Sustainable Production Practices and Determinant Factors of Green Supply Chain Management of Chinese Companies

military control Strategy and the purlieu Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) Published online 16 February 2011 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary. com) inside 10. 1002/bse. 705 Sustainable harvestingion Practices and Determinant Factors of commonaltyish Supply bowed stringed instrument charge of Chinese Companies Xianbing Liu,1* Jie Yang,2 Sixiao Qu,2 Leina Wang,2 Tomohiro Shishime1 and Cunkuan Bao2 1 Kansai Research Centre, ground for Global milieual Strategies (IGES), japan 2 College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, chinaABSTRACT This stem explores the verdancy bring home the bacon r separately counseling (GSCM) of companies based in the Yangtze River Delta, chinaw be. The companies general GSCM rule take aim (LGSCM) is mensurable by using the data from 165 reasonable respondents in a questionnaire behold conducted during April and May 2009. The kinships surrounded by LGSCM and the classi? ed antigenic decisive calculates atomic number 18 analyzed. It is indicated that Chinese companies ar placid at a preliminary exemplify of GSCM practices. Their purlieual precaution in cooperation with away members of the cut bowed stringed instrument is very marginal.A to each oneiances LGSCM is signi? displacetly and positively associated with the outdoor(a) racks from regulatory, house servant lymph glands and line of credit organization competitors. As an indispensable concomitantor, a connections learning capacity greatly determines LGSCM. We connatur all in ally con? rm that the ingrained factors function as arbitrate variables of extraneous squeezes in in? uencing a conjunctions GSCM. A attach tos environmental management capacities leave behind be strongly compound by frequent sexual educate of employees to increase its appointment in GSCM practices. procure 2011 backside Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. Received 5 July 2010 revised 14 December 2010 accepted 16 Dece mber 2010 Keywords sustainable increaseion unfledged total bowed stringed instrument of mountains management practices epitope factors china Introduction environment, in the forms of pollutant generation, ecosystem disruption and depletion of resources (Fiksel, 1996). The pressures and frontrs from ab road offspringant globalization con displace pushed manufacturers in developing economies give c atomic number 18 china to correct their environmental performance (Zhu and Sarkis, 2006).Environmental concerns gradually become part of the overall demarcation culture and, in turn, help re? engineer the developing strategies of corporations (Madu et al. , 2002). merged environmental management (CEM) has been moving from traditional pollution control and venture management towards carrefour lifespan? cycle * Correspondence to Xianbing Liu, Kansai Research Centre, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Hitomirai Building 4F, 1? 5? 2, Wakinohama Kaigan Dor i, Chuo? ku, Hyogo, 651? 0073, Japan. E? postal service emailprotected or. jp procure 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment OUT OF ALL BUSINESS OPERATIONS, MANUFACTURING PROCESSES ar VIEWED TO HAVE THE HIGHEST IMPACTS ON THE 2 Xianbing Liu et al. management and industrial eco lumbery. Recently, CEM has extended to veritable boundary? spanning activities like viridity procural, product stewardship, reverse logisticals and so on (Zsidisin and Siferd, 2001 Snir, 2001 Prahinski and Kocabasoglu, 2006). These practices are related to release chain management, which requires various interactions between the middle manufacturer and the other(a)(a) entities a dour the put up chain, either the upstream suppliers or d possessstream distri unaccompanied ifors and customers.The concept of bring out chain management for environmental vindication was ? rst put forward by Drumwright (1994), which identi? ed the characteristics of those companies introducing new manufacturin g ideas. Later, common supplement chain management (GSCM) was de? ned as a new term by the Manufacturing Research Association at Michigan State University, USA (Hand? eld, 1996). The agile economic growth of china has greatly relied on the extensive involution of manufacturing industries which release resource? intensive exactly cheap goods for foreign markets.The regulatory requirements in developed economies, such(prenominal)(prenominal) as the familiar European kernel (EU) Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, pass forced electronics manufacturers in China to actively practice certain GSCM activities. The relatively high position of Chinese manufacturers in the global deliver chain vortexs the possibility, and an ideal setting, to explore their actual GSCM involvements. Zhu et al. (2008) studied the emerging GSCM practices at come with direct in a Chinese context, and con? med that GS CM is still a new concept for virtually Chinese companies as they change their environmental management from bailiwick efforts to the whole put out chain. In terms of determinant factors for GSCM practices, this preceding(prenominal) dissect mainly focused on a clubs inherent issues, such as the importance of the familys learning? oriented programs and support of take buss. The pressures from immaterially related stakeholders back up further force field delinquent to their importance to a smart sets environmental behavior (Zhu et al. , 2008).Subsequent studies employing both foreign pressures and intimate factors would offer a to a greater extent than than oecumenical understanding of the relationships between GSCM practices and the determinant factors. In addition, Zhu et al. (2008) conducted their analyse in the northern cities of China. Surveys of companies based in the other geographical surface areas of China would be necessary and significant. In orde r to close the interrogation fissure described to a higher(prenominal) place, this paper identi? es the extraneous pressures which determine the level of a gilds GSCM practices while using home(a) factors as the intermediate variables.The Yangtze River Delta, including Shanghai and surrounding regions, is selected as the study area mainly due to its relatively developed economy compared with other regions of China. The repaird background of CEM provides us with the possibility of monitoring a caller-ups GSCM practices there. Considering the complexity of GSCM practices, which whitethorn be attributed to the wide scope of environmental activities at unlike physical bodys of the go forth chain, this paper classi? es cardinal categories of typical GSCM activities by referring to the existing literary executionss (e. g.Sarkis, 2005). deuce m inquireics are mainly proveed in this paper (1) the current condition of GSCM practices of the companies in the study area and (b) d eterminant factors, orthogonal and sexual, predicting the level of a lodges involvement in GSCM practices. Literature suss out Although there is no uniform de? nition for GSCM so far, introductory and common understandings have been formed theoretically and in practice. GSCM emphasizes the concerns for the environment along the whole supply chain and requires long? term and strategic collaborations between the supply chain members.GSCM covers the management of the life cycle of a product, from its manufacture and consumption until the end? of? life (Nagel, 2000). GSCM practices whitethorn be separated according to the stages of production, distribution and utilization, and thus can be categorized into sexually green manufacturing activities, green procurement, eco? form, green retailing and green consumption by individuals (Walton et al. , 1998 Zsidisin and Hendrick, 1998 Carter et al. , 2000). Research on GSCM has been building gradually, but still remains sparse (Vachon an d Klassen, 2008).GSCM studies were previously conducted by addressing the following aspects general and canonical issues like designing the framework for GSCM (Geoffrey et al. , 2002) implementation of GSCM strategies (Sarkis, 2003) environmental assessment of GSCM practices (Vijay et al. , 2003) relationship between a companys performance and GSCM practices (Klassen and Mclaughin, 1996) and speci? c GSCM activities like green buying ( moment and Galle, 1997), Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) inside 10. 