Experience with an integrated management system in a sugar and ethanol manufacturing unit: Possibilities and Limitations

Purpose - Over recent the past decades, integrated management systems (IMS) have emerged as one of the major tasks for practising managers and the academic community. In this context, this paper aims at identifying relevant practices related to an IMS in an organisation that belongs to the sugar cane and ethanol agricultural industrial sector in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach - A review of mainstream literature on IMS is conducted followed by case-based research used as the methodological approach. Data were gathered through a questionnaire as well as face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The analysis was done a posteriori to construct the case description and perform the analysis. Findings - Issues that motivated the IMS implementation were identified. The paper also highlights the difficulties experienced and benefits accrued during implementation. The existence of a previous quality management system facilitated the implementation of the IMS. Nevertheless, a longitudinal study is desirable to assess further results in the long term. Research limitations/implications - This work is limited to a single unit of analysis. Therefore, empirical replications in other samples are needed to validate current findings. Originality/value - This is one of the first known studies to investigate the implementation of an IMS in a manufacturing unit that produces sugar and ethanol.