Greening the Supply

Chain: Preliminary Results

of a Global Survey

Valentina Carbone Most companies are claiming interest in integrating an environmental

ESCE & ESCP-EAP dimension into their business. More concretely, some major companies
vcarbone@escp-eap.net
are now focusing on the environmental burden of their supply chain
processes by recognizing some of the contemporary environmental
Valérie Moatti dimensions such as carbon emissions, energy, and natural resources
ESCP-EAP
moatti@escp-eap.net consumption. The main purpose of this explorative paper is to look into
current practices of companies in the context of a green supply chain,
highlighting specific patterns per country and/or industry. In particular,
starting from the results of a global survey on green supply chain
initiatives, we propose a “mapping” of the surveyed companies according
to their distinct green supply chain practices. We discuss motivations,
constraints, and main results related to the set-up of a green supply chain
and then suggest specific perspectives for future research.

Introduction articles (Beaman, 1999; Hoffman,

“Greening the supply chain” has
recently assumed an important
position on business executives'
agenda. Most companies have
already adopted a “green1 attitude,”
claiming their interest in
integrating an environmental
dimension into their business.
More concretely, major companies
such as Canon, General Motor, and
Sony are now focusing on the
environmental burden of their
supply chain processes by
recognizing various environmental
dimensions such as carbon
emissions, energy, and natural
resources consumption. This
reconsideration of existing
processes is done to minimize the
environmental footprint of a
product or service.
In academia, literature on the green
supply chain has been growing in
terms of the number of
publications per year since 2000
Supply Chain Forum
An International Journal (see Srivastara, 2007, for an
© Copyright BEM extensive literature review on the
ISSN print 1625-8312 green supply chain). Several
ISSN online1624-6039
2007; Parryet al., 2007) discuss the
importance of a green supply chain
and the urgent necessity of its
implementation in business.
However, many authors explore
environmental initiatives within
each of the different phases of
the supply chain, focusing
predominantly on only one
functional area (Sarkis, 1999, 2006).
More recent contributions (Rao &
Holt, 2005) have encompassed the
entire supply chain because it has
been widely acknowledged that the
critical step for integrating
sustainable principles within
operations is the examination of
the interaction between
sustainability (or environmental
principles) and supply chains
(Lintonet al., 2007). Accordingly,
the concept of green supply chain
covers every stage in
manufacturing. Following
1. In this paper we use the terms green and
sustainable as synonymous. More precisely we
account for the economic and environmental
dimensions of sustainable development,
leaving aside the social one.

Supply Chain Forum An International Journal Vol. 9 - N°2 - 2008 66 www.supplychain-forum.com

Srivastara (2007), green supply
chain management (GrSCM) has
been defined as integrating
an environmental way of thinking
into supply chain management,
including product design,
material sourcing and selection,
manufacturing processes, delivery
of the end product to
the consumers, and end-of-life
management of the product after
its useful life.
Notwithstanding, sustainability is
often reduced to a fragmented
approach based on anecdotic best
practices for the different phases
of the supply chain. Consequently,
it is difficult for companies
to understand that sustainable
supply chains could be much
more than an obligation, cost,
constraint, or charitable deed.
Therefore, the identification of
specific sustainable activities that
best suit different contexts (in
terms of type of product,
characteristics of demand, societal
concern, etc.) could be beneficial
for companies to recognize so that
sustainable supply chains can
become a source of competitive
advantage and at the same time a
lever for reducing environmental
effects. In other words, as has been
argued in strategic management
literature (Porter & Kramer, 2006)
and in supply chain literature
(Bowenet al., 2002), it is important
to establish a link between
sustainable behaviour and
competitive advantage in specific
contexts.
Hence, the main purpose of this
explorative paper is to look into
current practices of companies in
the field of green supply chain,
highlighting specific patterns per
country and/or industry. In
particular, starting from the results
of a global survey2 on green supply
chain initiatives, we propose a
“mapping” of the surveyed
companies according to their
distinct behaviour in terms of green
supply chain practices. We discuss
motivations, constraints, and main
results relating to the set-up of a
green supply chain.
This paper begins by exploring
previous literature on green supply
chains, which helped
conceptualize the survey tool
(questionnaire). The data analysis
methods employed in our research
are then outlined. Finally, after the
examination of the preliminary
results, the paper concludes with
some propositions about the
relationship between strategic
intent and supply chain
implementation and results with
respect to the green issue and
paves the way for future research.
Literature on The Green Supply
Chain
Research in academic and
practitioner literature about
environmental management
practice in supply chains has
largely included motivations and
triggers for companies to set up a
green supply chain, specifically
legal frameworks and regulation,
response to stakeholders, fear for
reputation loss, search for
competitive advantage, customer
demand, and environmental and
social pressure groups (Bowenet
al., 2002; Handfieldet al. 1997;
Preuss, 2001; Rao, 2002; Roberts,
2003; Sarkis, 2001).
Translating
strategic
intention into
green supply chain
practices
The definition of a green supply
chain has ranged from green
purchasing to an integrated green
closed loop supply chain.
