How Smart Technologies Affect the Decision-Making and Control System of Food and Beverage Companies—A Case Study

Abstract

In order to cope with the current competitive scenario, more and more companies are increasingly challenged to redefine their current decision-making and control models in favour of lean, efficient and digitalised models. Recent advances in digital technologies offer new opportunities for management to digitise and automate decision-making and control processes, with numerous benefits, including in terms of sustainability. In many industries, especially in food and beverage sector, the implementation of smart technologies could play an important role and have a positive impact on business processes, making them sustainable. The literature on the use of smart technologies in food and beverage companies focuses on the impact that such technologies have on performance measurement and sustainability, but there is a lack of explanation of the impact of smart technologies on decision-making and control systems. This work aims to fill the gap in the literature by investigating, through a case study, the impact of smart technologies on the decision-making and control systems of food and beverage companies. The case study showed that the use of smart technologies in food and beverage companies has an impact both on control systems, which generate a range of information relevant to management control, and on decision-making systems, which support management in making optimal strategic decisions for the company.