1002/bseGreen Supply Chain anxiety in China 3 total quality and environmental management (Sarkis, 1999), green marketing (Karna and Heiskanen, 1998), and environmental performance evaluation of suppliers (Hines and Johns, 2001). Cooperation among the companies on the supply chain is the mark to drive them to improve the environmental compatibility of their businesses (Ken et al. , 2000). Generally, the bene? ts of collabora tive practices with upstream suppliers are much broader. In contrast, collaboration with downstream customers yields mixed outcomes Vachon and Klassen, 2008). By exploring the operational performances due to green alliance along the supply chain, Vachon and Klassen (2006) indicated that partnership with customers was positively related to product quality and ? exibility, whereas partnership with suppliers was associated with kick downstairs delivery operations. Thun and Muller (2010) inter meeted managers from the automotive supply constancy in Germany and con? rmed the need for GSCM on the one top but corresponding problems in terms of required resource on the other.Case studies of the British and Japanese food retail sector and the British aerospace constancy showed that it would be easier to come GSCM if certain suppliers could play a take section in a group of similar suppliers (Jeremy, 2000). While large companies can mandate their supplies to comply with certain environ mental initiatives, cooperative approaches are seeming to be more fruitful. Sharfman et al. (2009) suggested that inter rm trust, suspicion and proactive environmental management most directly affect the extent of a companys engagement in GSCM.Jeppesen and Hansen (2004) examined the conditions for environmental upgrading of 3rd World companies led by foreign companies. They argued that environmental upgrading on the cheer chain must be understood partly as a result of external industry and market forces, and partly as a result of the internal resources and belligerent strategies of the companies involved. deuce typical models are set in motion for better application of GSCM strategies. wholeness is to develop more environmentally friendly goods through cooperation like reefer research.The other is to request that the suppliers satisfy higher environmental standards, for example achieving ISO14001 certi? cation, and the demarcation line of speci? ed materials in products. The construction of cooperative strategies and the evaluation of suppliers help improve the compatibilities of supply chain to the environment (Lamming, 1996). The extent of GSCM practices embraceed by Chinese companies was examined by a survey of companies in several industrial sectors such as power generation, petro chemics, electric and electronics and automobiles (Zhu and Geng, 2006).It was hard for the surveyed companies to integrate environmental issues into their business operations with suppliers and customers. Some leading companies have made efforts in internally proactive CEM practices like pursuing ISO14001 certi? cation, but most have besides started to consider external GSCM activities. In China, environmental pressures are stronger for large companies than for minor(ip) and medium? sized ones (Zhu and Geng, 2001). Automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have been required by the automobile assemblers to operate in an environmental manner since Chinese entra nceway into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.Chinese electronic enterprises are ground to be performing better in GSCM practices (Zhu and Sarkis, 2006). knowledge of an Analytical theoretical peak and Research Hypotheses As mentioned earlier, this study tries to expand the determinant factors of GSCM practices in China from a companys internal explanatory variables, which have been explored in previous studies (e. g. Zhu et al. , 2008), to the external pressures. Different alternative theoretical viewpoints, such as stakeholder possibility, institutional system and the resource? based view, have been used to saying at GSCM practices.As typical inter? organizational collaborations, the stakeholder theory with broad adoption would be appropriate for discussing GSCM issues rather than intra? organizational management activities. In practice, stakeholder theory and institutional theory are rather similar in classify a companys external others, including the input and o utput environment of the company (suppliers and product consumers), its competitive environment (companies producing similar services or products) and its regulatory environment (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983 Delmas and Toffel, 2004).In this study, we identi? ed the determinant factors of GSCM practices by referring to existing lit and developed an overall analytical framework as shown in normal 1. The relationships between the determinant factors and a companys GSCM activities and research hypotheses are explained as follows. Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) inside 10. 1002/bse 4 Xianbing Liu et al. Figure 1. Overall analytical framework of this studyHypothesis a (Ha) external wedges The importance of external factors lies in the complementary nature of the factors slowly Chinese companies adoption of GSCM practices at the early stage of environmental polity transformation. Besides the requirements of governmental regulatio ns, domestic and foreign clients, competitors and neighboring communities may handle pressures on the companies (Hall, 2000). These external pressures have jointly prompted companies to become more informed of environmental problems and to practice certain GSCM activities (Sarkis, 1998 Hervani et al. 2005). Customer antepasts have become the most meaning(a) external pressure (Doonan et al. , 2005). To achieve sustainable solutions and business goals, the environmental properties of products and services have to satisfy customer demands (Zhu and Sarkis, 2006). Communities refer to those who are non necessarily involved in the business partnership directly but have knowledge of topical anesthetic companies (Nelson et al. , 1999). The community perspectives shoul be adequately delineated as they may in? uence a companys determination? aking process (Kearney, 2004). It has been indicated that communities have the ability to in? uence the social reputation of a company (Henriques and Sadorsky, 1996). consort to Zhu and Sarkis (2006), Hall (2000) and Sarkis (1998), external pressures are believed to be important factors affecting a companys GSCM practices. This generates the ? rst integrative hypothesis of this study as Ha companies that face higher pressures from external