Hervaniet al. (2005) say that a
green supply chain is a human resource management.
composition of green purchasing,
green manufacturing, green
distribution/marketing, and reverse
logistics. Whatever the extent of
the definition, solutions for green
supply chains have been put
forward with respect to these
elementary SC phases.
us Regarding the inbound phase, green
purchasing can address issues
such as reduction of waste
produced, material substitution
through environmental sourcing of
raw material, and waste
minimization of hazardous
materials. Supplier management is
crucial for implementing a green
sourcing strategy (Simpson &
Power, 2005), as many world-class
companies now realise that
“although they may have nothing to
do at all with the problem,
companies are often held
accountable for the environmental
liabilities of their suppliers”
(Bacallan, 2000, p. 18 ). How to
integrate suppliers into
environmental management
processes is still a central question
in the literature; however, three
common practices seem to emerge:
the evaluation of suppliers'
environmental performance (Noci,
2000; Bowenet al, 2002), mentoring
to assist and train suppliers (Hines
& Johns, 2001; Bowen et al., 2002),
and the request for ISO14000
certification or other similar
certifications (Chen, 2005).
From the production perspective,
which has characterised much of
the earlier research on
environmental issues in operations
(see the industrial ecology approach
in Frosch & Gallopoulos, 1989), a
number of concepts have been
explored, including cleaner
production, design for
environment, remanufacturing, and
lean production. Several authors
have written about whether the
lean and green approach is evident
in practice, how best to achieve it,
and what its effects on performance
are (Florida, 1996; Klassen, 2001;
Bowen, et al., 2002). The success of
lean production in the field of
sustainability emanates from three
major factors: minimization of non-
value-adding activities, efficient
work systems, and applicable
The increasing phenomenon
of relocation strategies for
2. This paper builds on the results of a survey
on green supply chain carried out in 2007 by
the “Supply Chain Monitor Unit,” consisting of
input by ESCP-EAP, BearingPoint, and Supply
Chain Magazine.

Supply Chain Forum An International Journal Vol. 9 - N°2 - 2008 67 www.supplychain-forum.com

manufacturing has given rise
to a certain interest in the
literature for green subcontracted
manufacturing issues (Trowbridge,
2003).
On the outbound side of the green
supply chain, green logistics
comprises all links from the
manufacturer to the end users and
includes products, processes,
packaging, transport, and disposal
(Skjoett-Larsen, 2000). According to
Murphy et al (1996), green logistics
mainly investigates environmental
issues in logistics. Murphy and
Poist (2000) makes clear that green
logistics strategies include
recycling and reusing materials, as
well as reducing consumption. In
this view, the field of closed-loop
supply chains gathers most of the
attention in the literature (Rogers,
et al, 2002). Early researchers
focused on the middle part of the
process (reverse logistics). Now
researchers increasingly take a
broad business process
perspective and integrate all steps
from product acquisition to
remarketing (Guide & van
Wassenhove, 2001). In addition,
they have shifted from a focus on
minimizing costs to creating value
(Kleindorfer, et al, 2005).
It has also been argued that
sustainability must integrate issues
and flows that go beyond the core
of supply chain management, such
as product design, manufacturing
by-products, by-products produced
during product use, product life
extension, and so on (Linton et al.,
2007). The product design step is
more and more integrated within
green supply chain issues because
80% of the environmental burden
and cost of a product is fixed
during this phase (Rebitzer, 2002).
The dominating tool in discussions
around product design is the life
cycle assessment (LCA), which
started around the mid-1970s (Hunt
& Franklin, 1996). A life cycle
assessment is the investigation and
valuation of the environmental
impacts of a given product or
service caused or necessitated by
its existence, during its entire life.
“The cradle to the grave” approach
of LCA extends throughout the
supply chain and represents an
evolution over environmental
Supply Chain Forum An International Journal
assessment focused on firm-
specific impacts and end-of-pipe
analyses (Matos & Hall, 2007).
Some scholars have looked for
more transversal and other
behavioural components in a green
supply chain that lead to
potentially superior environmental
awareness and higher
performance, such as long-lasting
interorganizational collaboration
(Vachon & Klassen, 2008; Young,
2000).
Despite all the alleged benefits
discussed in the green supply chain
literature, which can be classified
into three groups-benefits to
society, benefits to the firm, and
benefits to the supply process-
there appears to be a gap between
the high “desirability” of green
initiatives in theory and the slow
implementation of green supply
chain initiatives in firms. This gap
requires additional exploration to
reorient green supply chain
research from theory to
commercial practice because
businesses will undertake
initiatives only when they perceive
the interest in such practices. In
Bowen, et al. (2002) examination of
the current green supply practice
in the United Kingdom (sample size
of 70 respondents), they found
three types of green supply chain
initiatives that showed different
levels of performance outcomes.
They demonstrated that there is a
link between green supply chain
behaviour and corporate
environmental objectives. Rao
(2002) showed in an empirical
investigation conducted in
Southeast Asia that customer
pressure acts as the chief factor
leading companies to implement
green supply chain measures. De
Brito et al. (2008) discuss the
impact of sustainable supply chain
initiatives in the European clothing
and textile supply chain on
companies' organisation and
performance. In the same vein of
the previously mentioned survey-
based research, our contribution
aims to illustrate current green
practices in each of the elementary
phases of the supply chain in order
to have deeper insight in the way
companies translate their green
orientation into supply chain
Vol. 9 - N°2 - 2008 68
activities and to analyse the
rationales and the results
connected with such decisions.
Methodology
The survey on the green supply
chain was conducted according to
a global perspective in terms of
geographical coverage and
industries. The questionnaire for
the survey initiated from the green
supply chain literature discussed in
the previous section. It comprises,
on the one hand, motivations and
expected results for setting up a
green supply chain and, on the
other hand, the illustration of the
main initiatives and measures to
green each SC phase.
