Empirical Research on Influencing Factors of Sustainable Supply Chain Management—Evidence from Beijing, China

The drive for the adoption of Sustainable Supply Chain Management practices among pharmaceutical companies is on the rise given the global effort to attain net zero of carbon emissions as well as attaining other targets for the sustainable development goals. The pharmaceutical industry plays vital role in the manufacturing and distribution of medications, and therefore sustainability issues are critical for the survival of the industry. However, the adoption of sustainable practices in the upstream pharmaceutical industry is still low, and there is lack of empirical research in this area, particularly in emerging economies like Ghana. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the level of adoption of sustainable supply chain practices, focusing on the role of the policy framework, the influence of these practices on company performance, and the role of top executives in ensuring sustainability. The study utilizes a mixed method approach and leverages the upper echelon theory to explore the role of managers on sustainable supply chain practices. This dissertation explore the state of the upstream pharmaceutical Sustainable Supply Chain Management practices in Ghana, evaluate the role of the upstream pharmaceutical policy framework of Ghana on supply chain sustainability, identify how upstream pharmaceutical Sustainable Supply Chain Management Practices influence the performance of pharmaceutical companies in Ghana, and to examine the role of top management in ensuring upstream pharmaceutical sustainable supply chain management practices in Ghana. By addressing the above objectives, the study promotes academic debate and provides insights for policy directions in the pharmaceutical industry for sustainable growth and development. The research design includes both explanatory and exploratory approaches, with a concurrent/parallel mixed methods design combining quantitative and qualitative data. Specifically, the concurrent triangulation design mixed method was adopted. The target population was employees of locally owned upstream pharmaceutical companies in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. From a finite population of about 2000, stratified and purposive strategies were used to select 18 participants under the qualitative aspect, while random sampling technique was used to select 334 for the quantitative aspect of the study. Therefore, the total sample size for this study was 352 participants. Data collection involved the use of questionnaire and structured interview guide, and data analysis included structural equation modeling for quantitative data and thematic analysis as well as content analysis for qualitative data. Quantitative results indicated that Sustainable Supply Chain Management practices have a positive significant association with Sustainable Supply Chain Management performance for upstream pharmaceutical companies. Results showed that, there was positive impact of Top Management Commitment on Sustainable Supply Chain Management to performance. Furthermore, there was justification for Top Management Commitment as a moderator on the association between Sustainable Supply Chain Management practices and Sustainable Supply Chain Management performance. The study's findings on sustainable supply chain management practices in the upstream pharmaceutical sector in Ghana have significant theoretical, managerial, and policy implications. The interviews revealed the importance of socially inclusive practices, eco-friendly manufacturing, waste management, supplier involvement, and collaborations are important factors to consider in achieving sustainability goals. Theoretical implications include the recognition of responsible sourcing as a crucial component of sustainable supply chain management and the importance of socially responsible human resource management strategies. Managerially, the adoption of green manufacturing practices, waste management, and supplier engagement are highlighted as strategies for enhancing sustainability. Policy implications emphasize the need for supportive policies and regulations that promote responsible sourcing, green manufacturing, waste management, and supplier engagement in the upstream of pharmaceutical industry. The study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence of the positive association between sustainable supply chain management and organizational performance. The role of top management in ensuring the adoption and implementation of sustainable supply chain management practices is crucial, with implications for leadership, resource allocation, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement. Policy-wise, support for sustainable supply chain management practices and capacity-building initiatives are crucial for the adopting and implementations of these practices within the pharmaceutical industry. Overall, the study provides insights for theory, practice, and policy to enhance sustainability in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Purpose This paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of the impact of Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) practices on sustainable performance and the further impact of sustainable performance on food safety assurance in Chinese food firms. The paper also aims to provide a new way to avoid the occurrence of food safety problems from the perspective of SSCM and so help food firms to achieve sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach This paper developed a conceptual model to investigate the impact of food firms SSCM practices on the firm performances while firm performances on food safety assurance. The primary data were collected from 162 Chinese food firms. The research models were tested using structural equation modeling on PLS smart 3.0. Findings The results show that SSCM practices have a positive impact on firm environmental performance and social performances. The environmental and social performance positively related to financial performance. Moreover, the sustainable performance positively affects the food safety assurance. Research limitations/implications Our results suggest that SSCM practices have a positive impact on a firm’s environmental and social performance, which in turn improves financial performance. Moreover, sustainable performance positively affects food safety assurance. Originality/value An SSCM practices model is proposed to empirically evaluate Chinese food firms. The results of this investigation support the hypotheses that SSCM practices are environmentally and socially friendly and are good to business, and the food safety assurance can be promoted by a food firm’s sustainability performance. We carried out a survey and research of SSCM in food industry and gave insights to food safety management.

