Greening the Supply Chain: Preliminary Results of a Global Survey

Transcription

1 Greening the Supply Chain: Preliminary Results of a Global Survey Valentina Carbone ESCE & ESCP-EAP [email protected] Valérie Moatti ESCP-EAP [email protected] Most companies are claiming interest in integrating an environmental dimension into their business. More concretely, some major companies are now focusing on the environmental burden of their supply chain processes by recognizing some of the contemporary environmental dimensions such as carbon emissions, energy, and natural resources consumption. The main purpose of this explorative paper is to look into current practices of companies in the context of a green supply chain, highlighting specific patterns per country and/or industry. In particular, starting from the results of a global survey on green supply chain initiatives, we propose a mapping of the surveyed companies according to their distinct green supply chain practices. We discuss motivations, constraints, and main results related to the set-up of a green supply chain and then suggest specific perspectives for future research. Copyright BEM ISSN print ISSN online Supply Chain Forum An International Journal Introduction Greening the supply chain has recently assumed an important position on business executives' agenda. Most companies have already adopted a green 1 attitude, claiming their interest in integrating an environmental dimension into their business. More concretely, major companies such as Canon, General Motor, and Sony are now focusing on the environmental burden of their supply chain processes by recognizing various environmental dimensions such as carbon emissions, energy, and natural resources consumption. This reconsideration of existing processes is done to minimize the environmental footprint of a product or service. In academia, literature on the green supply chain has been growing in terms of the number of publications per year since 2000 (see Srivastara, 2007, for an extensive literature review on the green supply chain). Several articles (Beaman, 1999; Hoffman, 2007; Parryet al., 2007) discuss the importance of a green supply chain and the urgent necessity of its implementation in business. However, many authors explore environmental initiatives within each of the different phases of the supply chain, focusing predominantly on only one functional area (Sarkis, 1999, 2006). More recent contributions (Rao & Holt, 2005) have encompassed the entire supply chain because it has been widely acknowledged that the critical step for integrating sustainable principles within operations is the examination of the interaction between sustainability (or environmental principles) and supply chains (Lintonet al., 2007). Accordingly, the concept of green supply chain covers every stage in manufacturing. Following 1. In this paper we use the terms green and sustainable as synonymous. More precisely we account for the economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, leaving aside the social one. Supply Chain Forum An International Journal Vol. 9 - N

2 Srivastara (2007), green supply chain management (GrSCM) has been defined as integrating an environmental way of thinking into supply chain management, including product design, material sourcing and selection, manufacturing processes, delivery of the end product to the consumers, and end-of-life management of the product after its useful life. Notwithstanding, sustainability is often reduced to a fragmented approach based on anecdotic best practices for the different phases of the supply chain. Consequently, it is difficult for companies to understand that sustainable supply chains could be much more than an obligation, cost, constraint, or charitable deed. Therefore, the identification of specific sustainable activities that best suit different contexts (in terms of type of product, characteristics of demand, societal concern, etc.) could be beneficial for companies to recognize so that sustainable supply chains can become a source of competitive advantage and at the same time a lever for reducing environmental effects. In other words, as has been argued in strategic management literature (Porter & Kramer, 2006) and in supply chain literature (Bowenet al., 2002), it is important to establish a link between sustainable behaviour and competitive advantage in specific contexts. Hence, the main purpose of this explorative paper is to look into current practices of companies in the field of green supply chain, highlighting specific patterns per country and/or industry. In particular, starting from the results of a global survey 2 on green supply chain initiatives, we propose a mapping of the surveyed companies according to their distinct behaviour in terms of green supply chain practices. We discuss motivations, constraints, and main results relating to the set-up of a green supply chain. This paper begins by exploring previous literature on green supply chains, which helped us conceptualize the survey tool (questionnaire). The data analysis methods employed in our research are then outlined. Finally, after the examination of the preliminary results, the paper concludes with some propositions about the relationship between strategic intent and supply chain implementation and results with respect to the green issue and paves the way for future research. Literature on The Green Supply Chain Research