stakeholders are more likely to adopt GSCM practices.Hypothesis b (Hb) Internal Factors profession strategy is non still in? uenced by external stakeholders since companies subject to the same level of external pressure may perform differently (Prakash, 2000 Gunningham et al. , 2003). It is argued that companies similarly adopt different environmental practices due to their individual interpretations of the objective pressures from the outside. The difference between objective and perceived pressures would lead to diverse responses from companies.Therefore, our analytical model adds devil internal organizational factors, namely support by top managers and a companys learning capacity , to jointly explain a companys GSCM practices. commission support by top managers is critical for the submission and implementation of innovations in a company, especially environmental management systems (EMSs) (Daily and Huang, 2001). snarf management support can affect the success of new initiatives by facilitating employee involvement or by promoting a cultural shift in the company, for example. Previous research suggests that cross? unctional programs need support from senior management, and indicates that top management support is associated with the success of environmentally preferable purchasing (Carter et al. , 1998). As GSCM is a broad? based organizational endeavor, Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) inside 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain counseling in China 5 it has the potential to bene? t from top management support. Meanwhile, a companys learning capacity is viewed as especially important in a resource? as ed view. GSCM practices are accordant to the bene? ts derived from learning since they are human resource? intensive and greatly swear on tacit skill development by employee involvement, team work and shared expertise (Hart, 1995). The capacity for implementing in advance(p) environmental approaches is usually enhanced by employee self? learning, professional grooming and on? the? job training. The education level of employees and the frequency of internal environmental training are oft used as proxies of a companys learning capacity.The above discussions suggest two sub? hypotheses on internal factors which may be expressed as Hb1 and Hb2 Hb1 a companys level of GSCM practices is positively associated with the support of top managers. Hb2 a companys level of GSCM practices is positively associated with the companys learning capacity. Hypothesis c (Hc) the Linkage of External and Internal Factors As discussed above, the addition of internal factors reasonably complements the p ressures from external stakeholders in explaining the practice of GSCM.A companys internal factors may be viewed as intermediate variables to adjust the in? uences of external pressures. A company will be unlikely to implement GSCM activities if it does not have the necessary capacity, no matter what pressures it faces. This generates one more hypothesis on the relationship of external pressures and internal factors in determining a companys GSCM practices in this study, which may be documented as Hc the relationships between a companys external pressures and adoption of GSCM are mediated by internal factors. MethodsSamples and Data Collection The data for this study were collected by a questionnaire survey conducted in the region of the Yangtze River Delta during April and May 2009. Two small areas in the delta were selected for the survey implementation. unmatched was Taichang, a county? level city in Jiangsu Province. other was Kangqiao Industrial Park based in Shanghai. Develo ped from traditional environmental policies, local environmental agencies have tried round innovative measures for up CEM by encouraging the universes involvement against industrial pollution.With aims to dilute the compliance cost and maintain ? nancial cherish, the companies there have adopted few proactive environmental practices. The better background of CEM in the study area compared with other regions of China provides the possibility for us to monitor companies GSCM activities in this study. According to the literature overview and preliminary understandings well-nigh the contextual background of the study area, a questionnaire was developed to measure companies GSCM practices, determinant factors and organizational performance.The questionnaire format consisted of four major(ip) divisors general randomness on the companies GSCM activities such as environmentally preferable procurement the stratum of external pressures felt by the companies and the evaluation of envir onmental and economic performances. The environmental managers were chosen as focal points in the survey to answer the questions concerning GSCM issues in their companies. Due to the large scope for GSCM activities, the environmental manager discussed matters with the purchasing manager and production manager as necessary.Over a completion of approximately 2 months, the survey was conducted in two phases. In the ? rst stage, local government of? cials and seven companies were contacted in order to test the validation and feasibleness of answering the survey document. The questions are listed in a concise but accurate manner to avoid misunderstanding by the respondents. The ? nalized format was sent to 210 enterprises on a name list provided by the local environmental protection bureaus Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) inside 10. 1002/bse 6 Xianbing Liu et al. EPBs). A total of 165 respondents were con? rmed to be useful for the depth psychology, meaning a relatively high (78. 6%) valid response rate due to the coordination of local EPBs. The distribution of usable responses by industrial sectors is listed in submit 1. As expected, the samples from the sectors of machinery manufacturing, chemical substances and textile and dyeing account for near half of the total, which are the demoative industries in the study area. Operationalization of the Variables hooklike Variable The open variable in this study is LGSCM, a companys overall GSCM practice level.LGSCM may be represented by a series of practical activities since it is dif? cult to directly measure the arcdegree of GSCM involvement. Twelve items of GSCM activities were identi? ed to estimate a companys overall level of GSCM practices in the current Chinese context, as listed in card A of set back 2 and abbreviated as GA1 to GA12. This study addresses the GSCM practices as a companys proactive environmental efforts in the manufacturing phase b y excluding the end? of? pipe pollution control criterions and reverse logistic management of used products.Four categories of GSCM practices, represented by C1 to C4, respectively, are included internally proactive environmental activities (C1) environmentally preferable procurement (C2) environmentally apprised design (C3) and supplier managed inventories and services (C4) (Walton et al. , 1998 Carter et al. , 2000 Zsidisin and Hendrick, 1998). Achieving ISO14001 certi? cation, implementation of cleaner production auditing and reutilization of byproducts and other surplus are chosen as internal proactive environmental activities of the companies.A companys procurement strategies have strong impacts on the upstream producers in the supply chain, e. g. by buying non? toxic materials (Sarkis, 2003). In this study, four graphemes of activities are de? ned as environmentally preferable procurement by the companies requiring suppliers to offer cleaner