An online version of the
questionnaire was sent to
professional quaalified contacts
given by local actors-press and
consulting companies - of the
supply chani community (e.g.,
Supply Chain Magazine in France
and Supply Chain Standard in the
United Kingdom). The total
resulting base amounted to 12,600
contacts. Overall, 601 exploitable
questionnaires have been
collected, leading to a response
rate of 4.8%. Such a poor response
rate is a result of the administration
mode (through the web) as well as
the structure of the used bases of
contacts that often include several
supply chain managers within a
single company. As we needed to
sort out such double-counting, it
reduced our final usable sample.
However, simple tests confirmed
that the pattern of our sample is
consistent with the global initial
base. Almost two thirds of the
respondents hold positions
associated with the management of
a core part of the supply chain
(production, procurement, and
logistics). The sample is mainly
represented by companies located
in the United Kingdom (43% of the
sample), France (26%), the United
States (12%), and Japan (7%). It
includes companies of different
sizes, from a turnover exceeding 1
billion dollars (40%) to less than
100 million dollars (26%). The
spread of represented sectors is
very broad, although 57% of the
sample is involved with consumer
www.supplychain-forum.com

Figure 1
Defining green supply chain
goods (16%), retailing (13%),
transport (10%), electronics/IT
(10%), and pharmaceuticals (8%).
The first set of data, obtained
through the large-scale survey, was
complemented by a second set of
qualitative data, derived from
twenty face-to-face interviews with
supply chain directors of
companies involved in green
supply chain operations. Blending
these two data sets allows a better
understanding of the ongoing
building process of a green supply
chain.
The structure of the questionnaire
reflects the different phases of the
supply chain (see figure 1)
according to the previously
discussed green supply chain
literature. It is based on a product
life cycle (product design, sourcing,
manufacturing, distribution, and
product recovery) and aims to
analyze each supply chain phase in
its attempts to increase
sustainability.
The first two sections of the
questionnaire deal with the
motivations and results of both the
green strategic intention (at a
corporate level) and green supply
chain practices. The questionnaire
also includes a set of questions on
the elementary supply chain
activities (sourcing, design,
manufacturing, etc.) to evaluate the
extent of the green initiative, as
well as general questions aimed at
better defining the respondent
Supply Chain Forum An International Journal
(country of operation, industry,
size of the company, and function).
A final set of questions deals with
the institutionalisation of the green
function in the company and along
the supply chain. Our variables
result directly from the
questionnaire. Specifically, the
survey instrument contained
questions on the following:
• the length of time of the green
strategy (“For how long have you
been considering environmental
concerns in your firm's strategic
decisions?”)
• its main reasons (“Which are the
main reasons that have incited
your company to take
environmental concerns into
consideration in its strategic
decisions?”)
• the adoption of a green supply
chain (“According to the given
definition, has your company
implemented a green supply
chain?”)
• the presence of a dedicated
function (“Do you have a
dedicated function to
environmental issues?”)
• the level of regulation of the
activity and the objective of
green supply actions (whether
directed to cost reduction or
innovation), and so on.
We first carried out descriptive
statistics analysis and then we ran
an MCA-multi correspondence
analysis-in order to propose a
preliminarily useful typology of
companies in terms of green
Vol. 9 - N°2 - 2008 69
behaviour. MCA is a method that
allows studying the association
between two or more qualitative
variables similar to how principal
component analysis analyzes the
relationship between quantitative
variables. As our survey is
essentially composed of qualitative
variables, MCA methodology was
considered the most appropriate.
One can obtain maps where it is
possible to visually observe the
distances between the categories of
the qualitative variables and
between the observations. This
method allowed the design of a
preliminarily helpful typology
through the identification of a few
clusters of specific green supply
chain behaviours within our
sample.
Survey results
The survey reveals that 83% of
companies claim to take into
account environmental concerns
into their strategic decisions. This
high general level of consideration
reveals an increasing awareness of
the environment, which is clearly
stated by companies. At the same
time, half of the companies that
declare they do not consider
environmental concerns plan to do
so in the near future. However,
environmental awareness varies
depending on the market sector.
Industrial sectors (automotive,
metallurgy, chemicals, electronics,
etc.) are highly mobilised (from
84% for electronics or 87% for
chemicals/pharmaceuticals to
100% for metallurgy and
aeronautics), distribution and
services less so (75%), and textiles
much less so, with only 60% of
companies claiming to be
concerned by these matters.
Companies are motivated to take
environmental concerns into
consideration by compliance with
regulatory constraints (73% of the
surveyed companies) and a desire
to improve the company's brand
image (60% of them). Despite such
strong strategic intention, only 35%
of companies declared that they
have established a green supply
chain or a part of one.
The bigger the company, the
greater the level of involvement in
www.supplychain-forum.com
 Figure 2
Gap between green strategic intention and green supply chain, per country.
the green supply chain: 54% of
companies with turnover in excess
of 1 billion dollars claim to be
involved in a green supply chain,
but this percentage drops to 29%
for companies with a turnover of
less than 100 million dollars. The
picture is different country by
country: 93% of the surveyed
companies in Japan have already
adopted a green supply chain
strategy, whereas the percentages
of companies that have
implemented a green supply chain
strategy are just 24% in the United
States, 30% in France, and 45% in
the United Kingdom (see figure 2).
Four main drivers and hampering
factors emerged from the
responses and are in line with those
outlined by the literature.
Regulation (compliance with
relevant laws and anticipation of
future requirements) received 22%
of responses. Brand image received
19% of responses, mainly by
companies operating in the mass
market/large-scale distribution
sectors, which tend to implement
measures that are more visible to
the final customer. The remaining
two drivers are linked to innovation
(product/processes) and cost
reduction (via process and flow
optimisation), which accounted
respectively for 15% and 13% of the
responses. The optimisation driver
is cited mainly by companies
Supply Chain Forum An International Journal
operating in the business-to-
business and industrial sectors.