in academic and practitioner literature about environmental management practice in supply chains has largely included motivations and triggers for companies to set up a green supply chain, specifically legal frameworks and regulation, response to stakeholders, fear for reputation loss, search for competitive advantage, customer demand, and environmental and social pressure groups (Bowenet al., 2002; Handfieldet al. 1997; Preuss, 2001; Rao, 2002; Roberts, 2003; Sarkis, 2001). Translating strategic intention into green supply chain practices The definition of a green supply chain has ranged from green purchasing to an integrated green closed loop supply chain. Hervaniet al. (2005) say that a green supply chain is a composition of green purchasing, green manufacturing, green distribution/marketing, and reverse logistics. Whatever the extent of the definition, solutions for green supply chains have been put forward with respect to these elementary SC phases. Regarding the inbound phase, green purchasing can address issues such as reduction of waste produced, material substitution through environmental sourcing of raw material, and waste minimization of hazardous materials. Supplier management is crucial for implementing a green sourcing strategy (Simpson & Power, 2005), as many world-class companies now realise that although they may have nothing to do at all with the problem, companies are often held accountable for the environmental liabilities of their suppliers (Bacallan, 2000, p. 18 ). How to integrate suppliers into environmental management processes is still a central question in the literature; however, three common practices seem to emerge: the evaluation of suppliers' environmental performance (Noci, 2000; Bowenet al, 2002), mentoring to assist and train suppliers (Hines & Johns, 2001; Bowen et al., 2002), and the request for ISO14000 certification or other similar certifications (Chen, 2005). From the production perspective, which has characterised much of the earlier research on environmental issues in operations (see the industrial ecology approach in Frosch & Gallopoulos, 1989), a number of concepts have been explored, including cleaner production, design for environment, remanufacturing, and lean production. Several authors have written about whether the lean and green approach is evident in practice, how best to achieve it, and what its effects on performance are (Florida, 1996; Klassen, 2001; Bowen, et al., 2002). The success of lean production in the field of sustainability emanates from three major factors: minimization of nonvalue-adding activities, efficient work systems, and applicable human resource management. The increasing phenomenon of relocation strategies for 2. This paper builds on the results of a survey on green supply chain carried out in 2007 by the Supply Chain Monitor Unit, consisting of input by ESCP-EAP, BearingPoint, and Supply Chain Magazine. Supply Chain Forum An International Journal Vol. 9 - N

3 manufacturing has given rise to a certain interest in the literature for green subcontracted manufacturing issues (Trowbridge, 2003). On the outbound side of the green supply chain, green logistics comprises all links from the manufacturer to the end users and includes products, processes, packaging, transport, and disposal (Skjoett-Larsen, 2000). According to Murphy et al (1996), green logistics mainly investigates environmental issues in logistics. Murphy and Poist (2000) makes clear that green logistics strategies include recycling and reusing materials, as well as reducing consumption. In this view, the field of closed-loop supply chains gathers most of the attention in the literature (Rogers, et al, 2002). Early researchers focused on the middle part of the process (reverse logistics). Now researchers increasingly take a broad business process perspective and integrate all steps from product acquisition to remarketing (Guide & van Wassenhove, 2001). In addition, they have shifted from a focus on minimizing costs to creating value (Kleindorfer, et al, 2005). It has also been argued that sustainability must integrate issues and flows that go beyond the core of supply chain management, such as product design, manufacturing by-products, by-products produced during product use, product life extension, and so on (Linton et al., 2007). The product design step is more and more integrated within green supply chain issues because 80% of the environmental burden and cost of a product is fixed during this phase (Rebitzer, 2002). The dominating tool in discussions around product design is the life cycle assessment (LCA), which started around the mid-1970s (Hunt & Franklin, 1996). A life cycle assessment is the investigation and valuation of the environmental impacts of a given product or service caused or necessitated by its existence, during its entire life. The cradle to the grave approach of LCA extends throughout the supply chain and represents an evolution over environmental assessment focused on firmspecific impacts and end-of-pipe analyses (Matos & Hall, 2007). Some scholars have looked for more transversal and other behavioural components in a green supply chain that lead to potentially superior environmental awareness and higher performance, such as long-lasting interorganizational collaboration (Vachon & Klassen, 2008; Young, 2000). Despite all the alleged benefits discussed in the green supply chain literature, which can