3. Green supply chain management
A supply chain can be defined as a network of companies working together towards the goals (e.g. customer service, fulfilment and so on) of the whole supply chain (Chan & Chan, 2010). Supply chain management is thus highly coupled to resources allocation and hence a variety of optimisation techniques can be found in the literature to aid decision-making processes (Chan, 2011). Having said that, the interface between marketing and supply chain management cannot be overlooked (Lambert & Cooper, 2000). For example, Jüttner, Christopher and Baker (2007) examined how to integrate marketing and supply chain activities from a demand chain point of view. The objective of the paper is to propose a new business model which can add values along the chain. By the same token, green supply chain management (e.g. Lamming & Hampson, 1996) and green marketing (e.g. Cronin et al., 2011) cannot be considered separately. Nevertheless, the interfaces between green supply chain research and green marketing are rather unclear. This is particularly obvious if the effort devoted to green supply chain management results in marginal benefits only (e.g. Côté, Lopez, Marche, Perron and Wright, 2008). Below are summaries of some relevant research themes in order to support this though:
3.1. Corporate performance
Most green supply chain management studies are coupled with corporate performance and hence attempt to conclude that green supply chain can influence companies' profit or even competitive advantages (e.g. Zhu & Sarkis, 2004). Bowen, Cousins, Lamming, and Faruk (2001) argued that financial incentive is the major driver force for implementing green supply chain. Rao and Holt (2005) investigated the relationship between green supply chain management practices and firms' competitiveness as well as economic performance, and they confirmed that a positive relationship exists. Chiou, Chan, Lettice, and Chung (2011) also reach a similar conclusion although their study focuses only on the Taiwanese market. Vachon and Klassen (2008) concluded a correlation exists between environmental performance and competitive advantage in their survey. Notwithstanding the huge amount of studies in the literature in relation to the above, the link between green supply chain management activities, for example green supplier management (e.g. Bai & Sarkis, 2010), green purchasing (e.g. Green, Morton, & New, 1998) and green marketing activities, for example green branding, seems missing.
3.2. Product development
Green product development is also found to be coupled with firms' performance (e.g. Lau, Tang, & Yam, 2010). Particularly, Chen, Lai, and Wen (2006) found that green product and green manufacturing process innovations are positively associated with corporate competitive advantage. However, results from some studies are conservative on this aspect (e.g. Ragatz, Handfield, & Petersen, 2002). Extending this into the debate around integrating green supply chain management and green marketing, it is therefore important to understand the interaction and possible overlaps between two practices. However, green product development is not a straightforward analysis and hence some scientific tools are proposed in order to quantify such effort from environmental conscious perspective. For example, Yung et al. (2011) proposed a life-cycle approach to analyze the green product development options of an electronic product. However, such approach is perhaps too tedious in terms of data collection, and is difficult to link to green marketing effort as the analysis is not easy to be presented to the customers. In addition, this method is mainly employed at product level, not supply chain level (Schmidt & Schwegler, 2008). In other words, such efforts are not easy to make visible to the consumers.
3.3. Lean
Lean, sometimes refers to as just-in-time, aims to optimise the process by eliminating wastes appear in that in a broader sense (Bruce et al., 2004, Chan et al., 2010 and Hines et al., 2004). The concept has been applied in some sectors other than traditional manufacturing systems, like healthcare sector (Mustaffa & Potter, 2009). The major assumption or pre-requisite of lean systems that is the ability to assure the resources are consumed is a smooth and interruptive manner. In other words, high degree of uncertainty will hinder the application of lean philosophy to not only green supply chain or green marketing activities, and also their interfaces.
3.4. Distribution and reverse logistics
Distribution network plays an important role between the marketing and supply chain interface. Obviously, this is the major concerns of supply chain management from cost and flow of materials perspective. Furthermore, this is also the point where a company can meet the customers, especially for industrial business. Like life-cycle assessment mentioned above, carbon footprint is another parameter to describe the “greenness” of a product or process. For example, Edwards, McKinnon, and Cullinane (2010) made use of such indicator to calculate the so-called “last mile” distribution network and attempted to compare different scenarios. Although the approach is scientifically objective, the same shortcomings for life-cycle assessment are applicable.
In contrast to the delivery of product from a warehouse, for example, to the customers, reverse logistics involves the movement in the opposite direction (Chan, 2007). Reuse, remanufacture, and recycle of returned products are definitely useful to reduce the environmental impact of a supply chain. Unfortunately, those activities, including aforementioned green product design, are normally driven by regulation (Maxwell & Van der Vorst, 2003). However, the value of returned products cannot be under-estimated (Blackburn, Guide, Souza, & Van Wassenhove, 2004). Therefore, the role of reverse logistics in the industrial marketing cannot be overlooked. This is particularly important when industrial packaging is involved. Returnable containers are just one example (Kroon & Vrijens, 1995).