The reasons for the reluctance to
establish a green supply chain
approach are threefold: lack of
appropriate information on
regulation, methods, and so on
(36% of responses) was named as
the main disincentive, followed
respectively by the complexity of
implementing such a strategy (18%)
and the lack of return on
investments and/or high costs
(9%).
Specific green supply chain
initiatives
Diverse orientations to
sustainability have emerged in the
various phases of the supply chain
according to the different
geographical areas and to which
industry the companies belong.
The following findings rely on the
subsample of firms that have
declared to have implemented a
green supply chain strategy (210
companies). Japan showed that it is
ahead of other countries regarding
its level of consideration of
different environmental factors. In
particular, Japanese companies
consider choice of raw materials as
highly important (10% of responses
compared with 5% for countries
such as France or the United
Kingdom). However, decisions on
Vol. 9 - N°2 - 2008 70
reprocessing and recycling
packaging appear less crucial to
Japanese firms (7% of responses as
opposed to 11% overall and as
much as 13% in the United
Kingdom). This suggests that
Japanese companies are more
motivated to take action on areas
that prevent pollution in the future
rather than corrective action to
deal with existing pollution. This
may be considered evidence of the
higher level of environmental
maturity of Japanese companies.
North American companies are
most preoccupied with addressing
environmental issues connected
with water. However, they are much
less focused on transportation,
packaging, and commodities (such
as paper) than the Europeans.
These disparities illustrate cultural,
structural, and institutional
differences. For example, in North
America rail freight transport is far
more developed than in Europe.
However, in Europe, there is a
stringent demand for policies that
promote transportation
approaches that combine different
modes of transport (rail, sea, air,
road, waterways) to reduce overall
emissions (see the European
Commission Transport Policy
(CEC, 2007)).
Several differences have been
observed among industries. For
www.supplychain-forum.com
example, companies in the
industrial sector are more
interested in energy consumption
and water processing than those in
the service sectors. Likewise, some
sectors such as automotive (11% of
responses) place greater emphasis
on employee health while the
textile industry, which has
decentralised much of its
production and distribution, is at
pains to reduce transportation
costs.
The level of involvement of third
party stakeholders is higher in the
upstream section of the supply
chain (suppliers were cited by 76%
of respondents followed by
subcontractors, 56%, and logistics
providers, 47%) than in the later
stages, where customers and
consumers are cited respectively
by 42% and 36% of the respondents.
The role of associations and other
organisations dedicated to
environmental issues is more
limited and referenced by only 20%
and 24% of respondents
respectively. Most of the
companies that are implementing a
green supply chain have made
changes to their transport/logistics
operations. Sourcing and
manufacturing strategies are the
second most affected functions by
environmental concerns. Finally,
product design and reverse
logistics initiatives received a lower
degree of attention by companies
(see figure 3).
Green forward logistics
The most common environmental
measure in the field of green
logistics involves restructuring
Figure 3
Green supply chain initiatives according to the different SC phases
Supply Chain Forum An International Journal
logistics flows to reduce the
number of journeys (41%). Because
road haulage is a major source of
greenhouse gas emissions,
changing the planning and the
organisation of logistics to optimise
transport flows appears to be a
powerful operational lever. It is
therefore no surprise that the
second most popular measure
taken by companies to reduce
transport-related emissions is the
use of less-polluting modes of
transport (31%). The main drivers
for implementing a green logistics
approach include, beyond the
optimisation of logistics flows
(18%), improving the company's
image (16%), and, with the same
score each (15%), reducing
logistics cost and achieving
regulatory compliance. The degree
of complexity of such measures and
the associated high costs are the
main disincentives noted by
companies to reducing
environmental damage.
Green sourcing
Three main types of actions are
taken by companies that have
adopted an eco-sourcing approach
(66%). In 41% of the cases,
companies execute direct purchase
of less-polluting materials and
products; in 32% of the cases they
tend to involve their suppliers in a
continuous process through the
implementation of an
environmental management
system; finally, one quarter of
companies expect to change
suppliers in order to better cope
with green sourcing. As supplier
involvement is crucial for the
success of a green design,
Vol. 9 - N°2 - 2008 71
companies often realise audits
(56%) or put in place key
performance indicators (36%) to
monitor the green performance of
their suppliers.
Green manufacturing
The two main courses of action of
green manufacturing refer to
modifying production processes
(35%) and using less-polluting
m a n u f a c t u r i n g
materials/equipment (24%).
Closely linked, these two
approaches rely on the same
production optimisation process,
lean manufacturing, whose primary
purpose is to eradicate waste
before taking action on flows.
Beyond purely environmental
considerations, these two issues
reflect the concerns of
manufacturers in terms of
optimising both production costs
and overall operating costs. By
taking direct action with resources
and other means of manufacturing,
companies guard themselves more
effectively against more onerous
remedial measures at the end of the
production cycle. Accordingly, the
primary reasons for adopting a
green manufacturing approach are,
on the one hand, improving
financial performance (by reducing
costs through optimisation and
improved resource consumption)
and, on the other hand, regulation,
such as complying with current
legislation (in 99% of cases,
implementing a green
manufacturing approach has
enabled the surveyed companies to
comply with current legislation).
Green design
In our sample, 59% of firms have
implemented an eco-design
approach for products and/or
manufacturing processes. Japanese
companies are much more in
advanced in this field as 87% of the
entire sample has adopted a green
attitude in the design phase for
their products. In most cases
(95%), the green design approach is
applied to the product or its
various components and
packaging. In a small percentage of
cases, such an approach is applied
to manufacturing processes in
order to reduce energy
consumption or waste production.
www.supplychain-forum.com
In accordance with the principle of
“from the cradle to the grave,”
almost 70% of companies have
adopted a green design approach in
order to make their products easier
to recycle. Across the whole
sample, in 40% of the cases, a green
design is adopted in order to
improve brand image, satisfy
needs, and increase consumer
confidence.