be classified into three groups-benefits to society, benefits to the firm, and benefits to the supply processthere appears to be a gap between the high desirability of green initiatives in theory and the slow implementation of green supply chain initiatives in firms. This gap requires additional exploration to reorient green supply chain research from theory to commercial practice because businesses will undertake initiatives only when they perceive the interest in such practices. In Bowen, et al. (2002) examination of the current green supply practice in the United Kingdom (sample size of 70 respondents), they found three types of green supply chain initiatives that showed different levels of performance outcomes. They demonstrated that there is a link between green supply chain behaviour and corporate environmental objectives. Rao (2002) showed in an empirical investigation conducted in Southeast Asia that customer pressure acts as the chief factor leading companies to implement green supply chain measures. De Brito et al. (2008) discuss the impact of sustainable supply chain initiatives in the European clothing and textile supply chain on companies' organisation and performance. In the same vein of the previously mentioned surveybased research, our contribution aims to illustrate current green practices in each of the elementary phases of the supply chain in order to have deeper insight in the way companies translate their green orientation into supply chain activities and to analyse the rationales and the results connected with such decisions. Methodology The survey on the green supply chain was conducted according to a global perspective in terms of geographical coverage and industries. The questionnaire for the survey initiated from the green supply chain literature discussed in the previous section. It comprises, on the one hand, motivations and expected results for setting up a green supply chain and, on the other hand, the illustration of the main initiatives and measures to green each SC phase. An online version of the questionnaire was sent to professional quaalified contacts given by local actors-press and consulting companies - of the supply chani community (e.g., Supply Chain Magazine in France and Supply Chain Standard in the United Kingdom). The total resulting base amounted to 12,600 contacts. Overall, 601 exploitable questionnaires have been collected, leading to a response rate of 4.8%. Such a poor response rate is a result of the administration mode (through the web) as well as the structure of the used bases of contacts that often include several supply chain managers within a single company. As we needed to sort out such double-counting, it reduced our final usable sample. However, simple tests confirmed that the pattern of our sample is consistent with the global initial base. Almost two thirds of the respondents hold positions associated with the management of a core part of the supply chain (production, procurement, and logistics). The sample is mainly represented by companies located in the United Kingdom (43% of the sample), France (26%), the United States (12%), and Japan (7%). It includes companies of different sizes, from a turnover exceeding 1 billion dollars (40%) to less than 100 million dollars (26%). The spread of represented sectors is very broad, although 57% of the sample is involved with consumer Supply Chain Forum An International Journal Vol. 9 - N

4 Figure 1 Defining green supply chain goods (16%), retailing (13%), transport (10%), electronics/it (10%), and pharmaceuticals (8%). The first set of data, obtained through the large-scale survey, was complemented by a second set of qualitative data, derived from twenty face-to-face interviews with supply chain directors of companies involved in green supply chain operations. Blending these two data sets allows a better understanding of the ongoing building process of a green supply chain. The structure of the questionnaire reflects the different phases of the supply chain (see figure 1) according to the previously discussed green supply chain literature. It is based on a product life cycle (product design, sourcing, manufacturing, distribution, and product recovery) and aims to analyze each supply chain phase in its attempts to increase sustainability. The first two sections of the questionnaire deal with the motivations and results of both the green strategic intention (at a corporate level) and green supply chain practices. The questionnaire also includes a set of questions on the elementary supply chain activities (sourcing, design, manufacturing, etc.) to evaluate the extent of the green initiative, as well as general questions aimed at better defining the respondent (country of operation, industry, size of the company, and function). A final set of questions deals with the institutionalisation of the green function in the company and along the supply chain. Our variables result directly from the questionnaire. Specifically, the survey instrument contained questions on the following: the length of time of the green strategy ( For how long have you been considering environmental concerns in your firm's strategic decisions? ) its main reasons ( Which are the main reasons that have incited your company to take environmental concerns into consideration in its strategic decisions? ) the adoption of a green supply chain ( According to the given definition, has your