products, evaluating suppliers environmental performances, providing education and technical assistance to suppliers, and providing education for internal procurement ply.Environmentally conscious design primarily focuses on technological improvements of products and processes to rationalize environmental impacts. Three items of activities, namely working fast with suppliers in product design, reducing waste in cooperation with suppliers and providing product? related environmental information for customers, are selected to assess the environmentally conscious design practices of companies. The last type of GSCM practice is supplier managed inventories and services which are found in chemical industries.Certain chemical companies commissioned their inventory management to the providers of raw materials due to the higher potential risks and the management experiences of the suppliers (PPRC, 2002). Since many chemical companies are located in the study area, two items are included to represent a companys GSCM ac tivities in this aspect. i is to entrust suppliers to manage company inventories. another(prenominal) is to offer inventory management services for clients. Sector Paper cloth and dyeing Chemicals Plastics and rubber Metals Machinery and equipment manufacturing Electronics Automobile Printing Construction Others In totalNumber of samples 5 19 24 7 5 35 6 13 3 5 43 165 Percentage 3. 0 11. 5 14. 6 4. 3 3. 0 21. 2 3. 6 7. 9 1. 8 3. 0 26. 1 100. 0 Table 1. Distribution of the usable respondents by industrial sectors Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) inside 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain focusing in China Variable Description of the proxy 0 A GSCM activities Internal proactive Achieving ISO14001 certification (GA1) environmental cleaner production uditing (GA2) management (C1) Reutilization of byproducts and other wastes (GA3) choose suppliers to offer cleaner products (GA4) Environmentally Evaluate environmental performances of suppliers (GA5) preferable procurement (C2) appropriate education and technical assistance for suppliers (GA6) Environmental education for internal purchasing staff (GA7) Work closely with suppliers in product design (GA8) Environmentally Work with suppliers on waste minimization (GA9) conscious Provide environmental information for products (GA10) design (C3) provider managed Entrust suppliers to manage some of the inventories (GA11) inventories (C4) Offer inventory management services for clients (GA12) 1 Valuation 2 3 4 5 7 LGSCMB Determinant factors regulative DCLIENT enemy COMMUNITY FCLIENT TSUPPORT didactics information Pressure of environmental regulations Importance of domestic clients environmental expectation Importance of competitors green strategies Pressure of growlts from neighboring communities Pressure of foreign customers environmental expectation Degree of support from companys top managers Education level of the employees Frequency of internal environmen tal training External pressures Internal factors C mold variables Characteristics of the companies Companys size (LSIZ) Industrial sector keeping ( welkin) Natural log of turnover Table 2. Definition and valuation of GSCM activities, the determinant factors and the controls The companies were requested to present a ? ve? oint Likert musical scale for each item of the 12 activities. The scales are de? ned as 1 = not considering the activity at all 2 = planning to consider 3 = considering currently 4 = part implementing and 5 = implementing successfully. The average defecate for all 12 items was used to represent the companys LGSCM. In a similar way, the average construct for the items of each GSCM category was used as the level of practice of that category. autarkical Variables Recalling the section on Development of Analytical Framework and Research Hypotheses, the determinant factors behind companies adoption of GSCM activities include external pressures and internal factor s. As listed in panel B of Table 2, ? e external pressures and trio internal factors are classi? ed. In a similar way, a ? ve? point Likert scale was used to measure the importance, strength or degree of each factor 1 = not at all 2 = to some degree 3 = moderate 4 = relatively high 5 = very high. The score for each factor was used to estimate its relationship with LGSCM. The only exception is for FCLIENT (pressure from foreign customers). The companys exportation ratios were used as the proxy for this variable. It is assumed that the higher a companys export ratio was, the higher the Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) DOI 10. 1002/bse 8 Xianbing Liu et al. ressure from foreign markets that would be felt by the company. The export ratios were classi? ed into four levels in the questionnaire format with consideration of easier responses from the surveyed companies. Control Variables Two more variables are introduced into the ana lytical framework as the controls. One is company size and another is the industrial sector to which it belongs. The existing literature suggests that larger companies are more likely to be under public scrutiny and are expected to have a higher disposition to be involved in innovative environmental practices (Hettige et al. , 1996). big(a)r companies are also likely to have superior resources for environmental activities.Companies with higher environmental sensitivity are more willing to improve their environmental performances. instrument panel C of Table 2 lists the methods for evaluating control variables. A natural log of the turnover in 2008 was used to represent a companys size. A companys industrial sector af? liation is classi? ed into two types, with 1 referring to environmentally sensitive industries (ESI) and 0 being non? ESIs. ESIs in China include mining, thermal power, construction materials, pulp and paper products, metallurgy, pet occasionum, brewing, fermentatio n, textiles, pharmacy, tanning and chemical industries (SEPA, 2003). The others are classi? ed as non? ESI. end points and Discussions Result for GSCM Practices of the Companies SPSS was used for the statistical abbreviation in this study. Cronbachs ? was calculated in order to test the concord reliability of the shelters given to the items of GSCM activities. The estimated ? for all 12 items is 0. 912, which is higher than the 0. 9 that would imply a high validity of the dataset constructed. An exploratory factor abbreviation was performed on the 12 GSCM items to ? nd if there are different dimensions of these activities. Two factors were extracted. However, the ? rst factor accounts for 49. 9% of the sport in total and the second only accounts for 11. 6%.The rotated component matrix of the factor outline is listed in Table 3. All the items relating to external GSCM practices (GA4 to GA12) are highly associated with factor 1. The results for internally proactive environmental activities (GA1, GA2 and GA3) are not clear since they have nearly equal loadings on both factors. The factor analysis result proves the tenableness of using the average score of all the classi? ed GSCM items (LGSCM) as the dependent variable for the regression analysis in this study. Table 4 gives a statistical summary of the scores of the de? ned GSCM activities. LGSCM of the respondents achieved an average score of 3. 9, indicating that Chinese companies are still at a very preliminary stage in their GSCM items 1 GA11 GA12 GA10 GA5 GA9 GA6 GA7 GA8 GA4 GA1 GA2 GA3 0. 814 0. 803 0. 779 0. 767 0. 749 0. 747 0. 730 0. 725 0. 