Reverse logistics
A large majority of companies
(59%) have carried out a reverse
logistics initiative in order to
recover products. Half of reverse
logistics operations (50%) involve
finished products and packaging
(28%). The recovery actions for
these two types of items refer,
respectively, to recycling and
refurbishing (51%) and to recycling
and re-use after cleaning or
refurbishing (48%).
Companies deciding to establish a
reverse logistics structure are
motivated first and foremost by the
desire to "respond to consumer
expectations," which is cited by
91%. Reverse logistics is a means
for companies to acquire
respectability in the field of
corporate citizenship and reinforce
their customer loyalty. The third
driver towards reverse logistics
appears to be the need to respect
the take-back policies that are
being implemented in an
increasingly higher number of
industries.
Interestingly, one third of
companies involved in a literature. Companies in this
sustainable supply chain believe
that a reverse logistics structure is
not necessary in their sphere of
activity. The degree of complexity
and the associated difficulties of
the initiative are the second biggest
disincentive to companies for a
reverse logistics structure (19%).
Companies regard the whole
reverse logistics chain as being
complex, first because it entails a
whole range of collection, sorting,
warehousing, and (re)processing
activities and second because
various intermediaries are likely to
be involved at each stage.
Supply Chain Forum An International Journal
Mapping green supply chain
behaviours
For providing a first overview of
companies' behaviour in terms of a
green supply chain, we classified
companies on the two-dimensional
map of the MCA. The active
variables for such analysis include
the adoption of a green approach to
business and the amount of time
it's been implemented, the set-up of
a green supply chain (in its
different phases), the drivers for
greening the corporate strategy,
and supply chain practices.
In the graphical representation of
the MCA (figure 4), we can consider
axis 1 as the expression of the
environmental awareness of
companies. On the left side of the
graph, we find companies that have
taken into account green issues in
their strategies for more than five
years and have also implemented a
green supply chain. They have a
dedicated department dealing with
environmental stakes. On the right
side, companies have introduced
green considerations in their
activity fewer than three years
previously and they lack both a
dedicated department and a green
supply chain strategy. Axis 2 refers
to the role played by normative
pressures because it juxtaposes
companies being regulated by
environmental directives and laws
and/or perceiving such regulations
as a serious constraint for their
activities to those declaring that
they are not influenced by
regulations.
The classification of the surveyed
companies on the axes of the MCA
allowed for the identification of
four clusters. Three out of the four
clusters are well represented on the
first two axes and comprise 82% of
the sample, whereas the
identification of the fourth cluster
(cluster 2) requires a three-axes
analysis, which is omitted in the
present contribution. Regarding the
three main clusters, companies in
cluster 1 and 3 have achieved a
higher level of environmental
awareness when compared to
cluster 4 (figure 4). The MCA
Vol. 9 - N°2 - 2008 72
results are further analyzed
through some illustrative variables,
such as the country and the
industry to which the companies
belong.
Companies in cluster 1 (with a
longer-term approach to green
business) have set up a dedicated
department to the environmental
issue. They have also implemented
a green supply chain strategy, and
they have done so with respect to
the different phases of the supply
chain (raw material extraction,
sourcing, product design,
manufacturing, and forward and
reverse logistics). If corporate
leadership has been indicated in
this group as the main trigger
towards a green supply chain, the
rationales for such a strategy
mainly relate to innovation of both
product and process and to
corporate image.
In cluster 3 we find companies that
have adopted a green strategy for
at least three years. Apart from the
length of time of the green
approach, the discriminating factor
for this cluster is connected with
the existence of a stringent
environmental policy or with the
perception of such policies as a real
constraint for the core activities of
the companies. In this case, the
rationales for a green supply chain
strategy are cost reduction and
process optimization. With 32% of
the sample, this group shows the
characteristics that have been
more thoroughly studied in the
past through the green/lean
cluster are predominantly from the
chemical, energy, and metallurgic
industries, which traditionally have
been regulated in the
environmental field, namely, in risk
prevention and security issues. The
Japanese companies seem to
experience tougher environmental
legislation when compared to the
British companies.
Finally, cluster 4 puts together
companies that have been
interested in the environmental
issue only recently due to the fact
that other actors in the same
www.supplychain-forum.com

Figure 4
A map of companies' green supply chain behaviour
competitive environment have
done the same. Environmental
regulations do not seem to be a
burden, and a green supply chain
strategy is not a current issue for
them. Unsurprisingly, due to their
lower footprint at the supply chain
level, retailing and service
companies are primarily
represented in this cluster. The
mapping of the surveyed
companies according to their
distinct behaviour in terms of green
supply chain highlights some
interesting trends on the diffusion
of green initiatives across
companies. These results are
summarised and discussed in the
following section, paving the way to
future research in the field of green
supply chains.
Discussion
Even if most companies take into
account the environment when
making strategic decisions,
significantly few have pursued or
initiated a green supply chain
strategy. These companies also
show different levels of maturity
with respect to the green approach.
Summarising our survey's
preliminary results, significant
differences exist among industries
and countries in terms of the length
Supply Chain Forum An International Journal
of time of the green approach, the
number of partners involved (both
upstream and downstream in the
supply chain), and finally in terms
of affected functions and specific
measures.