company implemented a green supply chain? ) the presence of a dedicated function ( Do you have a dedicated function to environmental issues? ) the level of regulation of the activity and the objective of green supply actions (whether directed to cost reduction or innovation), and so on. We first carried out descriptive statistics analysis and then we ran an MCA-multi correspondence analysis-in order to propose a preliminarily useful typology of companies in terms of green behaviour. MCA is a method that allows studying the association between two or more qualitative variables similar to how principal component analysis analyzes the relationship between quantitative variables. As our survey is essentially composed of qualitative variables, MCA methodology was considered the most appropriate. One can obtain maps where it is possible to visually observe the distances between the categories of the qualitative variables and between the observations. This method allowed the design of a preliminarily helpful typology through the identification of a few clusters of specific green supply chain behaviours within our sample. Survey results The survey reveals that 83% of companies claim to take into account environmental concerns into their strategic decisions. This high general level of consideration reveals an increasing awareness of the environment, which is clearly stated by companies. At the same time, half of the companies that declare they do not consider environmental concerns plan to do so in the near future. However, environmental awareness varies depending on the market sector. Industrial sectors (automotive, metallurgy, chemicals, electronics, etc.) are highly mobilised (from 84% for electronics or 87% for chemicals/pharmaceuticals to 100% for metallurgy and aeronautics), distribution and services less so (75%), and textiles much less so, with only 60% of companies claiming to be concerned by these matters. Companies are motivated to take environmental concerns into consideration by compliance with regulatory constraints (73% of the surveyed companies) and a desire to improve the company's brand image (60% of them). Despite such strong strategic intention, only 35% of companies declared that they have established a green supply chain or a part of one. The bigger the company, the greater the level of involvement in Supply Chain Forum An International Journal Vol. 9 - N

5 Figure 2 Gap between green strategic intention and green supply chain, per country. the green supply chain: 54% of companies with turnover in excess of 1 billion dollars claim to be involved in a green supply chain, but this percentage drops to 29% for companies with a turnover of less than 100 million dollars. The picture is different country by country: 93% of the surveyed companies in Japan have already adopted a green supply chain strategy, whereas the percentages of companies that have implemented a green supply chain strategy are just 24% in the United States, 30% in France, and 45% in the United Kingdom (see figure 2). Four main drivers and hampering factors emerged from the responses and are in line with those outlined by the literature. Regulation (compliance with relevant laws and anticipation of future requirements) received 22% of responses. Brand image received 19% of responses, mainly by companies operating in the mass market/large-scale distribution sectors, which tend to implement measures that are more visible to the final customer. The remaining two drivers are linked to innovation (product/processes) and cost reduction (via process and flow optimisation), which accounted respectively for 15% and 13% of the responses. The optimisation driver is cited mainly by companies operating in the business-tobusiness and industrial sectors. The reasons for the reluctance to establish a green supply chain approach are threefold: lack of appropriate information on regulation, methods, and so on (36% of responses) was named as the main disincentive, followed respectively by the complexity of implementing such a strategy (18%) and the lack of return on investments and/or high costs (9%). Specific green supply chain initiatives Diverse orientations to sustainability have emerged in the various phases of the supply chain according to the different geographical areas and to which industry the companies belong. The following findings rely on the subsample of firms that have declared to have implemented a green supply chain strategy (210 companies). Japan showed that it is ahead of other countries regarding its level of consideration of different environmental factors. In particular, Japanese companies consider choice of raw materials as highly important (10% of responses compared with 5% for countries such as France or the United Kingdom). However, decisions on reprocessing and recycling packaging appear less crucial to Japanese firms (7% of responses as opposed to 11% overall and as much as 13% in the United Kingdom). This suggests that Japanese companies are more motivated to take action on areas that prevent pollution in the future rather than corrective action to deal with existing pollution. This may be considered evidence of the higher level of environmental maturity of Japanese companies. North American companies are most preoccupied with addressing environmental issues connected with water. However, they are much less focused on transportation, packaging, and commodities (such as paper) than the Europeans. These disparities illustrate cultural, structural, and institutional differences. For example, in North America rail freight transport is far more developed than in Europe. However, in Europe, there is a stringent demand for policies that promote transportation approaches that combine different modes of transport (rail, sea, air, road, waterways) to reduce overall emissions (see the European Commission Transport Policy (CEC, 2007)). Several differences have been observed among industries. For Supply Chain Forum An International Journal Vol. 9 - N