691 0. 578 0. 490 0. 500 Component 2 ? 0. 119 ? 0. 107 0. 273 ? 0. 271 0. 321 ? 0. 303 0. 207 0. 492 0. 622 0. 583 Table 3. Rotated component matrix of factor analysis of GSCM items Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) DOI 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain heed in China 9 GSCM practices. The surveyed compan ies have started to implement internally proactive CEM activities to some degree (averaged at 3. 413. 93).Most of them plan to think rough or are considering the environmental activities which would be jointly practiced with external actors in the supply chain. As examples, GA6 (provide education and technical assistance for suppliers) and GA8 (work closely with suppliers in product design) only obtained average scores of less than 3. 00. Nevertheless, pure improvement was observed in this study compared with the previous survey conducted in north China by Zhu and Sarkis (2006). This change may be attributed to the different location of the study areas. As described earlier, the region for this study has a relatively developed economy, and the companies there may be performing better on the environment than those in other areas. The surveyed companies react differently to the classi? d GSCM activities. Figure 2 provides details of the score distribution of GCSM activities practice d by the respondents. Many companies are implementing certain proactive Categories and items of GSCM activities Internal proactive environmental activities (C1) GA1 GA2 GA3 Environmentally preferable procurement (C2) GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7 Environmentally conscious design (C3) GA8 GA9 GA10 Supplier? managed inventories and services (C4) GA11 GA12 Overall level of GSCM practices (LGSCM) Obs. 158 159 clx one hundred sixty 159 160 159 160 162 153 159 159 156 157 158 158 148 Mean 3. 60 3. 41 3. 51 3. 93 3. 38 3. 84 3. 47 2. 76 3. 48 3. 32 2. 93 3. 45 3. 54 3. 11 3. 10 3. 2 3. 39 SD 1. 07 1. 49 1. 35 1. 14 1. 01 1. 16 1. 19 1. 27 1. 27 1. 04 1. 30 1. 22 1. 27 1. 23 1. 24 1. 33 0. 91 Min. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Max. 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Table 4. statistical summary of GSCM activities of the surveyed companies One 100% 90% 80% Two Three Four 5 Ratio of the score 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7 GA8 GA9 GA10 GA11 GA12 Items of GSCM activities Fig ure 2. Distribution of the scores of companys GSCM activities Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) DOI 10. 1002/bse 10 Xianbing Liu et al. internal CEM practices.Nearly 70% of the surveyed companies are reusing byproducts and other generated waste to some degree. Around half of them are making efforts to achieve ISO14001 certi? cation and are pursuing a cleaner production audit. The companies are selective about those GSCM activities requiring cooperation with external actors on the supply chain. About 70% of the respondents are asking their upstream suppliers to provide cleaner materials or products to avoid possible environmental risks. The number of companies which arrange internally environmental education for their procurement staff and work closely with their suppliers for waste minimization is also around 50%.Another item of GSCM activity practiced relatively better by the companies is to provide product? related environme ntal information for their clients. However, most of the companies do not supply technical assistance to their suppliers. About 65% of the companies have not taken any action concerning environmentally conscious design with their suppliers. In summary, the surveyed companies GSCM activities are translucently due to individual business needs and bene? ts from their own perspectives. GSCM is still a new concept for most Chinese companies. more(prenominal) time is needed for them to recognize the importance of strategic cooperation with other members of the supply chain. In? epth GSCM practices within a wider scope would be adopted if companies could merge as a group with a shared strategy on business and environmental issues. Descriptive Statistics of the Other Variables Table 5 summarizes the variables describing the determinant factors of GSCM activities. Companies gave higher scores to the pressures from external stakeholders. Among the external pressures, the regulative require ments and domestic clients environmental expectations are viewed as highly important, achieving an average score of 4. 41 and 4. 29, respectively. Keeping up with competitors in the same sector is also regarded as an important factor (averaging 4. 08). The sampled companies usually carry out internal environmental training two or three times a year.The education level of employees is relatively low, probably because most of the companies are from traditionally labor? intensive industries. An average score of 2. 87 is presented for top managers support, which implies that company managers do not care much about GSCM efforts. This ? nding shows for a fact that the managers of Chinese companies do not seriously considering environmental activities other than basic compliance. Regarding the control variables indicating company characteristics, most of the samples are small and medium? sized. Large companies, with an annual turnover of more than 300 million Chinese yuan (CNY), only acco unt for 7. 4% of the total.Small enterprises, which have fewer than 300 employees or yearly sales of less than CNY 30 million, account for 64. 2%. The stay 28. 4% are medium? sized companies. According to the classi? cation criteria of the Chinese national environmental authority, half of the samples are categorized as ESI (49. 1%). The other half is non? ESI. Most of the respondents (71. 4%) process raw materials or produce components for downstream manufacturers. Result of the Relationship Between LGSCM and the Determinant Factors Pearson rank correlativity was used to give a preliminary observation of the relationships between the overall level of GSCM practices and the determinant factors identi? ed earlier. The correlation matrix is shown in Table 6. ThisVariables and abbreviations REGULATORY DCLIENT contender COMMUNITY FCLIENT TSUPPORT genteelness upbringing Obs. 156 156 152 162 150 159 160 159 Mean 4. 41 4. 29 4. 08 3. 88 2. 46 2. 87 3. 30 4. 15 SD 0. 75 0. 86 0. 85 1. 73 1. 27 1. 35 1. 03 0. 75 Min. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Max. 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 External pressures Internal factors Table 5. Statistical summary of the determinant factors Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) DOI 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China LGSCM LGSCM REGULATORY DCLIENT contest COMMUNITY FCLIENT TSUPPORT instruction TRAINING 1 b 0. 195 a 0. 361 a 0. 391 ? 0. 083 0. 022 0. 113 a 0. 441 a 0. 559 REG.DCLIENT COMP. COMM. FCLIENT TSUP. EDU. 11 TRAINING 1 a 0. 395 a 0. 506 0. 035 0. 041 b ? 0. 176 b 0. 197 a 0. 477 1 a 0. 538 0. 008 0. 064 ? 0. 105 b 0. 354 a 0. 447 1 a 0. 038 0. 055 ? 0. 085 a 0. 238 a 0. 395 1 ? 0. 015 a ? 0. 471 0. 037 0. 150 1 ? 0. 086 0. 073 0. 139 1 ? 0. 041 ? 0. 073 1 a 0. 