Towards greener supply chains: an institutional perspective
Carbone Valentina, 2011
Name of publisher/editor
International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications
Geographic area
Global
Summary & key words
Business leaders worldwide are proclaiming their interest in increasingly ambitious environmental initiatives. However, external observers, particularly not-for-profit organisations, are criticising the trend of many companies towards green communication or posturing rather than action, termed ‘green-washing’. Our purpose is to establish a link between companies’ green strategic intent and their concrete initiatives in the supply-chain area. Drawing from the institutional theory, we expect that green supply-chain practices are following different patterns and transforming across time, according to different institutional contexts. We point out here that green-washing represents a primarily needed step towards further concrete actions and results. We expect that different institutional contexts lead to different types of green supply-chain behaviours. Analysis of data from a large-scale survey of 600 international companies using Multiple Correspondence Analysis and logistic regression provided clear evidence that firms are following different patterns when they implement a green strategy to their supply chain.