6 example, companies in the industrial sector are more interested in energy consumption and water processing than those in the service sectors. Likewise, some sectors such as automotive (11% of responses) place greater emphasis on employee health while the textile industry, which has decentralised much of its production and distribution, is at pains to reduce transportation costs. The level of involvement of third party stakeholders is higher in the upstream section of the supply chain (suppliers were cited by 76% of respondents followed by subcontractors, 56%, and logistics providers, 47%) than in the later stages, where customers and consumers are cited respectively by 42% and 36% of the respondents. The role of associations and other organisations dedicated to environmental issues is more limited and referenced by only 20% and 24% of respondents respectively. Most of the companies that are implementing a green supply chain have made changes to their transport/logistics operations. Sourcing and manufacturing strategies are the second most affected functions by environmental concerns. Finally, product design and reverse logistics initiatives received a lower degree of attention by companies (see figure 3). Green forward logistics The most common environmental measure in the field of green logistics involves restructuring logistics flows to reduce the number of journeys (41%). Because road haulage is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, changing the planning and the organisation of logistics to optimise transport flows appears to be a powerful operational lever. It is therefore no surprise that the second most popular measure taken by companies to reduce transport-related emissions is the use of less-polluting modes of transport (31%). The main drivers for implementing a green logistics approach include, beyond the optimisation of logistics flows (18%), improving the company's image (16%), and, with the same score each (15%), reducing logistics cost and achieving regulatory compliance. The degree of complexity of such measures and the associated high costs are the main disincentives noted by companies to reducing environmental damage. Green sourcing Three main types of actions are taken by companies that have adopted an eco-sourcing approach (66%). In 41% of the cases, companies execute direct purchase of less-polluting materials and products; in 32% of the cases they tend to involve their suppliers in a continuous process through the implementation of an environmental management system; finally, one quarter of companies expect to change suppliers in order to better cope with green sourcing. As supplier involvement is crucial for the success of a green design, Figure 3 Green supply chain initiatives according to the different SC phases companies often realise audits (56%) or put in place key performance indicators (36%) to monitor the green performance of their suppliers. Green manufacturing The two main courses of action of green manufacturing refer to modifying production processes (35%) and using less-polluting m a n u f a c t u r i n g materials/equipment (24%). Closely linked, these two approaches rely on the same production optimisation process, lean manufacturing, whose primary purpose is to eradicate waste before taking action on flows. Beyond purely environmental considerations, these two issues reflect the concerns of manufacturers in terms of optimising both production costs and overall operating costs. By taking direct action with resources and other means of manufacturing, companies guard themselves more effectively against more onerous remedial measures at the end of the production cycle. Accordingly, the primary reasons for adopting a green manufacturing approach are, on the one hand, improving financial performance (by reducing costs through optimisation and improved resource consumption) and, on the other hand, regulation, such as complying with current legislation (in 99% of cases, implementing a green manufacturing approach has enabled the surveyed companies to comply with current legislation). Green design In our sample, 59% of firms have implemented an eco-design approach for products and/or manufacturing processes. Japanese companies are much more in advanced in this field as 87% of the entire sample has adopted a green attitude in the design phase for their products. In most cases (95%), the green design approach is applied to the product or its various components and packaging. In a small percentage of cases, such an approach is applied to manufacturing processes in order to reduce energy consumption or waste production. Supply Chain Forum An International Journal Vol. 9 - N

