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We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.

The aim of both value analysis (VA) and quality function deployment (QFD) is to reduce waste by avoiding redesign and providing optimal location of costs in general. To satisfy the consumer's most important needs, the VA prioritizes the increase in the cost of the product and not the subsequent price rise. QFD aims at generating clear engineering needs from consumer requirements thus, minimizing the reprojecting cost (“cost” should read “waste”) and changes in the products. The existing common concepts between two design tools, QFD (the project tool) and VA (the product optimization tool) motivated this study. QFD establishes a link among parameters such as the consumer needs, engineering requirements and a comparative analysis of the consumer perception against that of rival companies. The VA prioritizes a rise in the aggregate value (perceived by the consumer) by optimization development and production costs. The proposed methodology is capable of integrating these two tools, integrating costs with product development (“for the consumer”) for a joint analysis. This way it is possible to establish optimum cost values for each engineering requirement. It is also possible to evaluate the cost of each product function. Furthermore, the methodology provides a tool that supports decision making in product development and projects. This work evaluates the integrated use of the QFD and VA tools. Employing a survey that was carried out which intended to reveal the young male consumers’ requirements concerning a sports bicycle.