Blending Green With Lean - Incorporating Best-of-the-Breed Practices to Formulate an Optimum Global Supply Chain Management Framework

Abstract

This chapter identifies potential areas in which firms can integrate green into current business practices based on the existing literature. An extensive literature review was conducted to examine research and practice with respect to the concurrent implementation of green, lean, and global supply chain strategies. The applied literature analysis identifies that lean not only serves as a catalyst but is also synergistic for green. Lean is beneficial for green practices, and the implementation of green practices, in turn, also has a positive influence on existing global business practices (Dües, Tan, & Tim, 2013). The chapter provides an assessment of existing academic research on the relationship and links between lean and green supply chain management practices. Existing explanatory frameworks are explored and discussed, primarily based on objectives including: (a) identification processes where lean practices are synergized with a go-green philosophy of business, (b) advocating green practices as an essential element in the lean value chain, and (c) developing a green-lean framework based on existing literature for competitive advantage for business firms.