7 In accordance with the principle of from the cradle to the grave, almost 70% of companies have adopted a green design approach in order to make their products easier to recycle. Across the whole sample, in 40% of the cases, a green design is adopted in order to improve brand image, satisfy needs, and increase consumer confidence. Reverse logistics A large majority of companies (59%) have carried out a reverse logistics initiative in order to recover products. Half of reverse logistics operations (50%) involve finished products and packaging (28%). The recovery actions for these two types of items refer, respectively, to recycling and refurbishing (51%) and to recycling and re-use after cleaning or refurbishing (48%). Companies deciding to establish a reverse logistics structure are motivated first and foremost by the desire to "respond to consumer expectations," which is cited by 91%. Reverse logistics is a means for companies to acquire respectability in the field of corporate citizenship and reinforce their customer loyalty. The third driver towards reverse logistics appears to be the need to respect the take-back policies that are being implemented in an increasingly higher number of industries. Interestingly, one third of companies involved in a sustainable supply chain believe that a reverse logistics structure is not necessary in their sphere of activity. The degree of complexity and the associated difficulties of the initiative are the second biggest disincentive to companies for a reverse logistics structure (19%). Companies regard the whole reverse logistics chain as being complex, first because it entails a whole range of collection, sorting, warehousing, and (re)processing activities and second because various intermediaries are likely to be involved at each stage. Mapping green supply chain behaviours For providing a first overview of companies' behaviour in terms of a green supply chain, we classified companies on the two-dimensional map of the MCA. The active variables for such analysis include the adoption of a green approach to business and the amount of time it's been implemented, the set-up of a green supply chain (in its different phases), the drivers for greening the corporate strategy, and supply chain practices. In the graphical representation of the MCA (figure 4), we can consider axis 1 as the expression of the environmental awareness of companies. On the left side of the graph, we find companies that have taken into account green issues in their strategies for more than five years and have also implemented a green supply chain. They have a dedicated department dealing with environmental stakes. On the right side, companies have introduced green considerations in their activity fewer than three years previously and they lack both a dedicated department and a green supply chain strategy. Axis 2 refers to the role played by normative pressures because it juxtaposes companies being regulated by environmental directives and laws and/or perceiving such regulations as a serious constraint for their activities to those declaring that they are not influenced by regulations. The classification of the surveyed companies on the axes of the MCA allowed for the identification of four clusters. Three out of the four clusters are well represented on the first two axes and comprise 82% of the sample, whereas the identification of the fourth cluster (cluster 2) requires a three-axes analysis, which is omitted in the present contribution. Regarding the three main clusters, companies in cluster 1 and 3 have achieved a higher level of environmental awareness when compared to cluster 4 (figure 4). The MCA results are further analyzed through some illustrative variables, such as the country and the industry to which the companies belong. Companies in cluster 1 (with a longer-term approach to green business) have set up a dedicated department to the environmental issue. They have also implemented a green supply chain strategy, and they have done so with respect to the different phases of the supply chain (raw material extraction, sourcing, product design, manufacturing, and forward and reverse logistics). If corporate leadership has been indicated in this group as the main trigger towards a green supply chain, the rationales for such a strategy mainly relate to innovation of both product and process and to corporate image. In cluster 3 we find companies that have adopted a green strategy for at least three years. Apart from the length of time of the green approach, the discriminating factor for this cluster is connected with the existence of a stringent environmental policy or with the perception of such policies as a real constraint for the core activities of the companies. In this case, the rationales for a green supply chain strategy are cost reduction and process optimization. With 32% of the sample, this group shows the characteristics that have been more thoroughly studied in the past through the green/lean literature. Companies in this cluster are predominantly from the chemical, energy, and metallurgic industries, which traditionally have been regulated in the environmental field, namely, in risk prevention and security issues. The Japanese companies seem to experience tougher environmental legislation when compared to the British companies. Finally, cluster 4 puts together companies that have been interested in the environmental issue only recently due to the fact that other actors in the same Supply Chain Forum An International Journal Vol. 9 - N

