For many years, being ecologically and environmentally friendly was not a concern for companies; they mostly focused on costs no matter how harmful their practices and processes might be for the environment. However, today, environmental issues are growing and becoming a real threat. Consequently, environmental pressures on businesses are getting more and more important, especially since many different stakeholders have become aware and worried about the undesirable side effects of economic growth. This new "environmental era" is a real challenge for companies which now have to find a way to deal at the same time with economic development and environmental protection. Therefore, organizations having to be responsible for their products "from cradle to grave" are reconsidering their logistics strategies in order to meet these new constraints and the traditional Supply Chain (SC) is likely to be modified. Reverse logistics has been the main answer; but as its requirements focus mostly on the manufacturing phase and the disposal of products, other approaches should be considered. In particular, Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) goes further and proves that companies can improve their environmental practices at each stage of their SC by adopting a proactive attitude and implementing upstream a real strategy they follow along the SC.
[...] Appendix Appendix Strategies for managing and Responding to environmental issues Excerpt from Murphy and Poist 2000: 9 Percentage of respondents STRATEGIES Currently Plan to No plans to use use use possible possible possible efforts/accomplishments of company personnel components for greater environmental efficiency efforts manage environmental issues environmental concerns conscious personnel involvement/regulation Appendix Model of reverse logistics Appendix Graph of Green Supply Chain Management Adapted from Hervani et al : 335 Appendix the processes involved in an LCA Excerpt from Kjaerheim 2005: 336 Appendix Ecological Fingerprint of the two colorants studied Excerpt from Bengtsson 2004: 20 Appendix Eco-efficiency profile Excerpt from Bengtsson 2004: 17 Reference list Beamon Benita M.1999. [...]
[...] Introduction In an economic context dominated by sustainable development[1], organizations are reconsidering their logistics strategies in order to meet environmental constraints imposed by national governments, supranational bodies, customers, as well as shareholders and employees who now care about the “ethical image” of the company. As customers, we are now confronted with one perspective on the issue; but as managers, we will have to deal with the opposite perspective as well, which makes this topic relevant for us. Environmental Supply Chain Management is critical future avenue” (Nichols 1999) for organizations and appears more as a competitive initiative to combine both commercial and environmental benefits rather than a reactive compliance with regulation (Van Hoek 1999). [...]
[...] Furthermore, according to the same study, if companies green their SC, they not only save costs but also improve sales, market share and exploit new market opportunities they wouldn't have exploited otherwise; the combination of those effects generates greater profit margins. Greening the SC can endow firms with a competitive advantage and enhanced economic performance because they work on minimizing waste, using natural resources more adequately, improving efficiency and productivity, hence reducing Conclusion The implementation of green practices and more globally of a GSC, as well as the use of tools such as LCA is the key for organizations to tackle environmental constraints and reach an eco-efficient SC. [...]
[...] The logistics environment is changing and is likely to change even more as organizations are increasingly aware of the significant environmental pressure on their logistical activities and the importance of environmental “excellence to long-term success” (McDaniel et al 2000: 33). It is in their best interests to anticipate the necessary changes and adopt a real environmental strategy before being compelled to improve their logistics processes to meet environmental requirements. The traditional SC has definitely to be modified. The supply chain redefined: from traditional supply chain to reverse logistics and Green Supply Chain As we mentioned earlier, many stakeholders are becoming more and more concerned about environmental issues and are putting pressure on companies to make them adopt ecologically-friendly practices. [...]
[...] Therefore, it is necessary for organizations to find ways of assessing and measuring the benefits they can get out of the green practices set up; several tools can help managers to map the environmental impacts along the GSC and to optimize the latter in order to combine both economic and environmental benefits. Optimizing the Green Supply Chain to get economic benefits There is a “dichotomy between measuring the performance of SC and the greening of (Murphy and Poist 2000: 6). [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
