Seok-Beom Choi, Hokey Min and Hye-Young Joo
The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of competitive market environments on the firm’s decision to adopt green supply chain management (GSCM) practices, while checking…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of competitive market environments on the firm’s decision to adopt green supply chain management (GSCM) practices, while checking to see if the firm’s commitment to particular types of GSCM practices improves its performance.
Design/methodology/approach
To confirm a positive link between the firm’s GSCM practices to its performance, the authors collected the data from 322 Korean firms via questionnaire surveys and then analyzed these data using the structural equation model.
Findings
Among various types of GSCM practices, green purchasing has the greatest impact on both manufacturing and marketing performances. Also, internal environmental management positively influenced both manufacturing and marketing performances, whereas cooperation with customers and reverse logistics had no significant impact on the firm’s manufacturing and marketing performances.
Originality/value
To provide a practical advice for firms which are hesitant to embrace green supply chain practices due to skeptical views about their true managerial benefits, this paper discerned more effective GSCM practices from less effective GSCM practices. In so doing, this paper is one of the few studies which pinpointed what types of specific GSCM practices are most effective in enhancing firm performance.
Details
Keywords
Based on the empirical findings from a survey of Korean firms with greater environmental risks, this paper aims to identify variables that either promote or inhibit the successful…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the empirical findings from a survey of Korean firms with greater environmental risks, this paper aims to identify variables that either promote or inhibit the successful implementation of green sourcing strategy and to evaluate the effects of green sourcing on the firm’s supplier selection, waste management, packaging and regulatory compliance.
Design/methodology/approach
To help multinational firms configure an environmentally conscious (green) sourcing strategy, this paper conducted a mail-questionnaire survey and then analyzed the survey results obtained from more than 300 valid responses by using a series of multinomial logistics regression, ordinal regression and discriminant analyses. In addition, the authors performed a cluster analysis, chi-square tests of independence and cross tabulation to analyze the data.
Findings
The authors found that the main driver for the firm’s green sourcing practices is its customer needs and preferences for the environment-friendly product and services instead of peer pressure or government mandates (including environmental regulation). Surprisingly, the authors also found that the firm with a greater purchasing power did not necessarily factor the supplier’s advances in environmental programs into its supplier selection, although the firm’s amount of purchase volume can give it a bargaining strength to pressure its supplier to adopt the environmental programs.
Originality/value
A rapid industrialization of Asia-Pacific countries for the past several decades brought unprecedented economic prosperity in those countries. However, it also eroded ecosystem quality gradually through air, water and ground contamination and pollution caused by industrial activities. Such concerns have prompted many firms in the Asia-Pacific region to reassess their up-stream supply chain strategy such as sourcing strategy. This paper is one of the first to examine how Asia-Pacific firms develop such strategy and identify the most common green sourcing practices that can be guidance for other firms embracing environmental programs.