Purpose – The present contribution addresses the implementation of an Integrated Management Control System which aims to combine the company’s intangible resources, known in literature as Intellectual Capital (IC), with long-term sustainability factors. The study concerns a company operating within the Aerospace and Defence field which has developed an Intellectual Capital report in order to manage sustainability projects and meet the stringent criteria required for inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative research approach underlying the investigation is Interpretivism; more specifically, the study was conducted in the light of “action research” (Dumay, 2010). Data were gathered from in-depth interviews with managers as well as from group discussions. A framework aiming at fostering a sustainable management strategy was elaborated and successfully applied to a series of specific corporate initiatives. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the extant literature by questioning whether it is possible to link IC and sustainability initiatives in order to have a positive impact on the assessment process companies are subject to for inclusion in the DJSI. As per today, in fact, no research paper has addressed this topic. Practical implications – The outcomes of the research suggest that the adoption of an integrated management control system, providing a link between intangible assets and capabilities that create value within a sustainability framework, not only provides an effective support to general management but it could be reasonably assumed to have a positive impact on the assessment process companies are subject to for inclusion in the Index.