Evaluating green supply chain management among Chinese manufacturers from the ecological modernization perspective

Qinghua Zhu, Yong Geng, Joseph Sarkis, and Kee-hung Lai

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 47, No. 6, pp. 808-821, 2011.

There are growing concerns on the environmental damages caused by logistical flows of China-made products. This situation has been pressuring Chinese manufacturers to pursue ecological modernization principles to further reduce environmental impacts from logistics and supply chain activities. In response, green supply chain management (GSCM) has become an emergent ecological modernization tool amongst Chinese manufacturers to balance environmental performance with productivity and business performance gains. Ecological modernization at the society level is influenced by restructuring policies and regulations.  Some of these policies and regulations in China are focusing on enhancing energy savings and pollution reduction (ESPR). From this ecological modernization perspective, we investigate whether different Chinese manufacturer clusters varying in their extent of implementing GSCM exist.  We also examine if the awareness of Chinese manufacturers for domestic and international environmental ESPR-oriented compliance is related to GSCM implementation and whether a mediating effect of regulatory pressure plays a significant role. The results highlight varying paces of Chinese manufacturers to ecologically modernize with GSCM practices and the significance of regulatory pressure to diffuse the practices adoption by Chinese industry.  Implications of this research go beyond the organizations investigated in this study where similar occurrence of these relationships may exist in other regional locales.

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