Sustainable supply chain management practices in Indian automotive industry: A multi-stakeholder view

PurposeDrawing on the combined theoretical perspectives offered by the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices view and the resource-based view (RBV), this study aims to examine whether pursuit of environmental, social and economic sustainability measures of SSCM practices drive competitive advantage (CA) among fashion-apparel manufacturing organizations in an emerging economy. Furthermore, the study investigates whether the above relationships are mediated by productivity.Design/methodology/approachBased on a theoretically supported conceptual framework, a set of hypotheses are tested by applying partial least squares structural equation modeling on a sample of 345 export-oriented fashion-apparel manufacturing companies in Bangladesh. SmartPLS (v.3.2) is applied to analyze the path model through bootstrapping procedure.FindingsThe findings suggest that the direct relationship between social sustainability dimension of SSCM practices along and CA is positive and significant. While the direct relationships between environmental sustainability and CA, and economic sustainability and CA, were found to be non-significant. However, when productivity was applied as a mediator, all the paths were significant.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes to the strategic management literature by presenting a combined theoretical perspective proposing the idea that sustainable supply chain practices can influence both productivity and CA, where productivity is a pertinent mediator.Practical implicationsThe study presents evidence for ready-made garments manufacturers in emerging economies on how compliance with environmental, social and economic sustainability measures in the supply chain of apparel manufacturers leads to gains in CA for the firms. Additionally, the study shows that such measures must also have a net positive impact on productivity to be able to influence CA significantly.Originality/valueThis paper appears to be among the first study that presents a framework based on a combined view of SSCM practices and RBV to empirically investigate the role of productivity as a mediator in the relationships between the sustainability dimensions of SSCM practices and CA in apparel manufacturing.

Companies prioritizing economic profits often overlook the environmental and social impacts of their activities, creating an imbalance in sustainability that results in pollution and social disruption. Addressing this issue requires balancing economic, ecological, and social sustainability. This study examines the impact of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices on sustainable performance (SP) and investigates the moderating role of regulatory pressure. Based on a sample of 133 senior managers and executives from Algeria's oil and gas sector, the study employs partial least squares Structural Equation Modelling to test the proposed model and hypotheses. The findings demonstrate that SSCM practices significantly enhance the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainable performance, with regulatory pressure playing a critical role. This research offers valuable insights for supply chain scholars, introducing a new subfield focused on pressure-driven SSCM and advancing understanding of the relationship between regulatory pressure, SSCM practices, and sustainability performance in the oil and gas industry.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating effect of food safety level on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices and firm performance of the core firm of the food industry in China and we used data from 372 companies in the Chinese food supply chain for our research. Key informants evaluate their companies based on SSCM practices. The results were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that SSCM practices are very important for the food firms, since they can improve the food safety level and further enhance the firms' economic, environmental, and social performances. The authors also found out that the food safety mediates the relationship between SSCM practices and environmental and social performance, and that if a food firm wants to make SSCM practices impact on the economic performance, it must pay attention to the responsibility for food safety in the internal SSCM practices. A comprehensive SSCM practices and firm performance model done empirically in food firms is proposed in conjunction with the mediating role of food safety level in this paper to provide new ideas and management methods for Chinese food firms to develop more effective food safety management.

