Integrated Financial and Strategic Management Practices for Enhancing Business Performance and Organizational Sustainability

Abstract

This review explores the contribution of integrated financial and strategic management practices in the performance of business and sustainability of the organization. The method employed in this study is a structured integrative literature review (SR) and thematic synthesis (TS) to integrate the evidence from financial management, strategic management, business performance and sustainability research. Financial planning, budgeting, investment appraisal, liquidity management, financing decisions and risk control are identified as key financial practices and strategic planning, environmental scanning, implementation, agility and performance control as central strategic practices. The synthesis suggests that these practices lead to greater organizational outcomes when they are managed together, and not separately. The review suggests that financial-strategic alignment is a holistic management capability that connects resource allocation, financial decision making, strategic priorities and performance goals based on the evidence. According to the proposed framework, the alignment positively improves the business performance via better investment efficiency, resource utilization, decision quality, adaptability, and risk management. It also helps to enhance the sustainability of the organisation through resilience, long-term value creation, responsiveness to the stakeholders and adaptability to environmental change. These relationships might be affected by contextual variables like firm size, industry, governance, digital capability, managerial competence, environmental uncertainty, and finance availability. Finally, gaps in the literature in terms of measurement, context, and methodology are identified, as well as suggestions for future empirical testing.