421 1 Table 6. correlation coefficient coefficients of LGSCM and the determinant factors a Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 01 level, two? tailed. b Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 05 level, one? tailed. indicates that L GSCM is signi? cantly correlated with the external pressure variables DCLIENT and COMPETITOR, and internal factors like EDUCATION and TRAINING.Standard multiple regressions were performed with LGSCM as the dependent variable and each of the determinant factors and controls as independent variables. The results are listed in Table 7. The level of multi? collinearity between the variables was tried and true by an inspection of the condition index and variance proportions in the SPSS collinearity nosology table. According to the criteria given by Tabachnick and Fidell (2001), multi? collinearity is not a problem in this analysis since each condition index is less than 30 and the variance proportions are much less than 50. The regression result in Table 7 indicates that Ha is supported in general.Among the external pressures, DCLIENT and COMPETITOR are signi? cantly and positively associated with LGSCM at P = 0. 000. This implies that domestic clients environmental preferences and com petitors green strategies for distinction are major external drivers for companies to adopt GSCM activities. One more external factor which has a close to positive correlation with LGSCM, signi? cant at P 0. 01, is REGULATORY. Government regulations were believed to be dominant forces for CEM in the past since a companys environmental strategies are imposed coercively via environmental sanctions (Delmas, 2002). However, this study classi? ed GSCM practices as those beyond basic environmental compliances.The governmental requirements may become a relatively minor factor for the adoption of GSCM practices. No signi? cant associations are found between the other two external pressures, COMMUNITY and FCLIENT, and LGSCM. The surveyed companies greatly orderd the pressure from their neighboring communities. However, community pressure cannot account for a companys GSCM efforts, probably because the communities mainly complain about the environmentally illegal activities of companies r ather than lobby for proactive efforts such as GSCM practices. The pressure from foreign clients is not strongly felt by manufacturers in the current phase. Regarding the internal factors, Hb1 is not supported. The support of top managers is not found to be signi? antly associated with a companys LGSCM in this survey, which is in contrast to the result of Carter et al. (1998). Nevertheless, Hb2 is fully con? rmed. The two variables representing a companys learning capacity, education level of employees (EDUCATION) and frequency of internal environmental training (TRAINING), are signi? cantly and positively associated with LGSCM at P = 0. 000. This result is identical to that of Zhu et al. (2008), which con? rms the hypothesis that the extent of GSCM practice engaged in by Chinese companies is positively related to the level of organizational learning capacity. Result of the Mediating Function of Internal Factors The egression result of LGSCM and the determinant factors in the previ ous section con? rm the causal chains existing between each of the three external pressures (REGULATORY, DCLIENT and COMPETITOR) and two internal factors (EDUCATION and TRAINING) with LGSCM. Signi? cant relationships are found between each of the three external pressures and each of the two internal factors, as shown in Table 8. The t? statistic of all the regressions is greater than 2. 00. Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) DOI 10. 1002/bse 12 Variables entered (a) REGULATORY ? 0 REGULATORY LSIZ field F? apprize R2 (adjusted) (c) COMPETITOR ? COMPETITOR LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (e) FCLIENT ? 0 FCLIENT LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (g) EDUCATION ? 0 EDUCATION LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 0. 708 0. 374 0. 151 0. 178 1. 846 5. 721 4. 592 1. 299 18. 884 0. 294 0. 067 0. 000 0. 000 0. 196 1. 804 0. 033 0. 156 0. 253 4. 026 0. 544 3. 959 1. 573 5. 281 0. 097 0. 000 0. 588 0. 000 0. 118 0. 409 0. 356 0. 155 0. 258 0. 859 4. 224 4. 457 1. 772 13. 382 0. 226 0. 392 0. 000 0. 000 0. 079 0. 497 0. 266 0. 176 0. 293 0. 851 2. 760 4. 856 1. 960 9. 673 0. 169 0. 397 0. 007 0. 000 0. 052 Coef? cient t? statistic P? value Variables entered (b) DCLIENT ? 0 DCLIENT LSIZ SECTOR F? alue R2 (adjusted) (d) COMMUNITY ? 0 COMMUNITY LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (f) TSUPPORT ? 0 TSUPPORT LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) (h) TRAINING ? 0 TRAINING LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) ? 0. 310 0. 597 0. 128 0. 126 1. 803 ? 0. 021 0. 167 0. 278 1. 507 0. 041 0. 177 0. 260 0. 439 0. 342 0. 147 0. 322 Coef? cient Xianbing Liu et al. t? statistic P? value 0. 896 3. 890 4. 172 2. 210 12. 583 0. 214 0. 372 0. 000 0. 000 0. 029 3. 117 0. 840 4. 452 1. 680 7. 112 0. 123 0. 002 0. 402 0. 000 0. 095 4. 695 ? 0. 341 4. 018 1. 765 6. 188 0. 109 0. 000 0. 734 0. 000 0. 080 ?0. 726 7. 001 4. 031 0. 955 26. 249 0. 370 0. 469 0. 000 0. 000 0. 342 Table 7. regress results for LGSCM and each of the determinant factors Acc ording to might and Kenny (1986), a third condition has to be met in order to con? rm the mediating function of internal factors as hypothesized in this study. The signi? cant relations between the external pressures and LGSCM shall be strongly decrease if the internal factors are controlled. We tested Hc by repeating the OLS regressions in three steps. In step 1, LGSCM is individually regressed against each of the three external pressures which have signi? cant relations with LGSCM. In step 2, each of the three pressures and EDUCATION, as an internal factor, jointly enter into the regressions as independent variables.In a similar way, step 3 is carried out by substituting the variable of EDUCATION by TRAINING. The regression results are listed in Table 9. The robustness of the result was checked by doing the regressions with the control variables added for each case. The corresponding regression results are described in Table 10. There are no obvious changes in the signi? cances of the regression results listed in Tables 9 and 10. The mediation function of internal factors does occur and Hc is supported. In the case of introducing the internal factors into regressions, the signi? cances of external pressures to LGSCM are all reduced signi? cantly or even removed completely.This implies that the low level of GSCM involvement of Chinese companies could be fundamentally attributed to a lack of the necessary internal capacities for GSCM practices. The strong pressures Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) DOI 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China Variables entered Coef? cient t? statistic P? value Coef? cient t? statistic 13 P? value (a) EDUCATION as dependent variable ? 0 REGULATORY F? value R2 (adjusted) ? 0 DCLIENT F? value R2 (adjusted) ? 0 COMPETITOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 2. 131 0. 268 4. 409 2. 479 6. 145 0. 033 3. 806 4. 671 21. 819 . 0120 5. 280 2. 982 8. 894 0. 050 0. 000 0. 014 (b) TR AINING as dependent variable 2. 014 0. 83 6. 196 6. 667 44. 445 0. 222 8. 689 6. 144 37. 748 0. 195 9. 751 5. 216 27. 211 0. 150 0. 000 0. 000 1. 503 0. 421 0. 000 0. 000 2. 451 0. 396 0. 000 0. 000 2. 125 0. 288 0. 000 0. 003 2. 727 0. 350 0. 000 0. 000 Table 8. Regression results of internal factors and external pressures with significances to LGSCM Variable entered Coef? cient criterion 1 t? statistic P? value Coef? cient Step 2 t? statistic P? value Coef? cient Step 3 t? statistic P? value (a) REGULATORY as the independent variable ? 0 REGULATORY EDUCATION TRAINING F? value R2 (adjusted) 2. 331 0. 241 5. 126 2. 367 0. 000 0. 019 1. 502 0. 