has arouse the interest in some
demands of knowledge, uncertainty and, experts, who are suggesting the development
consequently, business risk (Oliveira, 2013; of studies to increase and strengthen the
Rebelo et al., 2017; Carvalho, Santos, & researches correlated to the themes (Abad,
Gonçalves, 2018). Dalmau & Vilajosana, 2014; Gianni &
The current business context has driven the Gotzamani, 2015). Regarding the main
organizations to develop business strategies contribution applied to the article, it is
even more flexible, in this context the highlighted the feasibility of the proposed
certification of the management systems, the alignment hypothesis, even if with a few
QMS, EMS, OHSMS and most recently empirical studies related to the theme.
CSRMS, above all, have also become Therefore, this study allowed us to identify,
common practices between the different types in a direct way, the existing correlations
of organizations, especially in the industrial between IMS and business strategy, and,
sector, which is responsible for presenting the consequently, it enabled the formulation of
highest number of companies certified with propositions to foment the alignment
the most used management systems (Teece, development between IMS and business
2010; Tansey, Spillane & Meng, 2014; strategy.
Nunhes, Barbosa & Oliveira, 2017). In order However, there is a wide range for the
to optimize efforts and resources, many information, elements and practices, not only
organizations have chosen for the from the IMS but as well as from the
development of IMS as a plausible and organizational strategies, to be enhanced in
efficient alternative in this sense. order to leverage even more the business
Thus, this article has identified propositions performance. Such evidence reinforces the
that must avoid adverse efforts in the existing scientific gap that can be explored by
alignment development of IMS with the the thematic analyzed in this article.
business strategy, such as the lack of In this study it was verified that although the
motivation and commitment, low relation between IMS and strategy are part of
collaboration between departments, a contemporary thematic and have arouse the
resistance to changes, among others. The interest of some expertise, it is suggested the
results of this paper have allowed the development of more studies to enhance and
conclusion that there is a two-way interaction strengthen the researched correlated to the
between the IMS and business strategy, i.e., themes. Therefore, in addition to theoretical
the IMS influences the business strategy and studies, empirical studies that can be
the business strategy influences the IMS. operationalized in studies or even in surveys
Before the propositions pointed out are well regarded by the authors.
(hypothesis 1 and hypothesis 2) it was

934 L. Barbosa, O. Oliveira, G. Santos

Acknowledgements: This work was (FAPESP) [grant number 2017/18304-7] and
supported by the Coordenação de by the Brazilian National Council for
Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Scientific and Technologica Development
Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code (CNPq) [grant number PQ 312894/2017-1].
001, the São Paulo Research Foundation

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Luís César F. M. Otávio José de Oliveira Gilberto Santos
Barbosa Department of Production, Design School, Polytechnic
Department of Production, São Paulo State University - Institute Cavado Ave,
São Paulo State University - FEG/UNESP, Campus do IPCA,
FEG/UNESP, Guaratinguetá – SP, Barcelos, Portugal
Guaratinguetá – SP, Brazil; gsantos@ipca.pt
Brazil; otavio.oliveira@unesp.br
luiscesarfmb@gmail.com

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