A growing body of research emphasises sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in contrary with limited studies exploring role of information technology (IT) in sustainable supply chain activities. Moreover, little is known on SSCM implementation in niche industries like fashion/textile-apparel industry. As most studies concentrated on investigating IT impact on business performance and profitability in supply chain, integrating sustainable practice with IT is still scarce. The aim of this study is to identify current SSCM practices with the focus on IT role in supporting SSCM in fashion industry. For that purpose, this study applies the sustainable key practices framework discussed in the literature of SSCM and adopted previous study framework that differentiates four IT roles for sustainability. Using the proposed frameworks, interviews were conducted with five fashion practitioners that are currently engaged with SSCM practices. The findings from this study highlight the existence of SSCM practices in fashion industry. Finally, this finding enhances the current understanding of how IT can support SSCM practices and helps future research in exploring the IT implementation, challenges and benefit towards SSCM.

Sustainable supply chain practices with reverse innovation in healthcare start-ups – A Structural Equation Model (SEM) approach

In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in interest from both academic and corporate sectors concerning sustainable supply chain management. The increasing number of published papers focusing on this topic is a signal for this. To contribute further to the development of this field, this paper presents a comprehensive review of the existing literature on the impact of adopting sustainable supply chain management in the agricultural sector in Ethiopia, considering a total of 67 papers published between 2010 and 2023. This literature review aims to examine barriers, internal and external driving forces of the adoption of sustainable supply chain management practices, the impact of adopting sustainable supply chain management practices on the performance and identify constraints and opportunities of sustainable supply chain management practices in Ethiopian agricultural sectors. Focusing on the Ethiopian context, the study provides insights into the link between sustainable supply chain practices and performance outcomes. Additionally, NVIVO, qualitative data analysis software, was utilized to enhance the review process and ensure the systematic literature analysis.

At present, scholars have thought little of the drivers for sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in developing countries. Drawing upon the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and Competing Value Framework (CVF) of organisational culture, this study investigates how the drivers for SSCM motivate Chinese firms to adopt SSCM practices and how such effects are moderated by organisational culture. The results of a survey of 209 firms in China suggest that the eight driving factors for SSCM have significantly impact on SSCM adoption. In addition, organisational culture plays different roles in the relationships between these three dimensions of the driving force and SSCM adoption. Team-based culture and hierarchy culture do not moderate the relationship between SSCM drivers and practices. Market-oriented culture positively moderates the relationship between subjective norm and SSCM practices and negatively moderates the relationship between perceived behavioural control (PBC) and SSCM practices. Active culture has positive moderating effect on the relationship between attitude and SSCM practices, as well as between subjective norm and SSCM practices, but has negatively moderating effect on the relationship between PBC and SSCM practices. The study provides meanings insights into the implementation of SSCM in the context of developing countries.

This research has investigated the intricate relationship between sustainable supply chain management practices and corporate communication for sustainability within supply chain contexts. Additionally, it examines the extent to which supplier diversity, supplier collaboration, sustainable product design, and reverse logistics positively impact sustainable supply chain practices. Additionally, it examines the extent to which sustainability reporting, sustainability branding, sustainability engagement, and sustainability transparency positively impact corporate communication for sustainability and to investigate whether perceived corporate social responsibility and perceived supplier sustainability moderate the relationship among the constructs of sustainable supply chain practices, corporate communication for sustainability, and sustainability in supply chain management. This study employed both cross‐sectional and qualitative approaches. The study collected quantitative data using a five‐point Likert scale from 366 respondents in Bangladesh, which were analyzed using Smart PLS‐SEM. The findings highlighted the importance of collaborative relationships with suppliers, environmentally friendly product design, streamlined logistics processes, and transparent communication for advancing sustainability goals within supply chains. Qualitative insights further underscored the importance of effective branding and communication strategies that align with sustainability objectives. While some hypotheses were supported, such as the positive relationship between sustainable practices and sustainability in supply chain management, others, such as the impact of supplier diversity and engagement, warrant further exploration. This research contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable supply chain management by shedding light on the interplay between sustainability practices, corporate communication, and moderating factors, such as perceived corporate social responsibility.

