Diane Holt

Do green supply chains lead to competitiveness and economic performance

Purpose – Green supply chain management is a concept that is gaining popularity in the South East Asian region. For many organizations in this region it is a way to demonstrate their sincere commitment to sustainability. However, if green supply chain management practices are to be fully adopted by all organizations in South East Asia, a demonstrable link between such measures and improving economic performance and competitiveness is necessary. This paper endeavors to identify potential linkages between green supply chain management, as an initiative for environmental enhancement, economic performance and competitiveness amongst a sample of companies in South East Asia.Design/methodology/approach – For this purpose a conceptual model was developed from literature sources and data collected using a structured questionnaire mailed to a sample of leading edge ISO14001 certified companies in South East Asia followed by structural equation modelling.Findings – The analysis identified that greening the differen...

An empirical study of green supply chain management practices amongst UK manufacturers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent and nature of greening the supply chain (SC) in the UK manufacturing sector; and the factors that influence the breadth and depth of this activity.Design/methodology/approach – Based on the findings from a sample of manufacturing organisations drawn from the membership of The Chartered Institute for Purchasing and Supply. Data are collected using a questionnaire, piloted and pre‐tested before distribution with responses from 60 manufacturing companies.Findings – On average manufacturers perceive the greatest pressure to improve environmental performance through legislation and internal drivers (IDs). The least influential pressures are related to societal drivers and SC pressures from individual customers. Green supply chain management (GSCM) practices amongst this “average” group of UK manufacturing organisations are focusing on internal, higher risk, descriptive activities, rather than proactive, external engagement processes. Environmental at...

The role and impact of the business school curriculum in shaping environmental education at Middlesex University

Greening universities in terms of their curriculum and operations is a logical extension of the process of environmental education initiated in our schools and the process of corporate environmental management occurring in our industrial and service society, from the latter part of the twentieth century onwards. Examines the values, actions and attitudes of a group of students in a UK business school as they enter and leave the culture of the university and the role the university has potentially played changing these values, actions and knowledge. Begins by discussing generally the role of higher education in moving society towards sustainability. Then presents the case study of Middlesex University in the UK, examining the practice of environmental education in the Business School. Then presents an empirical investigation of students’ environmental attitude action and knowledge that occurred from 1998‐2001. Finally reviews how successful the Business School has been at changing or reinforcing students’ environmental values, knowledge and action, as evidenced by the longitudinal work.

The perceived benefits of an environmental management standard

An exploratory pilot study identifying the perceived benefits of accreditation to an environmental management standard, BS 7750, in 13 UK companies. This paper begins by exploring the benefits of “going green”, followed by a description of the different environmental management standards. Then the methodology of the study is explored, including the structure of the questionnaire and the sample breakdown. The results section follows, detailing the broad results at each of the three stages of the questionnaire. Main findings are summarised in the conclusion followed by an indication of the future direction of the work. The paper concludes by identifying that the main benefit for companies in gaining an environmental management standard would appear to be the ability to quantify and identify elements of the environmental management process in the company, allowing a company to measure, manage and audit within a structured, recognised format.

Identifying, Mapping, and Monitoring the Impact of Hybrid Firms:

There is growing recognition that hybrid organizations can play a critical role in tackling intractable global sustainable development challenges. At the same time, acute social, environmental, and economic challenges are opening up “opportunity” spaces for hybrids. Different institutional contexts are also leading to variable hybrid forms linked to the focus of their mission and their profit-oriented status. This article presents a process for identifying, mapping, and building impact indicators based on a study of 20 hybrid organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Social Entrepreneurship in South Africa Exploring the Influence of Environment

The influence of environment on social entrepreneurship requires more concerted examination. This article contributes to emerging discussions in this area through consideration of social entrepreneurship in South Africa. Drawing upon qualitative case study research with six social enterprises, and examined through a framework of new institutional theories and writing on new venture creation, this research explores the significance of environment for the process of social entrepreneurship, for social enterprises, and for social entrepreneurs. Our findings provide insights on institutional environments, social entrepreneurship, and the interplay between them in the South African context, with implications for wider social entrepreneurship scholarship.

Developing green supply chain management taxonomy-based decision support system

The aim of this paper is to develop a comprehensive taxonomy of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices and develop a structural equation modelling-driven decision support system following GSCM taxonomy for managers to provide better understanding of the complex relationship between the external and internal factors and GSCM operational practices. Typology and/or taxonomy play a key role in the development of social science theories. The current taxonomies focus on a single or limited component of the supply chain. Furthermore, they have not been tested using different sample compositions and contexts, yet replication is a prerequisite for developing robust concepts and theories. In this paper, we empirically replicate one such taxonomy extending the original study by (a) developing broad (containing the key components of supply chain) taxonomy; (b) broadening the sample by including a wider range of sectors and organisational size; and (c) broadening the geographic scope of the previous studies. Moreover, we include both objective measures and subjective attitudinal measurements. We use a robust two-stage cluster analysis to develop our GSCM taxonomy. The main finding validates the taxonomy previously proposed and identifies size, attitude and level of environmental risk and impact as key mediators between internal drivers, external drivers and GSCM operational practices.

A Longitudinal and Contextual Analysis of Media Representation of Business Ethics

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of media representation of business ethics within 62 international newspapers to explore the longitudinal and contextual evolution of business ethics and associated terminology. Levels of coverage and contextual analysis of the content of the articles are used as surrogate measures of the penetration of business ethics concepts into society.Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a text mining application based on two samples of data: analysis of 62 national newspapers in 21 countries from 1990 to 2008; analysis of the content of two samples of articles containing the term business ethics (comprised of 100 newspaper articles spread over an 18‐year period from a sample of US and UK newspapers).Findings – The paper demonstrates increased coverage of sustainability topics within the media over the last 18 years associated with events such as the Rio Summit. Whilst some peaks are associated with business ethics scandals, the overall coverage ...

Exploring ‘green’ culture in Nortel and Middlesex University

This paper seeks to explore the values, attitudes and actions of two organizations and the individuals within those organizations, Middlesex University and Northern Telecom (Nortel). The paper seeks to relate the organizational and individual characteristics to a possible culture within each institution. The paper begins by introducing the background to the greening of corporations and society that has affected corporate culture. The paper then explores the theoretical basis of culture in organizations. The third part of the paper introduces the two case study organizations and explores their environmental policies at an organizational level. The fourth section discusses the research findings with reference to whether there are distinct cultural identities in each group. The paper concludes by exploring aspects of environmental culture in organizations. Copyright

Seeking congruence in implementing corporate environmental strategy

A major challenge facing all organisations is to implement corporate strategy successfully. This is true especially of strategies which reflect the increasingly diverse demands placed upon modern organisations, such as those towards the environment, or more generally concerned with corporate responsibility. A general problem faced by more ethically based strategies is that while they increasingly appear vital to the effective operation of an organisation, they are not always regarded as a first order concern by managers charged with their implementation, and faced with competing priorities. This paper attempts to highlight potential causes for failed implementation of environmental strategy by reference to the findings of a recent survey of environmental policy and practice among major UK organisations. The findings suggest that very often business decision makers do not take into consideration the true extent of the difficulties associated with implementing environmental policies, and in particular do not make the necessary objective appraisal of the resources necessary. Additionally, the authors hypothesise that decision makers do not provide the ongoing support necessary for ethically oriented policies to overcome competing priorities within an organisation, leaving operational managers with little choice but to pursue day-to-day objectives like efficiency and effectiveness, at the expense of the longer term gains that a fully integrated environmental strategy may provide.