Sustainable Production Practices and Determinant Factors of Green Supply Chain Management of Chinese Companies

Business Strategy and the Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) Published online 16 February 2011 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/bse.705

Sustainable Production: Practices and Determinant Factors of Green Supply Chain Management of Chinese Companies
Xianbing Liu,1* Jie Yang,2 Sixiao Qu,2 Leina Wang,2 Tomohiro Shishime1 and Cunkuan Bao2
1

Kansai Research Centre, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan 2 College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, China

ABSTRACT This paper explores the green supply chain management (GSCM) of companies based in the Yangtze River Delta, China. The companies’ overall GSCM practice level (LGSCM) is measured by using the data from 165 valid respondents in a questionnaire survey conducted during April and May 2009. The relationships between LGSCM and the classified determinant factors are analyzed. It is indicated that Chinese companies are still at a preliminary stage of GSCM practices. Their environmental management in cooperation with external members of the supply chain is very marginal. A company’s LGSCM is significantly and positively associated with the external pressures from regulatory, domestic clients and business competitors. As an internal factor, a company’s learning capacity greatly determines LGSCM. We also confirm that the internal factors function as intermediate variables of external pressures in influencing a company’s GSCM. A company’s environmental management capacities will be strongly enhanced by frequent internal training of employees to increase its involvement in GSCM practices. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Received 5 July 2010; revised 14 December 2010; accepted 16 December 2010 Keywords: sustainable production; green supply chain management; practices; determinant factors; China

Introduction environment, in the forms of pollutant generation, ecosystem disruption and depletion of

