The Supply Chain Position Paradox: Green Practices and Firm Performance

Engagement in corporate environmentalism has become increasingly important across all tiers of the supply chain, from upstream raw material suppliers to downstream retailers. However, the contextual role of a firm's supply chain position (SCP) on the adoption of green supply chain management (G...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of supply chain management 2017-01, Vol.53 (1), p.3-25
Main Authors: Schmidt, Christoph G., Foerstl, Kai, Schaltenbrand, Birte
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Consumers
Evaluation
green supply chain management
Hypotheses
Influence
Logistics
Product development
Raw materials
Research methodology
secondary data
Stakeholders
structural equation modeling
Studies
Supply chain management
supply chain position
Supply chains
survey methods
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Theory
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Summary:Engagement in corporate environmentalism has become increasingly important across all tiers of the supply chain, from upstream raw material suppliers to downstream retailers. However, the contextual role of a firm's supply chain position (SCP) on the adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices and their performance implications has not been empirically explored. We derive a conceptual model combining the contingent natural resource‐based view (NRBV) with stakeholder theory. The resulting hypotheses are tested using cross‐industry data of 284 firms utilizing primary and secondary data. Findings reveal a phenomenon we term the Supply Chain Position Paradox: The closer a company is located toward the end consumer, the higher its GSCM practice levels. Conversely, performance gains decrease with company proximity to the end consumer. This paradox is grounded in a mismatch between the level of five specific GSCM practice categories and their respective performance implications. The introduction of SCP as an overlooked contextual factor adds new insights into the “GSCM practice–performance link” and extends current GSCM research. Moreover, our results yield insights to supply chain management executives in optimizing their GSCM practice portfolios.
ISSN:1523-2409
1745-493X
DOI:10.1111/jscm.12113