Moderating the Role of Firm Size in Sustainable Performance Improvement through Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Jing Wang,Yuchen Zhang,Mark Goh

doi:10.3390/su10051654

Abstract

In the context of the Chinese government’s strategy for sustainable development, the study of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) for enterprises has important practical significance. Drawing data from 172 Chinese firms, the model studied the moderating role of firm size on the SSCM practices and the sustainable performance of the firms (economic, environmental, and social), using hierarchical regression analysis on SPSS 22.0. The results suggest that SSCM practices and firm size are positively related to the firm’s environmental and social performance. Firm size moderates the effect of SSCM practices on economic performance. Additionally, SSCM internal practices have a significant positive impact on the economic performance of large enterprises, but not so much on the economic performance of the Small and medium enterprises(SMEs). This paper proposes a comprehensive SSCM practice performance model that identifies firm size as a moderating role. Through research on the moderating effect of firm size, the implementation and recommendation of SSCM for different firm size are given.

Highlights

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is the embodiment of sustainable concepts in supply chain management, which is driven by the demands of stakeholders to manage the material flow, information flow, and capital flow in supply chain
The fourth to sixth layers of the model added the interaction between sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices and firm size, respectively, to the test
Adding internal SSCM practices and external SSCM practices in Model 2 leads to a significant change in R2 (∆R2 = 0.18, p < 0.001), and a negative beta value for economic performance (β = −0.11, p < 0.05), which indicates that in order to improve the internal SSCM practices, the firm may need to reduce the economic benefit

Summary

Introduction

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is the embodiment of sustainable concepts in supply chain management, which is driven by the demands of stakeholders to manage the material flow, information flow, and capital flow in supply chain. It enables managers to strategically and transparently integrate and realize the social, environmental, and economic goals of an organization [1]. SSCM, which integrates environmental and social concerns into the supply chain, has been widely implemented by firms to face challenges in global sustainability. Environmental challenges place competing demands on enterprises who extend their green effort across their supply chains [3]. Companies and their extended supply chains are a holistic system, and their management method at the supply chain level is important [4]. Recent studies have shown that some companies and their suppliers develop sustainable strategies in order to reduce energy consumption and improve materials reuse [5]

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Conclusion