146 0. 375 3. 358 1. 540 5. 338 17. 416 0. 89 0. 001 0. 126 0. 000 0. 747 8. 783E? 02 0. 728 5. 601 0. 031 1. 699 ? 0. 895 7. 580 32. 931 0. 312 0. 092 0. 372 0. 000 (b) DCLIENT as the independent variable ? 0 DCLIENT EDUCATION TRAINING F? value R2 (adjusted) 1. 637 0. 407 4. 237 4. 619 0. 000 0. 000 1. 077 0. 286 0325 2. 813 3. 319 4. 634 22. 731 0. 236 0. 006 0. 001 0. 000 9. 139E? 02 0. 174 0. 612 21. 331 0. 124 0. 220 2. 206 6. 622 35. 351 0. 328 0. 826 0. 045 0. 000 (c) COMPETITOR as the independent variable ? 0 COMPETITOR EDUCATION TRAINING F? value R2 (adjusted) 1. 675 0. 423 4. 776 5. 031 0. 000 0. 000 0. 978 0. 319 0. 338 2. 787 4. 010 5. 101 27. 949 0. 279 0. 006 0. 000 0. 00 0. 100 0. 226 0. 570 25. 314 0. 147 0. 251 2. 811 6. 342 36. 265 0. 337 0. 802 0. 006 0. 000 Table 9. Regression results of LGSCM for mediating function test Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) DOI 10. 1002/bse 14 Variable entered Coef? cient Step 1 t? statistic P? value Coef? cient Step 2 t? statistic P? value Coef? cient Xianbing Liu et al. Step 3 t? statistic P? value (a) REGULATORY as the independent variable ? 0 REGULATORY EDUCATION TRAINING LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 0. 497 0. 266 0. 851 2. 760 0. 397 0. 007 ? 0. 197 0. 194 0. 357 0. 162 0. 190 ? 0. 355 2. 177 5. 270 4. 9 9 1. 375 15. 139 0. 310 0. 723 0. 031 0. 000 0. 000 0. 172 ? 0. 220 ? 0. 029 0. 611 0. 125 0. 128 ? 0. 419 ? 0. 294 6. 159 3. 811 0. 944 19. 319 0. 368 0. 676 0. 769 0. 000 0. 000 0. 347 0. 176 0. 293 4. 856 1. 960 9. 673 0. 169 0. 000 0. 052 (b) DCLIENT as the independent variable ? 0 DCLIENT EDUCATION TRAINING LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 0. 439 0. 342 0. 896 3. 890 0. 372 0. 000 0. 008 0. 212 0. 322 0. 144 0. 214 0. 018 2. 453 4. 573 4. 373 1. 552 15. 598 0. 317 0. 986 0. 016 0. 000 0. 000 0. 123 ? 0. 638 0. 137 0. 540 0. 124 0. 153 ? 1. 343 1. 592 5. 842 3. 883 1. 139 20. 317 0. 380 0. 182 0. 114 0. 000 0. 000 0. 257 0. 147 0. 322 4. 72 2. 210 12. 583 0. 214 0. 000 0. 029 (c) COMPETITOR as the independent variable ? 0 COMPETITOR EDUCATION TRAINING LSIZ SECTOR F? value R2 (adjusted) 0. 409 0. 356 0. 859 4. 224 0. 392 0. 000 ? 0. 237 0. 275 0. 329 0. 148 0. 168 ? 0. 511 3. 472 4. 911 4. 592 1. 236 17. 453 0. 345 0. 610 0. 001 0. 000 0. 000 0. 219 ? 0. 742 0. 183 0. 524 0. 12 7 0. 124 ? 1. 589 2. 268 5. 753 3. 994 0. 928 21. 233 0. 393 0. cxv 0. 025 0. 000 0. 000 0. 355 0. 155 0. 258 4. 457 1. 772 13. 382 0. 226 0. 000 0. 079 Table 10. Regression results for robustness test of the mediating function from external stakeholders do not necessarily lead to GSCM in reality. More speci? ally, REGULATORY is completely mediated by the two internal factors, while DCLIENT and COMPETITOR are only partially mediated. This indicates that the adoption of GSCM practices of Chinese companies is probably more responsive to non? coercive and competitive factors such as pressures from the domestic clients and leading companies in the same sector. This interesting ? nding also con? rms that governmental regulations in China do not play an active role in encouraging industrial practices in GSCM. In addition, the greater reduction of signi? cances in step 3 than in step 2 demonstrates that the variable of TRAINING is indeed potent as an intermediate variable.The internal envi ronmental training of related employees may strongly enhance a companys capacity to deal with external pressures by being proactive in environmental management such as GSCM practices. Conclusions This paper explores the current status and determinant factors of GSCM practices adopted by companies located in the Yangtze River Delta of China. The surveyed companies perform slightly better than the companies sampled in a Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) DOI 10. 1002/bse Green Supply Chain Management in China 15 previous survey in northernmost China (Zhu et al. , 2008). However, the overall level of GSCM practices does not differ dramatically. This con? ms that Chinese companies are still at a preliminary stage of GSCM practices. In particular, the companies environmental management in cooperation with external members of the supply chain is very marginal. Among a larger range of determinant factors classi? ed in this study, ext ernal pressures from domestic clients and competitors are signi? cantly and positively associated with LGSCM while the regulatory pressure shows slightly positive in? uence. Learning capacity of the company signi? cantly determines LGSCM as an internal factor. Differing from the result of Zhu et al. (2008), the support of top managers has less in? uence on GSCM activities.These results are consistent with those of Jeppesen and Hansen (2004), which attributed the environmental improvement of Third World companies on the value chain to external market forces and the internal resources of the companies. Another meaningful ? nding of our analysis is that the internal factors are greatly mediating the in? uences of external pressures. Our analysis may provide essential policy consequences for promoting the GSCM practices of companies in China. Many more concerns about a companys environmental performance from its external stakeholders will be facilitated, which may generate pressures fo r the companys efforts in GSCM practices. It is very necessary to educate companies to better understand the advantages and approaches of GSCM as an innovative strategy for sustainable production.The distribution of successful cases would be an effective method, as it helps increase a companys capacity to actually adopt GSCM practices. As an verifiable study of GSCM in China, this paper develops a comprehensive analytical framework and conducts an integrative analysis. Nevertheless, a few questions remain for subsequent studies. As examples, the working mechanism of determinant factors identi? ed for GSCM practices needs to be observed in more detail. The other important question is how to discuss the effects of GSCM activities, positive or negative, on the changes in performance of companies in the supply chain. Considering the feasibility, this kind of research may be conducted by heart of case studies of individual representative companies.The evaluation indicators shall cover more aspects of GSCM activities, including business processes, client services and corresponding costs besides the environmental performances. References Baron RM, Kenny DA. 1986. The moderator? mediator variable distinction in social psychological research conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51(6) 11731182. Carter CR, Ellram LM, Kathryn LM. 1998. Environmental purchasing benchmarking our German counterparts. International daybook of buy and Materials Management 34(4) 2838. Carter CR, boodle R, Grimn CM. 2000. Environmental purchasing and ? rm performance an falsifiable investigation. Transportation Research. Part E 36 219288. Daily BF, Huang SC. 2001.Achieving sustainability through attention to human resource factors in environmental management. International Journal of Operations and Production Management 21(12) 15391552. Delmas M. 2002. The diffusion of environmental management standards in Europe and the Unite d States an institutional perspective. policy Science 35 91119. Delmas M, Toffel M. 2004. Stakeholders and environmental management practices An institutional framework. Business Strategy and the Environment 13 209222. DiMaggio PJ, Powell WW. 1983. The iron cage revisited Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organization ? elds. American Sociological survey 48 147160. Doonan J, Lanoie P, Laplante B. 2005.Analysis determinants of environmental performance in the Canadian pulp and paper industry an assessment from inside the industry. Ecological economics 55 7384. Drumwright ME. 1994. Socially responsible organizational buying environmental concern as a non? economic buying criterion. Journal of Marketing 58(3) 119. Fiksel J. 1996. aim for the environment Creating eco? ef? ciency products and processes. McGraw? Hill New York, USA. Geoffrey JLF Hagelaar, Jack GAJ van der Vorst. 