3. Green supply chain management
A supply chain can be defined as a network of companies working together towards the goals (e.g. customer service, fulfilment and so on) of the whole supply chain (Chan & Chan, 2010). Supply chain management is thus highly coupled to resources allocation and hence a variety of optimisation techniques can be found in the literature to aid decision-making processes (Chan, 2011). Having said that, the interface between marketing and supply chain management cannot be overlooked (Lambert & Cooper, 2000). For example, Jüttner, Christopher and Baker (2007) examined how to integrate marketing and supply chain activities from a demand chain point of view. The objective of the paper is to propose a new business model which can add values along the chain. By the same token, green supply chain management (e.g. Lamming & Hampson, 1996) and green marketing (e.g. Cronin et al., 2011) cannot be considered separately. Nevertheless, the interfaces between green supply chain research and green marketing are rather unclear. This is particularly obvious if the effort devoted to green supply chain management results in marginal benefits only (e.g. Côté, Lopez, Marche, Perron and Wright, 2008). Below are summaries of some relevant research themes in order to support this though:
3.1. Corporate performance
Most green supply chain management studies are coupled with corporate performance and hence attempt to conclude that green supply chain can influence companies' profit or even competitive advantages (e.g. Zhu & Sarkis, 2004). Bowen, Cousins, Lamming, and Faruk (2001) argued that financial incentive is the major driver force for implementing green supply chain. Rao and Holt (2005) investigated the relationship between green supply chain management practices and firms' competitiveness as well as economic performance, and they confirmed that a positive relationship exists. Chiou, Chan, Lettice, and Chung (2011) also reach a similar conclusion although their study focuses only on the Taiwanese market. Vachon and Klassen (2008) concluded a correlation exists between environmental performance and competitive advantage in their survey. Notwithstanding the huge amount of studies in the literature in relation to the above, the link between green supply chain management activities, for example green supplier management (e.g. Bai & Sarkis, 2010), green purchasing (e.g. Green, Morton, & New, 1998) and green marketing activities, for example green branding, seems missing.
3.2. Product development
Green product development is also found to be coupled with firms' performance (e.g. Lau, Tang, & Yam, 2010). Particularly, Chen, Lai, and Wen (2006) found that green product and green manufacturing process innovations are positively associated with corporate competitive advantage. However, results from some studies are conservative on this aspect (e.g. Ragatz, Handfield, & Petersen, 2002). Extending this into the debate around integrating green supply chain management and green marketing, it is therefore important to understand the interaction and possible overlaps between two practices. However, green product development is not a straightforward analysis and hence some scientific tools are proposed in order to quantify such effort from environmental conscious perspective. For example, Yung et al. (2011) proposed a life-cycle approach to analyze the green product development options of an electronic product. However, such approach is perhaps too tedious in terms of data collection, and is difficult to link to green marketing effort as the analysis is not easy to be presented to the customers. In addition, this method is mainly employed at product level, not supply chain level (Schmidt & Schwegler, 2008). In other words, such efforts are not easy to make visible to the consumers.
3.3. Lean
Lean, sometimes refers to as just-in-time, aims to optimise the process by eliminating wastes appear in that in a broader sense (Bruce et al., 2004, Chan et al., 2010 and Hines et al., 2004). The concept has been applied in some sectors other than traditional manufacturing systems, like healthcare sector (Mustaffa & Potter, 2009). The major assumption or pre-requisite of lean systems that is the ability to assure the resources are consumed is a smooth and interruptive manner. In other words, high degree of uncertainty will hinder the application of lean philosophy to not only green supply chain or green marketing activities, and also their interfaces.
3.4. Distribution and reverse logistics
Distribution network plays an important role between the marketing and supply chain interface. Obviously, this is the major concerns of supply chain management from cost and flow of materials perspective. Furthermore, this is also the point where a company can meet the customers, especially for industrial business. Like life-cycle assessment mentioned above, carbon footprint is another parameter to describe the “greenness” of a product or process. For example, Edwards, McKinnon, and Cullinane (2010) made use of such indicator to calculate the so-called “last mile” distribution network and attempted to compare different scenarios. Although the approach is scientifically objective, the same shortcomings for life-cycle assessment are applicable.
In contrast to the delivery of product from a warehouse, for example, to the customers, reverse logistics involves the movement in the opposite direction (Chan, 2007). Reuse, remanufacture, and recycle of returned products are definitely useful to reduce the environmental impact of a supply chain. Unfortunately, those activities, including aforementioned green product design, are normally driven by regulation (Maxwell & Van der Vorst, 2003). However, the value of returned products cannot be under-estimated (Blackburn, Guide, Souza, & Van Wassenhove, 2004). Therefore, the role of reverse logistics in the industrial marketing cannot be overlooked. This is particularly important when industrial packaging is involved. Returnable containers are just one example (Kroon & Vrijens, 1995).
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