Purpose – Most sustainable supply chains are situated in dynamic environments, which leads to the assumption that management of such chains requires the application of dynamic management theories, such as the dynamic capabilities (DC) concept. In spite of this, DCs have only scarcely been taken up in (sustainable) supply chain management (SSCM) research. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to discuss the complementarities of DCs and SSCM research; and second, to develop a framework which integrates DCs in SSCM practices. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is conceptual in nature and grounded in SSCM and DC theory. Relevant literature from the SCM, SSCM and DC context has been scrutinized. In total, three models from SSCM and DC literature, together with related inputs from other literature sources, have been conjoined. Findings – DC and SSCM are linked through similar environmental and organizational conditions, making the application of DC concepts in the field of SSCM a logical choice. The framework embeds specific DCs into SSCM practices. Research limitations/implications – The presented framework is a step towards building an analytical basis for future empirical research in this area. Discussion on the nature of DCs is still going on, as well as on how to measure supply chain performance. The framework can only give indications and help in the theory building process. Furthermore, the underlying frameworks used for the development of the framework presented here have been derived through different methodologies and not all of them have, as yet, been (fully) empirically tested. Practical implications – Investment in DCs and implementation of SSCM practices improves the agility of the overall supply chain and can lead to higher performance against the three dimensions of sustainability. Originality/value – The paper is the first explicit framework linking SSCM and DC theory. The framework shows that the DC concept can be and indeed should be applied to SSCM research and practice. Furthermore, explicit DCs are put forward. It is a step towards building an analytical basis for future empirical research in this area.

How assessment and cooperation practices influence suppliers’ adoption of sustainable supply chain practices: An inter-organizational learning perspective

In recent years, both businesses and academia have started to recognize sustainability as a crucial aspect of gaining a competitive advantage in the supply chain.This study aims to assess the effects of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices on textile sectors' sustainability performance.It also assesses how supply chain ambidexterity mediates the connection between SSCM, from a triple bottom line (TBL) standpoint, and firm sustainability performance outcomes.Using the resource-based view and stakeholder theories, the study employed 240 survey responses from firms operating in textile industry in Pakistan and the validity and reliability of the data were confirmed, and the hypotheses were evaluated, using PLS-SEM.The findings show that SSCM practices have a major favorable influence on Sustainability Performance (SP) and Supply Chain Ambidexterity (SCA).Furthermore, in Pakistan's textile industry, SCA acts as a mediator in the relationship between SSCM and Sustainability Performance.Through an analysis of the fundamental factors and connections that lead to the development of the intricate connection between SSCM practices from a triple bottom line viewpoint and a company's sustainability performance, this research contributes to the current literature on SSCM and SCA, especially in the context of Pakistan's textile industry, by identifying the mediation effect of SCA on SSCM and SP.

While the drivers for the adoption of sustainable supply chain management practices have been widely studied, most studies focus on the isolated effect of individual drivers. In this study, we examine the relationship between stakeholder pressure and the adoption of social and environmental sustainability supply chain practices given the simultaneous conditional effects of both entrepreneurial orientation and sustainability orientation. A survey of U.S. firms shows that both entrepreneurial orientation and sustainability orientation simultaneously function as moderators of the effect of stakeholder pressure on the adoption of social and environmental sustainability supply chain practices. That is, as stakeholder pressure increases, adoption will be higher for firms with higher entrepreneurial orientation. However, as sustainability orientation increases, adoption of practices will be higher, but the effect of the stakeholder pressure-entrepreneurial orientation interaction diminishes. The main theoretical contribution of this study lies in showing the concurrent effect of two different organizational level drivers on the adoption of social and environmental sustainability supply chain practices. Entrepreneurial orientation will only get firms so far in the adoption of sustainable supply chain practices. Once a strong sustainability orientation takes effect, higher practice adoption ensues independently of stakeholder pressure and entrepreneurial orientation. Therefore, this study indicates that efforts in developing a strong sustainability orientation are more likely to better prepare firms for the adoption of sustainable supply chain management practices.