8 Figure 4 A map of companies' green supply chain behaviour competitive environment have done the same. Environmental regulations do not seem to be a burden, and a green supply chain strategy is not a current issue for them. Unsurprisingly, due to their lower footprint at the supply chain level, retailing and service companies are primarily represented in this cluster. The mapping of the surveyed companies according to their distinct behaviour in terms of green supply chain highlights some interesting trends on the diffusion of green initiatives across companies. These results are summarised and discussed in the following section, paving the way to future research in the field of green supply chains. Discussion Even if most companies take into account the environment when making strategic decisions, significantly few have pursued or initiated a green supply chain strategy. These companies also show different levels of maturity with respect to the green approach. Summarising our survey's preliminary results, significant differences exist among industries and countries in terms of the length of time of the green approach, the number of partners involved (both upstream and downstream in the supply chain), and finally in terms of affected functions and specific measures. Based on the supply chain literature review, coupled with the exploratory survey findings (the map of distinct green behaviours), a number of propositions arise that may help in understanding the implementation process of a green supply chain. First, the diffusion of green supply chain activities depends on the length of time of the green strategic intent: the longer the strategic intent has been implemented, the more spread the green supply chain initiative. The findings of the cluster analysis indicate that there is a class of firms that have been involved in the environmental approach for more than five years and that are able to implement a thorough supply chain strategy, which is strongly backed by the executive leadership to green the firm's business. We formulate our first proposition accordingly: P1: The longer the length of time of the integration of environment at the strategic level, the more widespread the green supply chain is. Second, the move to a greener supply chain seems to be an evolutionary process. More precisely, when looking at the involvement of the different supply chain functions, the cluster analysis shows that companies experiment with different green supply chain activities pending on the length of time of the initiative. Logistics is the function most heavily engaged in taking environmental measures, followed by manufacturing, and then sourcing. Over time, the number of involved supply chain activities increases. We therefore formulate the following propositions: P2a: Logistics and manufacturing are the more widespread applications of a green strategy. P2b: The longer the length of time of the integration of environment into the corporate strategy, the higher the number of involved supply chain activities. Third, the diffusion of a green supply chain may follow different patterns. A first orientation of companies refers to cost reduction and the optimisation objective. Alternatively, companies seem to look for innovation when pursuing a green supply chain strategy. In addition, such alternative patterns seem to be influenced by different drivers. On the one hand, a highly regulated environment favours green supply chain actions designed to reduce costs. On the other hand, a less regulated environment favours green supply chain actions designed to provide innovation and differentiation. Such analysis led to the following propositions: P3a: The more regulated the environment, the more the green supply chain actions are designed to reduce costs. P3b: The less regulated the environment, the more the green supply chain actions are designed to provide innovation and differentiation. Building on these preliminary propositions, which are very much a reflection of a work in progress, we may argue that green supply Supply Chain Forum An International Journal Vol. 9 - N

9 chain initiatives and actions can be analyzed as organizational changes. They could also be explained as the diffusion of an innovation, as an increasing number of companies decide to implement a green supply chain strategy. Organizational change in general, as well as the diffusion of innovation, have been increasingly analyzed through the institutional theoretical framework that argues that organizations are influenced by their institutional context (Abrahamson & Rosenkopf, 1993; Shapiro, 2003). Following Scott (2001), institutions are the result of regulations, norms, and cultural or cognitive influences within a specific environment. Although such a perspective has been widely used in organization literature, supply chain management and decisions have been rarely analyzed through this lens. Interestingly, though, Scott (2001) argues that the institutional perspective that takes into account the impact of the social environment is critical for a more complete understanding of the causes and effects of organizational behaviour within supply chain systems. As evidenced recently with the phenomenon of supply chain contagion (McFarland, et al., 2008), supply chain management practices are particularly influenced by institutional pressures. Indeed, by definition, supply chain actions are influenced by and include at the same time other partners across the chain, such