Surajit Bag

Green supply chain practices and its impact on organisational performance: an insight from Indian rubber industry

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the impact of green supply chain practices on organisational performance in Indian rubber industry. The present study has adopted two prolong strategies that includes critical literature review published in reputed journals to identify research gaps and identify variables and survey methodology using structured questionnaire. In order to validate, variables we performed exploratory analysis and identified parsimonious factors which are orthogonal. The orthogonal factors are named as technology and best practices, supplier relationship management, waste reduction through collaborations and regulatory norms and two measures for organisational performance, i.e., business performance and environmental performance. The multiple regression analysis suggests that ‘supplier relationship management’ and ‘waste reduction through collaboration’ are found to be positive determinants of ‘business performance’. The multiple regression analysis using parsimonious factors were regressed on environmental performance. The output suggests that ‘technology and best practices’ and ‘waste reduction through collaboration’ are found to be positive determinants of ‘environmental performance’. The analysis suggests that ‘regulatory support’ is not found to be statistically significant. The unique contribution of present study is GSCM-business performance and GSCM-environmental performance framework for Indian rubber industry.

Green strategy, supplier relationship building and supply chain performance: total interpretive structural modelling approach

Green supply chain strategy is a concept that is gaining popularity rapidly in South African region. For many organisations, it is a process to exhibit their sincere commitment to sustainability. This paper endeavours to examine the critical green and supplier relationship practices on which management should focus in order to enhance supply chain performance. The systematic analysis based on total interpretive structural modelling is a better methodology to identify the inter-relationships among green strategy and supplier relationship practices. The approach extends the domain of green supply chain research and produce theories that have greater explanatory power than the current practices.

The importance of innovation leadership in cultivating sustainable supply chain management and enhancing organisation performance

The purpose of the study is to examine the importance of innovation leadership in cultivating sustainable supply chain practices of an organisation, and enhancing the organisation performance outcomes. This study explores how innovation leadership enables an organisation to adopt sustainable supply chain practices and by implication enhance organisation performance. The results of data collected from 103 firms show that innovation leadership, both directly and indirectly through adopting sustainable supply chain management, significantly enhances organisation performance. The approach extends the domain of sustainable supply chain research and produce interdisciplinary theories that have greater explanatory power than the current practices.

Big Data and Predictive Analysis is Key to Superior Supply Chain Performance: A South African Experience

The study considers samples from the South African engineering companies who are strategic suppliers to mining and minerals industry and further explores the uncertainties persisting in the supply chain network. Further investigation was done to understand the role of big data and predictive analysis BDPA in managing the supply uncertainties. The paper finally uses partial least square regression analysis to study the relationship among buyer-supplier relationship, big data and predictive analysis and supply chain performance. The analysis supported the second and third hypothesis. Therefore, it is established that firstly, there is a positive relationship between big data, predictive analysis and supply chain performance and secondly, there is a positive relationship between and big data, predictive analysis and buyer-supplier relationship. The study is a unique contribution to the current literature by shedding light on the practical problems persisting in the South African context.

Comparison of green procurement framework using fuzzy TISM and fuzzy DEMATEL methods

This paper argues for the use of fuzzy TISM and fuzzy DEMATEL in building theory of green procurement. To address the gap in existing green procurement literature, this study first systematically reviews the green procurement literature, secondly, these drivers were refined through expert interview from South African manufacturing sector and thirdly, it illustrates the use of fuzzy TISM and fuzzy DEMATEL method to find the intensity of influence of green procurement drivers and make a comparative study of elements. The paper concludes with managerial implications and directions of future research.

Exploring the relationship between unethical practices, buyer–supplier relationships and green design for sustainability

Abstract Sustainable procurement practices have gained popularity amongst both researchers and supply chain practitioners. However, ethical practices in sustainable procurement have been the topic of discussion in the recent years. The goal of the study is to scientifically build a green procurement framework by exploring relationship between buyer–supplier relationships, unethical practices and green design for sustainability. The study was conducted considering samples from South African steel and engineering sector. Data show high rate of wastages and losses occurring at various stages of steel and engineering supply chains. Every steel and engineering company aims to reduce such losses for improving their profitability and achieve sustainability. The empirical findings show that such wastage and losses can be minimised through efficient eco-design and involvement of key suppliers at the design stage so that disassembly, recycling and reuse options not only prove successful but as well cost-effective for the organisation. Also we find that buyer deceitful practices are a strong determinant of green design for sustainability. Buyers making up a second source of supply for green components and preferring green suppliers being approved by top management is helpful for mitigation of supply risks under green procurement process. The present study is distinctive in terms of coverage and its contribution to supply chain theory.