Based on the supply chain
literature review, coupled with the
exploratory survey findings (the
map of distinct green behaviours),
a number of propositions arise that
may help in understanding the
implementation process of a green
supply chain.
First, the diffusion of green supply
chain activities depends on the
length of time of the green strategic
intent: the longer the strategic
intent has been implemented, the
more spread the green supply chain
initiative. The findings of the
cluster analysis indicate that there
is a class of firms that have been
involved in the environmental
approach for more than five years
and that are able to implement a
thorough supply chain strategy,
which is strongly backed by the
executive leadership to green the
firm's business. We formulate our
first proposition accordingly:
P1: The longer the length of time
of the integration of environment
at the strategic level, the more
widespread the green supply
chain is.
Vol. 9 - N°2 - 2008 73
Second, the move to a greener
supply chain seems to be an
evolutionary process. More
precisely, when looking at the
involvement of the different supply
chain functions, the cluster
analysis shows that companies
experiment with different green
supply chain activities pending on
the length of time of the initiative.
Logistics is the function most
heavily engaged in taking
environmental measures, followed
by manufacturing, and then
sourcing. Over time, the number of
involved supply chain activities
increases. We therefore formulate
the following propositions:
P2a: Logistics and manufacturing
are the more widespread
applications of a green strategy.
P2b: The longer the length of time
of the integration of environment
into the corporate strategy, the
higher the number of involved
supply chain activities.
Third, the diffusion of a green
supply chain may follow different
patterns. A first orientation of
companies refers to cost reduction
and the optimisation objective.
Alternatively, companies seem to
look for innovation when pursuing
a green supply chain strategy. In
addition, such alternative patterns
seem to be influenced by different
drivers. On the one hand, a highly
regulated environment favours
green supply chain actions
designed to reduce costs. On the
other hand, a less regulated
environment favours green supply
chain actions designed to provide
innovation and differentiation.
Such analysis led to the following
propositions:
P3a: The more regulated the
environment, the more the green
supply chain actions are designed
to reduce costs.
P3b: The less regulated the
environment, the more the green
supply chain actions are designed
to provide innovation and
differentiation.
Building on these preliminary
propositions, which are very much
a reflection of a work in progress,
we may argue that green supply
www.supplychain-forum.com
chain initiatives and actions can be
analyzed as organizational changes.
They could also be explained as the
diffusion of an innovation, as an
increasing number of companies
decide to implement a green supply
chain strategy. Organizational
change in general, as well as the
diffusion of innovation, have been
increasingly analyzed through the
institutional theoretical framework
that argues that organizations are
influenced by their institutional
context (Abrahamson & Rosenkopf,
1993; Shapiro, 2003). Following
Scott (2001), institutions are the
result of regulations, norms, and
cultural or cognitive influences
within a specific environment.
Although such a perspective has
been widely used in organization
literature, supply chain
management and decisions have
been rarely analyzed through this
lens. Interestingly, though, Scott
(2001) argues that the institutional
perspective that takes into account
the impact of the social
environment is critical for a more
complete understanding of the
causes and effects of organizational
behaviour within supply chain
systems. As evidenced recently
with the phenomenon of “supply
chain contagion” (McFarland, et
al., 2008), supply chain
management practices are
particularly influenced by
institutional pressures. Indeed, by
definition, supply chain actions are
influenced by and include at the
same time other partners across
the chain, such as preferred
customers and/or suppliers.
To a broader extent, it has been
argued that the convergence of
behaviour of companies stems
from the influence of three different
types of institutional pressures
(DiMaggio & Powell, 1983) that we
have chosen to group into two
major types of influences. One
comes from formal institutions
(“coercive isomorphism” according
to DiMaggio & Powell, 1983), such
as the presence of a specific
regulatory environment. The
second is the result of more
informal social pressure initiated
by leading or interconnected
companies (“normative
isomorphism” and “mimetic
Supply Chain Forum An International Journal
isomorphism” according to
DiMaggio & Powell, 1983). This
becomes institutionalized across
time as a way to gain legitimacy
within a specific business
environment.
In our future research, we believe
that the institutional framework
could help better understand the
process of implementing a green
supply chain. If we refer to
institutionalization as “the process
through which components of
structure become widely accepted,
as both appropriate and necessary”
(Tolbert & Zucker, 1983, p. 25), the
green supply chain can represent a
further step towards the
institutionalization of a sustainable
strategy. Interestingly, the
institutional approach has been
widely used to explain the
organizational arrangements to
integrate sustainable development
(Galaskiewicz & Burt, 1991;
Jennings & Zandbergen, 1995;
Matten & Moon, 2008). It has also
been used to explain how
consensus is built around
sustainability (Jennings & verify if lean and agile supply
Zandbergen, 1995). Indeed,
institutional theories are useful to
explain the process followed by
organizations to implement
ecological behaviour and measures
that later become institutionalized.
Moreover, they help understand
the role of the different types of
pressures in the adoption of a
sustainable attitude. However,
most contributions are lacking an
empirical dimension (see, as an
exception, Zhu & Sarkis, 2007). We
aim to develop a research model
relying on our survey and drawing
on the institutional framework to
understand the transformation
process of strategic intent into
green supply chain initiatives.
Specifically, we aim to examine the
relationship between different
institutional contexts (coercive
versus normative and mimetic) and
green supply chain dynamics and
chosen priorities.
Conclusion
Although there has been
substantial growth recently in the
number of research articles that
explore green supply chain
Vol. 9 - N°2 - 2008 74
management practices, many
questions still remain for
academics and practitioners as to
why and how companies translate
their strategic intention into green
supply chain practices. As the
evidence from the survey results
discussed in this paper suggests,
such research is both justified and
necessary. On the one hand, there
is a need for understanding the
potential benefits of specific green
supply chain initiatives. On the
other hand, the institutionalization
process of a green “attitude”
deserves further exploration.