as preferred customers and/or suppliers. To a broader extent, it has been argued that the convergence of behaviour of companies stems from the influence of three different types of institutional pressures (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983) that we have chosen to group into two major types of influences. One comes from formal institutions ( coercive isomorphism according to DiMaggio & Powell, 1983), such as the presence of a specific regulatory environment. The second is the result of more informal social pressure initiated by leading or interconnected companies ( normative isomorphism and mimetic isomorphism according to DiMaggio & Powell, 1983). This becomes institutionalized across time as a way to gain legitimacy within a specific business environment. In our future research, we believe that the institutional framework could help better understand the process of implementing a green supply chain. If we refer to institutionalization as the process through which components of structure become widely accepted, as both appropriate and necessary (Tolbert & Zucker, 1983, p. 25), the green supply chain can represent a further step towards the institutionalization of a sustainable strategy. Interestingly, the institutional approach has been widely used to explain the organizational arrangements to integrate sustainable development (Galaskiewicz & Burt, 1991; Jennings & Zandbergen, 1995; Matten & Moon, 2008). It has also been used to explain how consensus is built around sustainability (Jennings & Zandbergen, 1995). Indeed, institutional theories are useful to explain the process followed by organizations to implement ecological behaviour and measures that later become institutionalized. Moreover, they help understand the role of the different types of pressures in the adoption of a sustainable attitude. However, most contributions are lacking an empirical dimension (see, as an exception, Zhu & Sarkis, 2007). We aim to develop a research model relying on our survey and drawing on the institutional framework to understand the transformation process of strategic intent into green supply chain initiatives. Specifically, we aim to examine the relationship between different institutional contexts (coercive versus normative and mimetic) and green supply chain dynamics and chosen priorities. Conclusion Although there has been substantial growth recently in the number of research articles that explore green supply chain management practices, many questions still remain for academics and practitioners as to why and how companies translate their strategic intention into green supply chain practices. As the evidence from the survey results discussed in this paper suggests, such research is both justified and necessary. On the one hand, there is a need for understanding the potential benefits of specific green supply chain initiatives. On the other hand, the institutionalization process of a green attitude deserves further exploration. Starting from these preliminary considerations, several research directions are being explored. First, contributing to the stream of supply chain literature arguing that each product needs a specific supply chain (Fisher, 1997), we intend to show that different types of supply chain strategies call for different types of sustainable strategies, and accordingly provide different benefits for companies. More precisely, it is our intention to verify if lean and agile supply chains integrate sustainability into their strategic and operational issues in different ways. We refer to Christopher and Towill's (2001) segmentation of supply chains in terms of a lean or an agile approach. A key characteristic of an agile approach is flexibility, whereas a lean approach means doing more with less. Agility is pursued in a volatile marketplace. Leanness makes sense when demand is predictable and the requirements for variety are low and volume are high. We plan to analyze how these different supply chain strategies are extended to green issues. Second, important questions remain as to whether taking into account environmental issues at the strategic level automatically implies its translation into supply chain initiatives or if it is just a sign of a widespread greenwashing attitude, that is the business trend towards green communication rather than green action, which is often criticized by external observers. This paper tends to interpret the greenwashing attitude Supply Chain Forum An International Journal Vol. 9 - N

10 as a preliminary step towards supply chain greening practices. Despite the main contributions of our work, we recognize it has some limitations. First, our methods could be and will be refined in the future in order to better test our predictions. The questionnaire will be complemented by other sources of data (interviews, financial statement and annual reports, sustainability rating database, etc.), which allow for finer analysis of practices and for an analysis of the relationship between green supply chain practices and green as well as economic performances. Second, our data present some limitations. Although our focus is international, we are missing samples from countries such as Germany that have proved to be particularly innovative in terms of environment practices. Separately, our qualitative data represents a constraint towards further data analysis. 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