Control Variable
Since in most of the earlier studies the relationship between sustainability performance and firm performance has been established for big companies in case of SMEs we wanted to test if company size has any moderating effect on this relationship. This forms the basis of our fourth research proposition that company size influences the relationship between sustainability performance and firm performance. Company size in terms of investment in plant and machinery has been used as a control variable influencing the relationship between the sustainable performance and business performance. Sample firms were divided in two size groups based on the definition of MSME (MSME Development Act, 2006) where firms having investment in plant and machinery more than 2.5 million (twenty five lakh) rupees but less than 50 million (five crore) rupees are considered small firms and firms having investments more than 50 million (five crore) rupees and not exceeding 100 million (ten crore) rupees are considered medium firms. Micro firms are not included in our sample set as they are too small to leverage from any sustainability practices. Also approachability for micro firms was diificult