Starting from these preliminary
considerations, several research
directions are being explored.
First, contributing to the stream of
supply chain literature arguing that
each product needs a specific
supply chain (Fisher, 1997), we
intend to show that different types
of supply chain strategies call for
different types of sustainable
strategies, and accordingly provide
different benefits for companies.
More precisely, it is our intention to
chains integrate sustainability into
their strategic and operational
issues in different ways. We refer to
Christopher and Towill's (2001)
segmentation of supply chains in
terms of a lean or an agile
approach. A key characteristic of
an agile approach is flexibility,
whereas a lean approach means
doing more with less. Agility is
pursued in a volatile marketplace.
Leanness makes sense when
demand is predictable and the
requirements for variety are low
and volume are high. We plan to
analyze how these different supply
chain strategies are extended to
green issues.
Second, important questions
remain as to whether taking into
account environmental issues at
the strategic level automatically
implies its translation into supply
chain initiatives or if it is just a sign
of a widespread “greenwashing”
attitude, that is the business trend
towards green communication
rather than green action, which is
often criticized by external
observers. This paper tends to
interpret the greenwashing attitude
www.supplychain-forum.com
as a preliminary step towards
supply chain greening practices.
Despite the main contributions of
our work, we recognize it has some
limitations. First, our methods
could be and will be refined in the
future in order to better test our
predictions. The questionnaire will
be complemented by other sources
of data (interviews, financial
statement and annual reports,
sustainability rating database,
etc.), which allow for finer analysis
of practices and for an analysis of
the relationship between green
supply chain practices and green as
well as economic performances.
Second, our data present some
limitations. Although our focus is
international, we are missing
samples from countries such as
Germany that have proved to be
particularly innovative in terms of
environment practices. Separately,
our qualitative data represents a
constraint towards further data
analysis. In spite of its limitations,
this paper offers a quite
comprehensive view on the green
supply chain diffusion among
companies worldwide and those
that belong to different industries.
References
Abrahamson, E., & Rosenkopf L. (1993).
Institutional and competitive
bandwagons: Using mathematical
modeling as a tool to explore innovation
diffusion. Academy of Management
Review, 18(3), 487-517.
Bacallan, J. (2000). Greening the supply
chain. Business and Environment, 6(5), 11-
12.
Beaman, B. (1999). Designing the green
supply chain. Logistics Information
Management, 2(4), 332-342.
Bowen, F., Cousins, P., Lamming, R., &
Faruk, A. (2002). Horses for courses:
Explaining the gap between the theory
and practice of green supply. Greener
Management International, 35, 41-60.
Chen, C. (2005). Incorporating green
purchasing into the frame of ISO 14000.
Journal of Cleaner Production, 13, 927-933.
Christopher, M., & Towill, D. (2001). An
integrated model for the design of agile
Supply Chain Forum An International Journal
supply chains. International Journal of
Physical Distribution & Logistics
Management, 31(4), 235-246.
CEC - Commission of the European
Communities (2007), COM (2007) 607
final, Freight Transport Logistics Action
Plan, Brussels, 18.10.2007
de Brito, M., Carbone, V., & Meunier, C.
(2008). Towards a sustainable fashion
retail supply chain in Europe:
Organisation and performance.
International Journal of Production and
Economics, 114, 534-553.
Di Maggio, P., & Powell, W. (1983). The
iron cage revisited: Institutional
isomorphism and collective rationality in
organizational fields. American
Sociological Review, 48, 147-160.
Fisher, M. (1997). What is the right supply
chain for your product? Harvard Business
Review, March-April, 106-116.
Florida, R. (1996). Lean and green: The
move to environmentally conscious
manufacturing. California Management
Review, 39(1), 80-105.
Frosch, R., & Gallopoulos, N. (1989).
Strategies for manufacturing. Scientific
American, 261(9), 94-102.
Galaskiewicz, J., & Burt, R. (1991)
Interorganizational contagion in
corporate philanthropy. Administrative
Science Quarterly, 36, 88-105.
Guide, V., & van Wassenhove, L. (2001).
Managing product returns for
remanufacturing. Production Operations
Management, 10, 142-154.
Handfield, R., Walton, S., Seegers, L., &
Melnyk, S. (1997). “Green” value chain
practices in the furniture industry.
Journal of Operations Management, 5, 293-
315.
Hervani, A., Helms, M., & Sarkis, J. (2005).
Performance measurement for green
supply chain management. Benchmarking:
An International Journal, 12(4), 330-353.
Hines F., & Johns R. (2001) Environmental
supply chain management: evaluating the
use of environmental mentoring through
supply chain, Greening of Industry
Network Conference, Bangkok, October
2001
Vol. 9 - N°2 - 2008 75
Hoffman, W. (2007). Who's carbon-free?
Wal-Mart takes on supply chains of
products as expansive carbon measuring
plan eyes distribution. Traffic World, Oct.
22, 1-2.
Hunt, R., & Franklin, W. (1996). LCA-How
it came about-Personal reflections on the
origin and the development of LCA in the
USA. International Journal of Life Cycle
Assessment, 1(1), 4-7.
Jennings, P., & Zandbergen, P. (1995)
Ecologically sustainable organizations:
An institutional approach. Academy of
Management Review, 20(4), 1015-1052.
Klassen, R. (2001). Plant-level
environmental management orientation:
The influence of management views and
plant characteristics. Production and
Operations Management, 10(3), 257-275.
