Green supply chain management practices implementation and sustainability –A review

Abstract

The effect of globalization has been the spread of manufacturing across the globe driving the competition to increase the profitability of business organizations. The economic prosperity resulting from globalization increased the consumer demand and this, in turn, created a demand for goods and services. The majority of the organizations had aimed for increasing profits which resulted in severe damage to the environment due to the process and the end of the useful life of the products. The increased awareness has created back pressure on the suppliers of goods and services to have improved sustainability practices which lead to the implementation of many good environmental practices. Green Supply Chain Management is one among several concepts of sustainability, which encompasses all the activities of the products and services from the raw materials to the end of life and disposal. Many elements of the GSCM are implemented across the geographies in various sectors to varying degrees and the higher the level of implementation, the higher is the economic and environmental performance. The diversity of priorities of people across nations makes it difficult to implement the GSCM practices at the same level and thus there is a need to focus on the local levels for better implementation by eliminating the issues faced at the micro-level.