usually to a lesser extent, with do

usually to a lesser extent, with downstream customers. They include several activities,
such as managing reverse flows of materials and packaging (Vachon et al. 2001),
sharing environmental management techniques and knowledge among supply chain
partners (Rao 2002), controlling environmental risk associated with suppliers’
operations (GEMI 2001), and assuring proper product utilization by customers (Snir
2001). Ultimately, such activities with the suppliers or with the customers can affect
environmental management decisions within any particular manufacturing plant.
Plant-level investment decisions regarding the natural environment are generally
viewed and studied as a choice between end-of-pipe technologies, usually known as
pollution control, and pollution prevention technologies (Sarkis and Cordeiro 2001,
King and Lenox 2002). Over the last 20 years, the literature has provided theoretical
and conceptual support for the benefits of adopting and implementing pollution
prevention technologies (Hart 1995, Porter and van der Linde 1995). Moreover,
anecdotal evidence and empirical testing have suggested that pollution prevention
was positively linked to financial and manufacturing performance (Klassen and
Whybark 1999b, King and Lenox 2002). While the merits of pollution prevention
technologies over pollution control technologies are recognized, several industries
remain slow to adopt preventive technologies as demonstrated by a recent Statistics
Canada survey (Statistics Canada 2003). Organizational resistance to adopting and
implementing pollution prevention technologies can be found in the supply chain
(Vachon and Klassen 2007). Furthermore, the recent interest expressed by major
manufacturing organizations to manage green activities in their supply network
(Rao 2002, GEMI 2004b) suggests that the potential link between green supply chain
practices and the selection of environmental technologies within these organizations
should be investigated. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to determine
if there is a link between green supply chain practices which comprise environmental
collaboration and environmental monitoring (Vachon and Klassen 2006a), and
environmental technologies selection.
This paper contrasts with former studies that have examined the relation between
supply chain management and environmental technologies (Klassen and Vachon
2003). Here, the focus on green inter-organizational activities represents a specific
and distinguished set of activities in the supply chain: the impact of such activities on
environmental technologies selection in manufacturing plants has not been analysed
in the literature. In particular, green supply chain practices are studied for their
influence on a plant’s decision to invest in different forms of environmental
technologies. The results of this paper can guide organizations in the development of
their internal environmental strategy and assure an effective alignment of their green
efforts in the supply chain. This paper’s results also contribute to the emerging field
of green supply chain in two ways. First, the study evaluates the impact of
environment-related activities in the supply chain on the adoption and implementation
of environmental technologies in a plant. For instance, this paper assesses if risk
management approaches in the supply chain, characterized by environmental
monitoring, push suppliers to adopt and implement quick fixes and less disruptive
technologies (such as pollution control) instead of more sustainable, and preventive,
technologies. It also examines if knowledge-sharing mechanisms, embedded in
environmental collaboration, ease the adoption and implementation of potentially
disruptive pollution prevention technologies that require process reengineering and
product modifications. Second, this paper evaluates if green supply chain practices
with suppliers are more influential than those conducted with customers in
a manufacturing plant’s adoption and implantation of environmental technologies.
Next, in the second section, the concept of green supply chain practices is
developed. In section 3, a typology representing the different categories of
environmental technology investments is presented and the link between such
investments and green supply chain practices is theoretically established in order to
propose testable hypotheses. The research methodology, including the survey
procedures and the measurement of variables, composes section 4. The results
are presented in section 5. Finally, discussion of the results and concluding remarks
is presented in section 6.