References: Baron RM, Kenny DA. 1986. The moderator‐mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51(6): 1173–1182. Carter CR, Ellram LM, Kathryn LM. 1998. Environmental purchasing: benchmarking our German counterparts. International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management 34(4): 28–38. Carter CR, Kale R, Grimn CM. 2000. Environmental purchasing and firm performance: an empirical investigation. Transportation Research. Part E 36: 219–288. Daily BF, Huang SC. 2001. Achieving sustainability through attention to human resource factors in environmental management. International Journal of Operations and Production Management 21(12): 1539–1552. Delmas M. 2002. The diffusion of environmental management standards in Europe and the United States: an institutional perspective. Policy Science 35: 91–119. Delmas M, Toffel M. 2004. Stakeholders and environmental management practices: An institutional framework. Business Strategy and the Environment 13: 209–222. DiMaggio PJ, Powell WW. 1983. The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organization fields. American Sociological Review 48: 147–160. Doonan J, Lanoie P, Laplante B. 2005. Analysis determinants of environmental performance in the Canadian pulp and paper industry: an assessment from inside the industry. Ecological Economics 55: 73–84. Drumwright ME. 1994. Socially responsible organizational buying: environmental concern as a non‐economic buying criterion. Journal of Marketing 58(3): 1–19. Fiksel J. 1996. Design for the environment: Creating eco‐efficiency products and processes. McGraw‐Hill: New York, USA. Geoffrey JLF Hagelaar, Jack GAJ van der Vorst. 2002. Environmental supply chain management: using life cycle assessment to structure supply chains. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review 4: 399–412. Gunningham N, Kagan R, Thornton D. 2003. Shades of green: business, regulation and environment, Stanford: Stanford University Press. Hall J. 2000. Environmental supply chain dynamics. Journal of Cleaner Production 8: 455–471. Handfield RB. 1996. Green supply chain: best practices from the furniture industry proceedings. Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, US, 1295–1297. Hart S. 1995. A natural resource‐based view of the firm. Academy of Management Review 20(4): 30–37. Henriques I, Sadorsky P. 1996. The determinants of an environmentally responsive firm: an empirical approach. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 30(3): 381–395. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10.1002/bse 16 Xianbing Liu et al. Hervani AA, Helms MM, Sarkis J. 2005. Performance measurement for green supply chain management. Benchmarking: An International Journal 12(4): 330–353. Hettige H, Huo M, Pargal S, Wheeler D. 1996. Determinants of pollution abatement in developing countries: evidence from South and Southeast Asia. World Development 24: 1891–1904. Hines F, Johns R. 2001. Environmental supply chain management: evaluating the use of environmental mentoring through supply chain. Presented at Greening of Industry Network Conference. Bangkok. Jeppesen S, Hansen MW. 2004. Environmental upgrading of Third World enterprises through linkages ti transnational corporations: Theoretical perspectives and preliminary evidence. Business Strategy and the Environment 13(4): 261–274. Jeremy H. 2000. Environmental supply chain dynamics. Journal of Cleaner Production 8(6): 455–471. Karna A, Heiskanen E. 1998. The challenge of product chain thinking for product development and design: the example of electrical and electronic products. Journal of Sustainable Product Design 4: 126–136. Kearney M. 2004. Walking the walk? Community participation in HIA – a qualitative interview study. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 24: 217–229. Ken G, Barbara M, Steve N. 2000. Greening organizations: purchasing, consumption and innovation. Organization and Environment 13(2): 206–225; Klassen R, Mclaughin C. 1996. The impact of environmental management on firm performance. Management Science 42(8): 1199–1214. Lamming R. 1996. Squaring lean supply with supply chain management. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 16(2): 183–196. Madu CN, Kuei C, Madu IE. 2002. A hierarchic metric approach for integration of green issues in manufacturing: a paper recycling application. Journal of Environmental Management 64: 261–272. Min H, Galle WP. 1997. Green purchasing strategies: trend and implications. International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management 33(3): 10–17. Nagel MH. 2000. Environmental supply chain management versus green procurement in the scope of a business and leadership perspective. IEEE, 219–224. Nelson JC, Rashid H, Galvin VG, Essien JDK. 1999. Public/private partners key factors in creating a strategic alliance for community health. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 16: 94–102. PPRC (The Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center). 2002. Supply chain management for environmental improvement. Available from: http://www.pprc.org/pubs/grnchain/index.cfm; [accessed 28 August 2009]. Prahinski C, Kocabasoglu C. 2006. Empirical research opportunities in reverse supply chain. Omega 34(6): 519–532. Prakash A. 2000. Greening the Firm. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Sarkis J. 1998. Theory and methodology evaluating environmentally conscious business practices. European Journal of Operational Research 107: 159–174. Sarkis J. 1999. How green is the supply chain: practice and research. Graduate School of Management, Clark University, Worcester, M.A. Sarkis J. 2003. A strategic decision framework for green supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production 11(4): 397–409. Sarkis J. 2005. Performance measurement for green supply chain management. Benchmarking: An International Journal 12(4): 330–353. SEPA (State Environmental Protection Administration). 2003. Announcement on environmental protection auditing to the companies applying to be listed or for refinancing (In Chinese). Available from: http://www.sepa.gov.cn/; [accessed 28 May 2008]. Sharfman MP, Shaft TM, Annex Jr. RP. 2009. The road to cooperative supply‐chain environmental management: trust and uncertainty among pro‐active firms. Business Strategy and the Environment 18(1): 1–13. Snir EM. 2001. Liability as a catalyst for product stewardship. Production and Operations Management 10(2): 190–206. Tabachnick BG, Fidell LS. 2001. Using Multivariate Statistics, 4th edn. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Thun JH, Müller A. 2010. An empirical analysis of green supply chain management in the German automotive industry. Business Strategy and the Environment 19(2): 119–132. Vachon S, Klassen RD. 2006. Green project partnership in the supply chain: the case of package printing industry. Journal of Cleaner Production 14: 661–671. Vachon S, Klassen RD. 2008. Environmental management and manufacturing performance: The role of collaboration in the supply chain. International Journal of Production Economics 111(2): 299–315. Vijay R, Kannan K, Tan C. 2003. Attitudes of US and European managers to supplier selection and assessment and implication for business performance. Benchmarking: An International Journal 10(5): 472–489. Walton SV, Handfield RB, Melnyk SA. 1998. The green supply chain: integrating suppliers into environmental management process. International Journal of Purchasing and Material Management 34(2): 2–11. Zhu QH, Geng Y. 2001. Integrating environmental issues into supplier selection and management: a study of large and medium‐sized state‐owned enterprises in China. Green Management International (Autumn): 27–40. Zhu QH, Geng Y. 2006. Statistics analysis on types of Chinese manufacturers based on practice of green supply chain management and their performance. Application of Statistics and Management (in Chinese) 25(4): 392–399. Zhu QH, Sarkis J. 2006. An inter‐sectoral comparison of green supply chain management in China: Drivers and practices. Journal of Cleaner Production 14: 472–486. Zhu QH, Sarkis J, Cordeiro JJ, Lai KH. 2008. Firm‐level correlates of emergent green supply chain management practices in the Chinese context. Omega 36(4): 577–591. Zsidisin GA, Hendrick TE. 1998. Purchasing’s involvement in environmental issues: a multi‐country perspective. Industrial Management & Data Systems 7: 313–320. Zsidisin GA, Siferd SP. 2001. Environmental purchasing: A framework for theory development. European Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management 7(1): 61–73. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 1–16 (2012) DOI: 10.1002/bse