Green Supply Chain Management Strategies Research Articles

The impact of reverse logistics in green supply chain management: a system dynamics analysis

The reverse logistics paradigm plays an important role in improving the environmental, social and economic performance of the green supply chain. However, incorporating reverse logistics in green supply chain management (GSCM) strategy is not a trivial task. The present paper seeks to (1) identify key performance measures for green supply chains, (2) identify causal linkages between important variables in a typical supply chain, and to (3) develop a dynamic simulation model for developing appropriate green policies and strategies when translating from reverse logistics to green supply chain. Based on system dynamics (SD) principles, the impact of key variables on the performance of the green supply chain system is simulated and analysed. Results from what-if analysis indicate that, in the medium to long term, a cautious approach to investment on green strategies is essential if environmental, economic and social performance benefits are to be realised. The results demonstrate that the model provide sound managerial insights.

Evaluation and selection of an effective green supply chain management strategy: A case study

This study describes the application of Fuzzy-AHP for evaluating and selecting an effective green supply chain management strategy in a cement manufacturing industry. As a multi-criteria decision analysis, five decision criteria were considered in the order of their priority to the cement manufacturing industry to evaluate four green supply chain management strategies. This method is used in such as way that the top management of the industry and other experts considered carefully which type of green management perceptive they had, and assessed the importance of each activity objectively to develop the pairwise comparisons, and the result was used in the hierarchy prioritization of criteria and later expressed in fuzzy number with triangular membership function. This method is applied at two levels: the first is finding the fuzzy weights for the decision criteria, while the second is finding the fuzzy weights for the strategies under each of the decision criteria. Fuzzy scores for the strategies were obtained.

Developing green supply chain management strategies: A taxonomic approach

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore the empirical green supply chain activities found in the literature, and to develop a taxonomic framework that can be used for formulating appropriate strategies for green supply chains based on characteristic dimensions for the green supply chain. Design/methodology/approach: The taxonomic framework is developed through (i) analysis of green supply chain activities found in existing empirical work or case studies recorded in the literature, (ii) identification of key dimensions that influence green supply chain management strategies, and (iii) development of a taxonomic scheme for selecting or developing green strategies. Findings: The paper finds that this study yielded a set of three characteristic dimensions that influence strategic green supply chain management, and a guided structured approach for selecting appropriate green strategies, providing useful managerial insights.

A business strategy selection of green supply chain management via an analytic network process

This study designates green supply chain management (GSCM) strategies to effectively direct business functions and activities in the electronics industry. Enterprises conduct environmental scanning to understand the external environment and internal functions; a successful strategy identifies unique firm-owned resources and transforms them into capabilities. This study proposes a network to clarify managerial levels and firm-related content. It derives four business functions from product lifecycle management: design, purchasing, manufacturing, and marketing and service—and associates their related activities with “greenness”. These functions and activities are a network’s clusters and elements in an analytic network process (ANP) model with dependent relations. A detailed procedure solves complex GSCM strategy-selection problems and evaluates the most important activity in each business function. A case study takes a leading Taiwanese electronics company to identify the proposed procedure’s stability.

An ANP-Based Model for an Effective Green Supply Chain Management

Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) has becoming an imperative issue for several supply chains (SCs) due to environmental burdens defined by international legislation and to increasing costs of such a resource. The present paper proposes a decision support system aiming to evaluate more effective GSCM strategies. Thus, environmental performance of the whole supply chain, and consequently of each supplier involved, must be compared in a standardized and quantitative way. Thus, the proposed approach integrates index methods for Environmental Performance Evaluation (EPE) in developing a multi-criteria model based on the Analytic Network Process (ANP) technique. The integration overcomes criticalities of the two models. The approach has been validated in a real case study concerning the glass windscreen production supply chain.

Alignment between green supply chain management strategy and business strategy

It is generally recognised that a company’s green supply chain management strategy is effective to the extent that it is aligned with business strategy. Prior research argues that green supply chain management strategy enhances organisational performance, and provides the company with a competitive advantage. However, identification of appropriate green supply chain management – business strategy alignments and their impact on business performance have received relatively little conceptual attention. Given a conceptualisation of green supply chain management strategy through Simpson and Samson’s typology and business strategy through Miles and Snow’s typology, this paper: 1 develops a conceptual framework for aligning green supply chain management strategy with business strategy 2 identifies from prior research, four green supply chain management strategies (risk-based, efficiency-based, innovation-based and closed-loop) that theoretically aligns with Miles and Snow’s strategic business types (reactors, defenders, analysers and prospectors) 3 identifies which green supply chain management – business strategic alignments impact business performance. Implications, conclusions, limitations and future research opportunities are discussed.

A strategic quantitative approach for sustainable energy production from biomass

European legislation has created a growing interest in the field of renewable energy production in several countries, including Italy. The applications of biomass and/or biofuel for energy generation have been assumed to provide a high level of sustainability due to the perception that renewable resources are inherently sustainable. Thus, renewable fuels applied to heating and/or electricity generation are potentially carbon dioxide neutral. However, before accepting this assumption, it is essential to analyse the actual level of sustainability in the whole supply chain (SC). This requirement has been clearly identified by the recently updated European Directives on renewable biofuels for transportation. However, there is little evidence that this concern has been directed at energy production from biomass. Thus, approaches derived from Green SC Management (GSCM) methods could provide an effective tool for evaluating, from a strategic perspective, the sustainability level of a specific biomass SC. This paper examines how biomass SC activities can define the overall environmental sustainability level. The approach was based on environmental indicators and the resultant output could support more effective GSCM strategies (e.g. defining logistics carriers, evaluating new biomass suppliers, etc.) for managing biomass SCs. Moreover, the approach could be applied by competent authorities for a quick evaluation of the sustainability level of biomass energy production installations. The approach has been tested in a real case study based on an installation, located in Southern Italy, which uses liquid biomass for energy production.