Kleindorfer, P., Synghal, K., & van
Wassenhove, L. (2005). Sustainable
operations management. Production and
Operations Management, 14(4), 482-492.
Linton, J., Klassen, R., & Jayaraman, V.
(2007). Sustainable supply chains: An
introduction. Journal of Operations
Management, 25, 1075-1082.
Matos, S., & Hall, J. (2007). Integrating
sustainable development in the supply
chain: The case of life cycle assessment
in oil and gas and agricultural
biotechnology. Journal of Operations
Management, 25, 1083-1102.
Matten, D., & Moon, J. (2008). “Implicit”
and “explicit” CSR: A conceptual
framework for a comparative
understanding of corporate social
responsibility. Academy of Management
Review, 33, 404-424.
McFarland, R. G., Bloodgood, J. M., &
Payan, J. M. (2008). Supply chain
contagion. Journal of Marketing, 75, 63-79.
Murphy, P., & Poist, R. (2000). Green
logistics strategies: An analysis of usage
patterns. Transportation Journal, 40(2), 5-
16.
Murphy, P., Poist, R., & Braunschweig, C.
(1996). Green logistics: Comparative
views of environmental progressives,
moderates, and conservatives. Journal of
Business Logistics, 17(1), 191-212.
www.supplychain-forum.com
Noci, G. (2000). Environmental reporting
in Italy: Current practices and future
developments. Business Strategy and the
Environment, 9, 211-23.
Parry, P., Martha, J., & Grenon, G. (2007).
The energy efficient supply chain.
Strategy+Business. Booz Allen Hamilton,
47, 1-10.
Porter, M., & Kramer, M. (2006). Strategy
and society. Harvard Business Review,
Dec., 78-83.
Preuss, L. (2001). In dirty chains?
Purchasing and greener manufacturing.
Journal of Business Ethics, 34(3-4), 345-
359.
Rao, P. (2002). Greening the supply chain:
A new initiative in South East Asia.
International Journal of Operations &
Production Management, 22(6), 632-655.
Rao, P., & Holt, D. (2005). Do green supply
chains lead to competitiveness and
economic performance? International
Journal of Operations and Production
Management, 25(9), 898-916.
Rebitzer, G. (2002). Integrating life cycle
costing and life cycle assessment for
managing costs and environmental
impacts in supply chain analysis and LCA.
In S. Seuring & M. Goldbach (Eds.), Cost
management in supply chains.
Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag.
Roberts, S. (2003). Supply chain specific?
Understanding the patchy success of
ethical sourcing initiatives. Journal of
Business Ethics, 44(2-3), 159-170.
Rogers, D., Lambert, D., Croxton, K.,
Garcìa-Dastugue, S. (2002). The returns
management process. International
Journal of Logistics Management, 13(2), 1-
17.
Sarkis, J. (1999). How green is the supply
chain? Practice and research. Worcester,
MA: Clark University.
Sarkis, J. (2001). Greener manufacturing
and operations: From design to delivery
and back. Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf
Publishing.
Sarkis, J. (2006). Greening the supply
chain. London: Springer-Verlag.
Scott, R. (2001). Institutions and
organizations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications.
Supply Chain Forum An International Journal
Shapiro, C. (2003). Bandwagon effects in About the authors
high-technology industries. Journal of
Economics, 80(3), 287-292. Valentina CARBONE is Professor at the ESCE
where she is responsible for the Master
Program in International Logistics. She is also
Simpson, D., & Power, D. (2005). Use the
Affiliate Professor the ESCP-EAP. Her teaching
supply relationship to develop lean and areas are Supply Chain Management and
green suppliers. Supply Chain Operation Management. Before her academic
Management: An International Journal, career she worked for Procter & Gamble and
10(1), 60-68. Finseda over a period of three years.
Her main research interests concern the
organisation and coordination of global
Skjoett-Larsen, T. (2000). European supply chains and her current research work
logistics beyond 2000. International covers green and sustainable supply chain
Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics management.
Management, 30(5), 377-387.
Valérie MOATTI is an Assistant Professor at
ESCP-EAP. Her teaching areas are Supply
Srivastara, S. (2007). Green supply-chain Chain Management, Operation Management
management: A state-of-the-art literature and Strategic Management. Before her
academic career, she held various positions
review. International Journal of
with Procter & Gamble and with Pinault-
Management Reviews, 9(1), 53-80. Printemps-Redoute over a period of 8 years.
Her research work covers growth strategies
Tolbert, P., & Zucker, L. (1983). and more specifically the choice of expansion
mode (internal growth, mergers and
Institutional sources of change in the
acquisitions and alliances), as well as the
formal structure of organizations: The interface between strategy and supply chain
diffusion of civil service reform 1880- management.
1935. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28,
22-39.
Trowbridge, P. (2003). A case study of
green supply chain management at
advanced micro devices. In J. Sarkis (Ed.),
Greening the supply chain. London:
Springer-Verlag.
Vachon, S., & Klassen, R. (2008).
Environmental management and
manufacturing performance: The role of
collaboration in the supply chain.
International Journal of Production
Economics, 111, 299-315.
Young, R. (2000). Managing residual
disposition: Achieving economy,
environmental responsibility and
competitive advantage using the supply
chain framework. Journal of Supply Chain
Management, 36(1), 57-66.
Zhu, Q., & Sarkis, J. (2007). The
moderating effect of institutional
pressures on emergent green supply
chain and performance. International
Journal of Production Research, 45(18-19),
4333-4355.
Vol. 9 - N°2 - 2008 76 www.supplychain-forum.com