2002. Environmental supply chain management using life cycle assessment to complex b ody part supply chains. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review 4 399412.Gunningham N, Kagan R, Thornton D. 2003. Shades of green business, regulation and environment, Stanford Stanford University Press. Hall J. 2000. Environmental supply chain dynamics. Journal of water-washed Production 8 455471. Hand? eld RB. 1996. Green supply chain best practices from the furniture industry proceedings. Annual group meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, US, 12951297. Hart S. 1995. A natural resource? based view of the ? rm. Academy of Management Review 20(4) 3037. Henriques I, Sadorsky P. 1996. The determinants of an environmentally responsive ? rm an empirical approach. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 30(3) 381395.Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) DOI 10. 1002/bse 16 Xianbing Liu et al. Hervani AA, Helms MM, Sarkis J. 2005. Performance measurement for green supply chain management. Benchmarking An International Journal 12(4) 330353. Hettige H, Huo M, Pargal S, Wheeler D. 1996. Determinants of pollution suspension in developing countries evidence from South and Southeast Asia. World Development 24 18911904. Hines F, Johns R. 2001. Environmental supply chain management evaluating the use of environmental mentoring through supply chain. Presented at Greening of Industry Network Conference. Bangkok. Jeppesen S, Hansen MW. 2004.Environmental upgrading of Third World enterprises through linkages ti transnational corporations Theoretical perspectives and preliminary evidence. Business Strategy and the Environment 13(4) 261274. Jeremy H. 2000. Environmental supply chain dynamics. Journal of Cleaner Production 8(6) 455471. Karna A, Heiskanen E. 1998. The challenge of product chain thinking for product development and design the example of electrical and electronic products. Journal of Sustainable Product Design 4 126136. Kearney M. 2004. Walking the walk? Community participation in H IA a qualitative interview study. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 24 217229. Ken G, Barbara M, Steve N. 2000. Greening organizations purchasing, consumption and innovation.Organization and Environment 13(2) 206225 Klassen R, Mclaughin C. 1996. The impact of environmental management on ? rm performance. Management Science 42(8) 11991214. Lamming R. 1996. Squaring lean supply with supply chain management. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 16(2) 183196. Madu CN, Kuei C, Madu IE. 2002. A hierarchic metric approach for integration of green issues in manufacturing a paper recycling application. Journal of Environmental Management 64 261272. Min H, Galle WP. 1997. Green purchasing strategies trend and implications. International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management 33(3) 1017. Nagel MH. 2000.Environmental supply chain management versus green procurement in the scope of a business and leadership perspective. IEEE, 219224. Nelson JC, Rashid H, Galv in VG, Essien JDK. 1999. Public/private partners key factors in creating a strategic alliance for community health. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 16 94102. PPRC (The Paci? c Northwest contaminant Prevention Resource Center). 2002. Supply chain management for environmental improvement. functional from http//www. pprc. org/pubs/grnchain/index. cfm accessed 28 August 2009. Prahinski C, Kocabasoglu C. 2006. Empirical research opportunities in reverse supply chain. Omega 34(6) 519532. Prakash A. 2000.Greening the Firm. Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press. Sarkis J. 1998. Theory and methodology evaluating environmentally conscious business practices. European Journal of Operational Research 107 159174. Sarkis J. 1999. How green is the supply chain practice and research. Graduate School of Management, Clark University, Worcester, M. A. Sarkis J. 2003. A strategic decision framework for green supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production 11(4) 397409. Sarkis J. 200 5. Performance measurement for green supply chain management. Benchmarking An International Journal 12(4) 330353. SEPA (State Environmental guard Administration). 003. Announcement on environmental protection auditing to the companies applying to be listed or for re? nancing (In Chinese). Available from http//www. sepa. gov. cn/ accessed 28 May 2008. Sharfman MP, Shaft TM, Annex Jr. RP. 2009. The road to cooperative supply? chain environmental management trust and uncertainty among pro? active ? rms. Business Strategy and the Environment 18(1) 113. Snir EM. 2001. obligation as a catalyst for product stewardship. Production and Operations Management 10(2) 190206. Tabachnick BG, Fidell LS. 2001. Using Multivariate Statistics, 4th edn. Needham Heights, MA Allyn & Bacon. Thun JH, Muller A. 2010.An empirical analysis of green supply chain management in the German automotive industry. Business Strategy and the Environment 19(2) 119132. Vachon S, Klassen RD. 2006. Green project partnersh ip in the supply chain the case of package printing industry. Journal of Cleaner Production 14 661671. Vachon S, Klassen RD. 2008. Environmental management and manufacturing performance The role of collaboration in the supply chain. International Journal of Production Economics 111(2) 299315. Vijay R, Kannan K, Tan C. 2003. Attitudes of US and European managers to supplier pickax and assessment and implication for business performance. Benchmarking An International Journal 10(5) 472489.Walton SV, Hand? eld RB, Melnyk SA. 1998. The green supply chain integrating suppliers into environmental management process. International Journal of Purchasing and Material Management 34(2) 211. Zhu QH, Geng Y. 2001. Integrating environmental issues into supplier selection and management a study of large and medium? sized acres? owned enterprises in China. Green Management International (Autumn) 2740. Zhu QH, Geng Y. 2006. Statistics analysis on types of Chinese manufacturers based on practice of green supply chain management and their performance. Application of Statistics and Management (in Chinese) 25(4) 392399. Zhu QH, Sarkis J. 2006. An inter? ectoral comparison of green supply chain management in China Drivers and practices. Journal of Cleaner Production 14 472486. Zhu QH, Sarkis J, Cordeiro JJ, Lai KH. 2008. Firm? level correlates of emergent green supply chain management practices in the Chinese context. Omega 36(4) 577591. Zsidisin GA, Hendrick TE. 1998. Purchasings involvement in environmental issues a multi? country perspective. Industrial Management & Data Systems 7 313320. Zsidisin GA, Siferd SP. 2001. Environmental purchasing A framework for theory development. European Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management 7(1) 6173. Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Bus. Strat. Env. 21, 116 (2012) DOI 10. 1002/bse