Extending green supply chain practices through automation: Multinational best practices

Abstract

This study simultaneously investigates the effect ‘greening’ has on supply chains and the effect injecting automation has upon these green supply chains. This article adapts the natural resource-based view of the firm, a theoretical perspective prevalent in management literature, to develop a conceptual framework. This study surveys 292 firms from multiple countries to test both relationships. Literature has laid the initial groundwork for multinational manufacturing efficiency studies that we build and expand upon. Multiple techniques were used to mitigate common method bias, including multiple survey responses per firm sampled, confirmatory factor analysis with Chi- square and Harman’s test of common method bias. We find automation generally lends itself to improving aspects of green supply chains regardless of global location of firms. With increasing automation levels, supply chain efficiency improves, thereby improving economic performance. Once automation is employed, there’s a positive effect that cascades through the entire supply chain.