Multiple case study analysis and development of an interpretive structural model for greening of supply chains in Indian ceramic enterprises

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to aim at prioritizing and identifying the interrelations among the green supply chain management pressures, practices and performance measures. The study also compares the reasons of green supply chain management implementation, levels of implementation and improvement in performance for medium and large Indian ceramic enterprises because of green supply chain management implementation. Design/methodology/approach The most frequent constructs and measures of green supply chain management pressure, practice and performance are identified from the literature. The identified measures are corrected/added/removed, as per the suggestions of industry professionals, to develop a survey instrument. An interpretive structural model is developed to prioritize the constructs. Matriced “impacts croises-multiplication applique” and “classment” (MICMAC) analysis is done to identify the driving and dependence powers of the constructs. The identified results are validated through the descriptive analysis of responses obtained from multiple case studies. Findings It is observed that the informative pressures followed by coercive and mimetic pressures are the main drivers for the implementation of green supply chain management practices. Internal environmental management in enterprises is found to be the driving power behind the implementation of other green supply chain management practices. The implementation of these practices drives the environmental and operational performance. It is observed, through the multiple case study analysis that the impact of the pressures to adopt green supply chain management practices is high on Indian ceramic enterprises but the implementation of practices is in the early stage. The improvement in performance is also not found to be significant at this stage. This study also found that large ceramic enterprises are doing better than the medium enterprises in terms of green supply chain management implementation, largely because of higher pressures and availability of resources. Originality/value This study prioritizes the constructs of green supply chain management pressure, practice and performance for Indian ceramic enterprises and compares the large and medium enterprises on the basis of these constructs.