Sustainability strategies in the Indian leather industry: an empirical analysis

Purpose Burgeoning challenges of climate change and poverty alleviation across many parts of the world have enforced the policy makers and researchers to develop an alternate system for performance assessment of an individual, a country, and a corporate. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the sustainability strategies of three leading states in the Indian leather industry – Tamil Nadu (TN), West Bengal (WB) and Uttar Pradesh (UP) – to gain insights into their efforts and progress in generating economic, social, and environmental values. Design/methodology/approach This study used case study approach for investigative analysis, and triangulation method – interviews and field visits, for data verification. The study examines the various sustainability strategies by applying economic value creation (evaluation of growth in total turnover, evaluation of the growth in profitability, evaluation of leverage), social value creation (evaluation of the growth in wages, evaluation of the growth in employee welfare expenses), and environmental value creation (conservation in raw material consumption, conservation in energy consumption, evaluation of waste management practices). Findings The findings reveal that the three states differ significantly from each other both in terms of efforts made and progress achieved during the period of study, 1998-2013. UP seems to be making the most consistent progress in achieving economic value, while WB shows the most progress in creating social value, and TN leads the pack in terms of creating environmental value. Thus, the three leading states in the Indian leather industry have been allowing trade-offs to get competitive advantage over others. Research limitations/implications The opaqueness with which the Indian leather Industry conducts social and environmental practices clearly limits the sources of accurate and reliable data, and the ability of researchers to precisely identify the problems and suggest solutions. Practical implications The opaqueness with which the Indian leather Industry conducts social and environmental practices clearly impacts the policy makers, practitioners, and researchers to continue such initiatives and improve the lives of people in India for whom continuing this profession is a big challenge and a hurdle to accomplish their livelihood. Originality/value The paper gives a theoretical explanation of the sustainability in the leather industry with respect to its strategies in terms of economic value, social value, and environmental value.

Identification of Green Procurement Drivers and Their Interrelationship Using Total Interpretive Structural Modelling

Green procurement is the set of procurement policies held, action taken and relationships formed in response to concerns linked with the natural environment. Green procurement has drawn major attention of supply chain practitioners and has become the theme of most of the seminars and workshops. Green procurement is gaining popularity due to its positive association with the triple bottom line, that is, sustainability. Firms implement green procurement to achieve sustainability in this dynamic business environment. There are several published papers that have adopted qualitative and quantitative methodology to build and test theories in the field of green procurement. However, existing research gaps have motivated to pursue this study. The main purpose of this article is to investigate the interrelationships of green procurement drivers. First, systematic review of literature is done to identify the leading drivers. Second, these drivers were refined through experts’ opinion with interview conducted among five procurement managers from South African manufacturing sector. Third, the comments of these experts are converted into interpretive logic of pairwise comparison, and total interpretive structural model (TISM) is developed. Finally the conclusion of research, the managerial implications and directions of future research are presented.

Role of Green Procurement in Driving Sustainable Innovation in Supplier Networks: Some Exploratory Empirical Results:

Strategic green procurement is key to success in any manufacturing business under the current Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) environment. There are tremendous pressures from government institutions, pressure groups and other institutions on every manufacturing unit aiming to divert attention of the organization toward environmental, social and economic dimensions while making any sourcing decisions. Therefore, it is imperative to proactively strategize and develop a robust supplier network capable of innovating newer products and services which is ultimately sustainable for the business. However, as previously mentioned such actions are influenced by institutional pressures, culture in the organization and green procurement strategy. The aim of this article is to develop a con-ceptual framework considering institutional pressures, organization culture, and green procurement, and further test it using primary survey data collected from South African manufacturing units. Finally, we argue that institutional pressures directly influence green procurement practices and further green procurement practices enhance sustainable innovation performance in supplier networks. The study concludes with some food for thought to the research community.