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